Chapter 47 Witness X
Witness X
You
I watched you in court. The dignity and strength you showed just made me fall in love with you all over again. The bravery. The sacrifice. It reminded me of how different you are to the man I have to go home to every night.
I long for the time we used to spend together. I loved watching your face each time I brought you a silly little gift. They were always obscure, and you were always amazed I knew you so well.
The Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves poster was my favorite. After you told me it was the film your foster mother watched with you, I had to. It was just a joke, but you hung it up immediately.
After it happened—the betrayal—she told me that nobody would choose me if they knew the real me. It hurt, because that’s what Dad used to say, too. That I didn’t deserve love. That I wasn’t good enough for it.
You’ve proved them wrong.
She always wanted what I had, right from the day I met her. She saw my power and she wanted a piece of it, too. I was better at the rules than her, back then.
Not any more. You changed that, Jack.
Loving you has made me lose focus. Made me more human.
She doesn’t realize how close she is now. She will find it soon enough, the chink in my armor. And when she does, I’m finished.
The old me would never have made such a stupid, careless mistake.
I question every day why we used your phone and not mine, Jack.
It would have made much more sense. Not my real phone, obviously.
I mean the burner phone I bought when the affair started.
The one that was only used for you and nobody else.
I made a rule from day one: no photos would be taken of us, no videos.
And they certainly wouldn’t be sent between us.
If they ever got out, not only would my reputation be ruined, but they would also be ammunition for my husband.
You can imagine the narrative, can’t you? Look at what my slut of a wife did! Cheated on me with a nightclub doorman. A common criminal. Crazy psycho bitch.
You see, men bounce back from acts of infidelity.
With enough power and charisma, I’ve even seen men laugh them off.
“You are scandalous!” the lads say with a smirk, secretly envious they weren’t able to con an eighteen-year-old into allowing them to stick their dick into her for a few months before being unceremoniously found out (but ultimately forgiven) by their long-suffering wife.
“I’ll never learn, will I?” They wink before doing it again months later.
Women are not afforded the same luxury if they commit a similar crime. A reality that’s vastly unfair, given the fact that most often, men cheat because they’re selfish and self-serving, and women also cheat because men are selfish and self-serving.
Women are treated more harshly. A life sentence with no chance of parole. You might as well pack up your life and move on.
If I could take it back, I would. But you changed me. Normally I’m good at saying no. At keeping control of the situation. But on that hot, sticky night, I found myself saying yes.
At the time it felt right, rebellious, sexy. For a few brief moments, we felt invincible.
Little did we know that by pressing the red circle and starting to record that video on your phone, you’d end up here, charged with murder.
And now, Leila Reynolds is responsible for keeping you out of jail.
Come to think of it, did you suggest the whole thing, or did I?