Chapter 11
Kaden
The food court pulses with restless energy, alive with voices and motion from people going about their daily lives.
Young families gather around tables, their children laughing or bickering as parents struggle to keep them in line.
Couples share meals, smiling and talking softly among themselves, while solo diners sit contentedly in their own company.
Then there’s me. The outsider. The one who doesn’t belong. I sit among them, on the verge of doing something that will tear one of their lives apart, about to deliver what may become the most devastating news they will ever receive.
The long drive here was excruciating to say the least. The whole time I was wound tight with nervous tension, unsure if what I was about to do was the right thing or not.
More than once, I considered turning the car around and forgetting this ever existed.
But the seed of doubt has already been planted in Hope’s mind, and backing out now would only be cruel and damaging.
So I decided to push through—for Hope. Because she deserves the truth. She deserves the chance at a better life, an honest future… whether that’s with Adrian or without him.
I check my watch for the third time. It’s now a quarter past twelve. She still hasn’t arrived, and part of me expected as much. She’s probably just as nervous, just as anxious, and just like me, has likely tried to talk herself out of coming here more than once.
She never did text to say she was on her way, like she promised. In fact, I haven’t heard from her at all since the night she messaged me out of the blue. I wasn’t even sure if today was still happening. I drove the full two hours not knowing whether she’d show up at all.
But I was prepared to take that risk.
Would I be disappointed if she didn’t show? Yes, of course. But at the same time, I understand. I’m a complete stranger, someone she’s never met in her life, who appeared out of nowhere claiming to have important information about her husband, something she’d been entirely unaware of.
Even thinking about it sounds crazy. Suspicious, at the very least. And truthfully, if I received a random message like that from myself, I wouldn’t trust it either.
I lean back on my chair and continue to survey the place while I wait. I’m definitely a long way from the city. The town itself is quite small, and not at all what I had expected.
The infrastructure feels completely outdated, as though I’ve stepped back into the late eighties or early nineties.
I can’t help but wonder when it last saw a proper upgrade.
Even the drive in made it clear the place was in need of a facelift.
The buildings are old and worn, and there’s litter and graffiti clinging to every corner of the street.
If I’m being honest, I would’ve never pictured Adrian and his family to settle in a place like this.
It’s half past twelve now, and I’m certain she isn’t coming. I consider calling or texting her when a figure suddenly appears before me. My gaze is lowered, so the first thing I notice are her black leather ankle boots.
Slowly, my eyes travel upward, taking in the long beige coat wrapped snugly around her curvy frame, and then her hair. Long. Silky. Red. The colour even more vibrant in person.
Her pale blue eyes lock onto my chartreuse green ones, and I’m nearly undone by their striking beauty, like shards of glacial ice, sharp and otherworldly—so angel-like. I’ve never seen such a stunning shade of blue like that up close, and it’s impossible not to feel hypnotised by them.
For a brief moment, we both stand rigid, staring and blinking nervously at one another. Her gaze dips for a split second, catching on the tattoos on my neck, before snapping back to meet mine. Then she clears her throat.
“I’m gonna go out on a limb here and assume you’re Kaden.”
“That’s me—Kaden Grant,” I confirm, lifting my hand in offering.
She glances at my outstretched hand as though it’s lathered in poison, then pointedly ignores it, turning instead to unbutton her coat.
“Look, I don’t have much time to waste. I’m supposed to be at my son’s soccer game, but I asked Adrian to take him instead and told him I had an important errand to run.
I lied to my family to be here, so I hope you don’t make me regret it,” she says, her tone clipped as she slides into the chair opposite me.
I take the seat across from her, unable to look away, afraid that the moment I do, she’ll try and take off.
“I won’t take up too much of your time. I just wanted to tell you what I know about your husband, what I believe you deserve to know, and to show you this.” I lift the manila folder resting on the table, thick with evidence of her husband’s affair.
She fixes her gaze on the folder, her eyes narrowing slightly, as though she’s trying to see through the cardboard and into what’s hidden inside.
“Okay. So, tell me, Mr. Grant, what do you know that I don’t?”
“There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to say it.
” I pause, half-expecting her to interrupt, but she says nothing, her eyes holding mine.
“Last year, your husband was involved in an affair—with his colleague, his teaching assistant to be exact. It went on for about five months. And the only reason it ended… was because she became pregnant.”
Her expression remains stoic—calm, unreadable. But her eyes are distant, as if silently weighing, and deciding whether to believe me or not.
“I’m guessing that’s your so-called proof,” she says, gesturing towards the folder on the table.
I nod and slide the evidence across to her. She hesitates for a moment, then takes it and slowly opens the folder. Her eyes fall on the first photograph—Adrian and Lucia walking with their arms around each other outside the café they’d frequent before heading to work.
According to Bryan, my PI, it happened almost every day. They’d meet there an hour before school started for coffee… and, apparently, other extracurricular activities too.
Hope flicks through each photo, taking her time, her jaw tight, nostrils flaring. Her breathing grows heavier, but she maintains her composure. Ten photos in total of Adrian and Lucia’s secret romance, each one more damning than the last.
It isn’t until she reaches the final photograph that her restraint finally cracks. Her hand shoots to her mouth, half-covering her shocked expression as she gasps in horror. I know that image all too well—it’s the one that has lived rent free in my head for the past few months.
An image of Lucia in the backseat of Adrian’s car, wearing nothing but a black lace bra, straddling him, her head thrown back in a moment of rapture. Adrian’s face is pressed into her chest as if inhaling her very essence.
“Oh my God,” Hope whispers, her voice sounding choked.
“I’m so sorry—”
“How did you get these?”
“I hired a private investigator to follow them. He sent me those photos.”
“What business do you have hiring someone to follow them?”
“Because that woman your husband was having an affair with... was my girlfriend.”
Another gasp escapes her. “Your girlfriend,” she repeats back quietly.
“Yes,” I nod. “She began cheating on me with your husband a few months after we moved in together. I’d see her texting her colleague, who she kept referring to as Addie, for most of the day, and I just assumed it was a woman.
I had no idea Addie was actually a thirty-two-year-old married man… with a child.”
Hope drops the file onto the table, pressing a palm to her chest as if to steady her breathing, and to dull the sharp ache I imagine is piercing straight through her heart right now.
“I found out about the affair after I went through Lucia’s phone one night while she was in the shower. There were hundreds of messages between her and Adrian, along with several explicit photos and half a dozen emails. I printed everything out. It’s all there in that folder.”
She huffs involuntarily, the sound dry and humourless, as if the entire situation is unbelievable—something that simply doesn’t happen in her world.
But her expression quickly shifts as her gaze drops back to the file.
A flicker of fear crosses her features, her eyes growing heavy with an emotion she can no longer contain.
She draws in a slow, steadying breath before lifting the folder again and flipping through its contents, stopping at the screenshots of Lucia and Adrian’s text exchanges.
I watch her in silence, scrutinising her expression for any signs that this is all becoming too much for her. I may not know her very well, yet a deep concern for her wellbeing gnaws at me, especially after everything she’s learned today.
Hope continues her slow perusal of the documents, shaking her head in disbelief and letting out sharp, uneven exhales. When she’s finally had enough, she lowers the papers and turns her gaze to the left, scanning the crowd as if she’s too humiliated, or too shaken, to meet my eyes.
“I… I don’t know what to make of all this.”
“It’s a lot to process, I know. I couldn’t believe it at first either, but after seeing all the proof, it finally hit me that it was real.
I began therapy not too long ago, and it’s been helping, little by little.
Without it, I’d be in a far worse position.
I think, after today… after everything you’ve just learned, it could be useful for you to see someone as well. ”
She quickly glances back at me at the mention of therapy, as if surprised by the suggestion, but doesn’t say anything on the matter. She leans forward, resting her elbows on the edge of the table, her hands covering her mouth as she tries to process everything I’ve just laid in front of her.
When I consider holding off on discussing the baby, especially after everything else she’s just been hit with, she surprises me by being the one to bring it up first.
“You said your girlfriend was pregnant around the time their affair ended. Is the baby yours?”
Though it’s been nearly six months since I last saw Arianna, she still drifts into my thoughts from time to time. And it’s during those quiet moments, when I find myself wondering how she’s faring—wherever she may be.
I release a slow, fragile breath, the ache of knowing Ari was never mine still fresh, like an open wound.
“No.” I shake my head slowly. “She isn’t mine. After I found out Lucia had been cheating, I had a DNA test done immediately. It confirmed I wasn’t the father.”
“So you’re saying it’s Adrian’s?”
“I can’t say for certain. All I know is that they were sleeping together. That doesn’t mean that there weren’t others. Lucia has always craved attention, and she’d do whatever it takes to get what she wants.”
Hope presses her fingers to her temples, rubbing at the tension, as if the motion might offer some relief from the pain coursing through her.
“How… How could this be?” she murmurs, more to herself than to me.
“I really am sorry.”
“What are you sorry about? You’re not the one who cheated.”
I drop my gaze to my hands clasped on the table, guilt and shame striking me like a punch to the stomach at the mention of my fidelity. Little does she know how far from the truth that claim is—how I was no better than her selfish, lying prick of a husband.
The sound of her phone ringing slices through my thoughts, and I quickly shake it off, determined not to undo the progress I’ve made in therapy these past two months.
I look over at Hope and see her phone in her hand, Adrian’s name lighting up the screen. She winces, staring down at it for a moment before hitting decline, the sound cutting off immediately.
“I have to go,” she says, already standing and reaching for her coat draped over the back of her chair. “Zac’s soccer game will be over soon, and Adrian’s going to be wondering where I am.”
“Yes, of course,” I reply, rising to my feet. “Thank you for agreeing to meet with me today. I know you may think I have nothing to apologise for, but I’ve just delivered some pretty heartbreaking news, and I can’t help but feel guilty for what might happen next.”
“You don’t need to worry about that, Kaden.
That’s for me to deal with. And I’m sorry too.
I never imagined Adrian could be capable of something like this.
I’m still in a state of shock, and I probably will be for a while.
I just need to get home and think through everything you’ve shown me, and I guess go from there. ”
I give her a small nod, then gather the file in my hands, offering it to her. “You can hold onto this, if you like, just in case he ever tries to deny it all.”
She takes it without hesitation and slips it into her tote bag. “Thank you. It will definitely come in handy.”
“Please drive safely, Hope. Stop if you need to, and if any more questions come up, you can contact me any time.”
She nods, gripping the strap of her bag so tightly, it’s turning her knuckles white. “Thank you, Kaden. You take care now.”
“You too.”
With nothing more to say, Hope turns on her heels and walks away, disappearing completely from sight, perhaps never to cross my path again.
I sink back into my seat, watching the people around me, yet my thoughts stay with her.
I remain seated for another fifteen minutes, partly in case she comes back with more questions, and partly because I can’t stop wondering whether I did the right thing by telling her everything… or if I’ve just shattered the only life she knew.