Chapter 13
Hope
My leg bounces restlessly beneath the dining table as I wait for Adrian to return from dropping Zac at his friend’s house. He’s been gone for thirty-five minutes, long enough that every tick of the clock on the wall seems to grow louder, heavier, counting down to the inevitable.
The moment he steps through the front door, everything will change.
Our family. Our lives. Our future. All of it irrevocably altered by the selfish choices he made and dragged into our world.
He won’t see it coming, and that’s the only thing that brings me any satisfaction.
All of his carefully constructed lies are about to unravel, and he’s going to find out real soon just how serious things are about to get.
I anxiously flick through the file one last time, checking that everything is still there.
I’ve been through it more times than I can count, yet the weight of it never lessens.
Kaden did a thorough job—so meticulous, so damning, that there’s no room left for doubt, or space for Adrian to deny a single thing.
I’m almost curious to hear what excuse he’ll attempt to spin, even with the evidence of his betrayal staring him straight in the face.
He has never been one to take accountability or apologise first. It’s one of the few traits of his that has never sat well with me, something I chose to overlook each time we argued, convincing myself it was simply part of Adrian’s arrogant and stubborn nature.
But he won’t get away with it this time.
This time, I expect him to plead, maybe even beg for mercy—mercy that I’ll never give.
He walks through the door five minutes later, and my heart immediately begins to pound against my ribs. He doesn’t notice me seated at the dining table right away, too focused on whatever’s on his phone.
Part of me wonders how I ever missed the signs. I can’t even remember if he was on his phone more than usual, or if he’d started slipping in and out of the house with flimsy excuses to run errands. Maybe I was blind. Maybe I was na?ve. Or maybe my husband was simply very good at hiding things.
I don’t have time to dwell on it because when he finally looks up and our eyes lock. He freezes—just for a second, before a tentative smile pulls at his lips.
“Hey, baby. I wasn’t expecting to see you up and already dressed this early on a Sunday morning.”
“Well, I did promise you a surprise. Couldn’t keep you waiting now, could I?”
He lets out a low chuckle. “That’s right. I’m looking forward to this so-called surprise you have for me.”
How easy it would be to wipe that irritating grin off his face right now. The temptation is almost unbearable, but I won’t. Not when I’m determined to give him one last chance to confess.
“Before we get started, I’m just curious—at any point in our marriage, did you ever feel unsatisfied with our sex life, or wish for something more?”
He frowns. “What a random question… Why are you asking?”
“As I said, I’m just curious. I know we’re not always intimate, and I admit I can be a little… unenthusiastic at times. I just want to know if it’s ever been an issue for you.”
“Our marriage is more than just sex, babe. You know that. I mean, sure, it would be nice to make love more than a few times a month, but what we have is enough for me.”
“So you’d tell me if you wanted more? You wouldn’t be… say… tempted to get it from someone else?”
“What?! How could you even think of something like that?!”
“I just want to know if you’d always be honest with me about it?”
His frown deepens. “Hope, what the hell is this?”
“It’s me asking questions I’ve been curious about.”
“I can see that, but I’m just confused. What has brought this on?”
It’s probably useless at this point to get him to come clean. He’s lied to me for so long, I have no doubt he’d take his secrets to the grave if he could. Good thing, though, I’ve already uncovered them thanks to a very considerate stranger.
He’s had his chance to tell the truth, and he blew it. I see it clearly now: he’d rather live a lie than be an honest, decent man. And I’m done. I want out. To hell with him.
I lift the file resting in my lap and fling it across the table towards him. He glances at it, a shadow of confusion and worry in his expression, but makes no move to reach for it.
“You want to know what’s triggered this conversation? Open it. See for yourself.”
His eyes linger on the folder for a beat longer, staring at it as though it’s an alien object that might sprout fangs and claws at any second. And just when I think he won’t reach for it, he extends his arm and lifts the file from the table, opening it—slowly, deliberately.
It takes only a few seconds of looking at the first photo before he snaps the folder shut and slams it onto the table, as though he has a right to be mad.
“What the fuck is this!”
“It’s your surprise.”
“Where did you get that?”
“Does it matter? What’s important is what’s in that folder. So I’ll ask you again,
Adrian—will you be honest with me?”
The Adam’s apple in his throat bobs as he swallows heavily.
“What do you know?” he asks, his voice so soft I almost missed it.
“Nothing more than what’s in that file, which if you bothered to check, is a fucking lot.”
“Hope, I can explain—,” he starts, stepping towards me.
“Don’t you dare come any closer!” I snap, stopping him in his tracks.
“If you’d just let me explain everything—please, baby. It’s not what you think.”
“I had no idea you were a mind reader on top of being a liar and a cheat,” I say, my voice calm but stripped of any warmth.
“That’s some talent you have there, husband.
But don’t waste your breath.” I grab the file and dump its contents onto the table, papers scattering across the surface.
“I think these photos and screenshots of your text messages to your mistress are pretty self-explanatory, don’t you think? ”
Funnily enough, he doesn’t so much as glance at the stack of evidence spread out before him. Instead, his eyes stay locked on mine, as if he’s trying to silently communicate something I have no interest in hearing.
“I want to know where you got those?”
“And I told you, where they came from doesn’t matter.”
“It was a mistake, one I deeply regret. I ended it with her a while ago. She meant nothing to me.”
“Oh, so you risked everything, our marriage, our family—for someone who meant nothing to you. Wow, Adrian. I don’t know which is worse: your stupidity or your complete lack of respect for us. You couldn’t even come up with a better lie. I’m utterly disappointed.”
“Baby, please… listen to me. She was the one who kept pursuing me, even after I rejected her time and time again. But working so closely with her in the classroom nearly every day made it hard to keep my distance. I really tried, Hope. You have to believe me.”
“And what? She wore you down, found your weak spot, and you just caved, was that it? Once you finally had a taste, you couldn’t stop, huh, Adrian?
You fucking carried on for five months, sleeping with her while coming home, sitting at our family table, on our couch where we watched TV together, sleeping in our bed—all the while betraying us.
And still, it wasn’t enough to make you stop? ”
“No, it wasn’t like that. I never wanted to be with her—I wanted you. I always wanted you. But we were rarely intimate; you were always too tired whenever I tried to initiate sex. I just wanted a little more effort, a little more affection from you.”
“So you fucking another woman was all my fault? Are you really pulling the victim card right now?”
“No—I’m not. I… it’s not coming out the way I want it to. Can I just come closer? I hate that you’re so far away.”
“Come any closer, I swear to God, Adrian. I’ll flip this fucking table on you.”
“Hope, I’m not blaming on you. This was all on me. But I just wanted you to know why I did it. I’m only human, baby. I fucked up and made a huge mistake.”
“Try again, Adrian! That’s classic, textbook shit for selfish, lying, cheating bastards. Surely you can do better than that!”
“It’s the truth, I swear! I made the biggest mistake of my life and I’ll do anything to make it right.”
“A five-month affair wasn’t some mistake, you arsehole. Everything you did was intentional. You chose to lie and deceive me. You chose to sleep with another woman. You chose to keep going back to her, time and time again. And you chose to keep your affair a secret—long after it ended.
“You hid things from me for months. You deleted messages. You met her in secret, at carefully chosen times and places. Those weren’t slip-ups, Adrian. They weren’t accidents. They were choices you made willingly.”
“How can I make this right? I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to lose Zac. Please, Hope. Tell me what I can do.”
“I want you to leave. I want you to leave this house. Find somewhere else to stay tonight, because I can’t be under the same roof as you right now.”
“Where am I supposed to go? We have no family here.”
“And whose fault is that? You were the one who decided to move us here. Come to think of it, it all makes sense now—why you were so eager to leave Sydney in such a hurry. She told you she was pregnant, and you panicked. So you ran. You packed up our lives and disappeared so no one would find out.” I lean forward, my palms gripping the edge of the table so tightly.
“Tell me. Is the baby yours?” I ask, my voice shaking with fury.
“I honestly don’t know. All I do know is that I wasn’t the only man she was sleeping with.”
“Of course you weren’t. Because she already had a boyfriend.”
“How would you know that?” he asks, curiously. “Wait, was he the one who gave you that file?”
“This file was put together by a private investigator.”
“You had a PI follow me?”
“Again, not important. What is, though, is that I now know everything.”
“What are you going to do? Are you going to leave me?”
“All I know right now is that I need you gone, so I can think about what my next steps are.”
“Please don’t leave me. I beg you. I don’t want to lose you. I can’t live without you in my life.”
“You should’ve thought of that before you decided that another woman’s attention, was worth more than the hurt you’ve caused this family.”
“It wasn’t worth it. None of it was. I fucked up, and I’m so sorry. But I’m not giving up on us, Hope. I’ll give you space for now, but mark my words, I’m going to make this right. Even if it takes me years to rebuild your trust.”
“I will never trust you again, Adrian. You can pray for forgiveness if you want, but you’ve destroyed us, and that damage can’t be undone.”
“No, I don’t believe that. We love each other too much to just give up. Give me time, baby. I’ll show you I’ve changed. I’ll never hurt you again. I promise you.”
“I don’t think I have it in me to try. I’m sorry. I need you to pack your things and leave now. I’ll call you to arrange a time to see Zac. But you need to give me some space.”
He nods slowly, as if willing to let it go for now, but I know deep down he isn’t finished yet. I know he’ll be back—pleading, begging for me to let him come home. But there’s no chance of that happening. I won’t give him another chance to hurt us.
By the time I call him to collect the rest of his things, Zac and I will already be gone—back to Sydney, back to our home, where we’ll be surrounded by the people we trust and love.
And as for Adrian, I don’t care what he does from here on out, because if there’s one thing I know for certain, it’s that I will never let him or another man make a fool of me ever again.