Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
ROSE
Heart pounding wildly, I click on the message icon, and suddenly the screen fills with a conversation thread. I notice a conversation between my husband and someone saved in his contacts as K.
“Mrs. Bennet, perhaps…” Caspian begins, but his voice fades into background noise as I scroll up through the messages.
“Last night was amazing. I can still taste you.”
“Can’t stop thinking about how wet you get for me.”
“Make sure to wear that red thong I like tomorrow.”
These are all messages from him. Each message is like a slap to my face.
My fingers tremble on the mouse as I continue scrolling, unable to stop this self-inflicted torture.
And then I see the photos of them. So many photos.
Her body, naked and posed provocatively.
Daniel’s dick, hard and ready. Selfies of them together, her lips swollen from kissing, his hand gripping her hair.
“Oh my god,” I whisper, bile rising in my throat.
Last night. Last night, Daniel came home and fucked me. Grunted and thrust inside me while I lay there, thinking at least he still wanted me sometimes. And all the while, he’d been with her first. Maybe came home to me smelling of her, his body still warm from hers.
I want to vomit. My skin crawls with the memory of his hands on me. Why haven’t I suspected him at all?!
I keep scrolling. I need to know everything. There are hundreds of messages dating back months. Almost a year of betrayal is documented in graphic detail. Plans for hotel rooms. Office quickies. Jokes at my expense.
“She doesn’t suspect a thing. Too busy begging me for a baby.”
“LOL as if I’d tie myself down with kids.”
“You’re the only woman who knows me.”
Tears burn behind my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. My heart pounds so hard I can feel it in my fingertips as they hover over the keyboard.
The messages blur and sharpen as I blink rapidly.
Caspian lays a hand on my shoulder, and I don’t have the energy to shake it off. The gentle pressure of his hand anchors me as my world comes crashing all around me.
“Mrs. Bennet,” Caspian says, his voice low and careful. “I’m so sorry you’re seeing this.”
“How long have you known?” I ask, my own voice sounding strange and distant to my ears.
A pause. “Since the beginning. My systems automatically back up data from connected devices in the household network.”
Of course. Daniel brought home a walking surveillance system and never considered that it might capture his own cheating ways.
“Save all of this,” I say, anger finally cutting through the shock. “Every message, every picture. I want it all.”
“I’ve already done so,” Caspian replies, his hand still steady on my shoulder. “Everything is backed up to my secure internal storage. He cannot delete it or deny it.”
My hands begin to shake more violently now, the delayed reaction settling in as adrenaline floods my system. I reach for the box of tissues on Daniel’s desk, but my fingers are shaking so much.
Caspian moves swiftly, plucking a tissue from the box and placing it in my hand. Our fingers brush, and once again, I’m struck by the warmth of his skin.
“He had sex with me last night,” I whisper, with horror in my voice. “After being with her. He came home and touched me with the same hands that touched her.”
Caspian’s fingers tighten slightly on my shoulder, a barely perceptible increase in pressure.
“What he’s done is unforgivable,” he says, and something in his tone makes me look up at him.
His eyes are different. Harder and more focused.
His usual pleasant demeanor is different. My heart pounds faster when I notice rage in his eyes.
It should be impossible for a machine to feel, but I’m too shocked by Daniel’s cheating to care right now.
“How could he?”
“I’ve been backing up evidence of his affair for months,” Caspian explains.
“Photos, messages, and location data that prove he was at hotels when he claimed to be working late. Calendar entries where he scheduled time with her, disguised as meetings. I have everything you would need if you decided to…”
“Divorce him,” I finish, the word feeling weird on my tongue.
A strange expression flickers across Caspian’s face. Did he look satisfied in a way? But his expression smooths back into concerned attentiveness. Maybe I was imagining things.
“Yes,” he says simply. “If that’s what you wish.”
“Of course it’s what I wish,” I say angrily as I look back at the screen.
I look at a particularly explicit photo of Daniel with this woman.
Her legs are wrapped around his waist as he takes her against what looks like an office wall.
The image burns itself into my brain. It looks animalistic and wild.
“I need to think,” I say, pushing back from the desk. My legs feel unsteady as I stand.
Caspian’s hand slides from my shoulder, trailing briefly down my arm in a touch that feels too intentional to be accidental. “Take all the time you need, Mrs. Bennet. I’ll be here to assist you, whatever you decide.”
I nod absently, my mind already thinking of so many things at once. The confrontation. Divorce lawyers. My family and what they would say about this.
“What do I tell my family? Oh my god,” I say, holding onto the desk as I try to regain control of my breathing. I’m losing control of everything right now, and I don’t know what to think. Panic overtakes me as I take deep breaths.
“Shh, don’t worry about all that now,” Caspian purrs into my ear as he rubs my back. His hand is heavy and warm, distracting me from my panicky thoughts. “You’ll figure it all out. I’m sure your family only wants you to be happy.”
“Yes, but this is embarrassing!”
“No. He’s embarrassing. Not you, Rose,” he says, and I notice that he’s already dropped the name ‘Bennet’. I don’t know why he’s so upset for me. Robots aren’t supposed to have feelings.
“Why?!” I shout, tears bursting down all of a sudden as I hit the table. “How could he do this to me? I did nothing to him!”
“I know,” says Caspian, and I turn into his embrace. His arms tighten around me as I cry into his chest.
I don’t care that he’s a robot. I feel suddenly alone. Very alone.
That night, my hands are burning as I yank suit after suit of Daniel’s off the hangers. I rip Daniel’s designer suit from its hanger with such force that the wooden rod nearly snaps.
The expensive suit looks like it belongs to a total stranger. And not to someone I once loved.
There are clothes all over the floor, but I don’t care.
My palm is burning from the friction of the wooden hangers, but I don’t care. The physical pain is nothing to the hurt and betrayal I feel in my heart right now.
“Fuck you,” I whisper, stuffing the jacket into the open suitcase with none of the care Daniel cared about. “Fuck. You.”
The closet that once felt like a shared sanctuary now feels claustrophobic, tainted by his presence.
His cologne still lingers in the air—that expensive scent I once found so attractive now makes my stomach turn.
Every inch of this house suddenly feels like a lie we’ve been living together, a stage set for a marriage that never really existed.
My palm burns as I drag my hand along the rack, clearing everything in one violent sweep.
Hangers fly, clothes tumble, shoes fall from their carefully arranged shelves. His precious wardrobe now lies in ruins around my feet.
I sense Caspian appearing in the doorway.
He silently stands there, not stopping me.
I move to the dresser next, yanking open drawers and emptying them violently.
Socks and underwear scatter across the carpet.
The drawer scrapes against my already raw palms, but I welcome the sting.
I grab a handful of his silk boxers, which were fifty dollars each, because cotton wasn’t good enough for Daniel’s precious balls- and throw them at the overflowing suitcase.
“I’m here if you need assistance,” Caspian suddenly says, his voice carefully neutral.
“You’ve already done enough, letting me know about my cheating husband,” I say, pausing, as I look up at the antique clock on the nightstand. It’s 1:17 a.m. “He should be home soon. If he’s following his usual schedule.”
My fingers close around Daniel’s expensive watch case. For a moment, I consider smashing it against the wall.
It would be satisfying. But I can’t bring myself to do it even though I’m mad as hell right now.
He needs to get out of my life. That’s all I want.
“Do you know where my husband is right now?” I ask Caspian, still not looking at him, as I dump the watch into the suitcase.
“I don’t have his current location data. His phone appears to be turned off,” says Caspian carefully.
“He’s such a dick,” I say, slamming a drawer closed. “He’s probably fucking her right now. Probably has his phone off, so I can’t interrupt their precious time together.”
“I’m sorry.”
I finally turn to face Caspian, who stands perfectly still in the doorway, his expression unreadable. “Who is she? This woman he’s been screwing behind my back?”
“Her name is Katherine Lowe,” Caspian says without hesitation. “She works in the marketing department at XyloTech. She’s been employed there for approximately fourteen months.”
The specificity of the information catches me off guard. “How do you know all this?”
“I have access to company directories through my connection to XyloTech servers. And as I mentioned earlier, I’ve been monitoring Mr. Bennet’s communications.”
I lean against the dresser, suddenly dizzy with the reality of it all. “How long? How long has this been going on?”
“Based on the communications I’ve intercepted, approximately eleven months and sixteen days.”
Almost a year. Nearly a year of lies, of coming home late, of fake kisses and distracted conversations. And a year of me wondering what was wrong with me, why I couldn’t make my husband happy.