I couldn't stay there another second. I grabbed my jacket and left like I was running for my life.

I ended up at a bar. Walking down empty streets, eyes stinging, tears threatening to fall.

Our marriage was over. I was done with both of them. The woman and the brother.

It was well past midnight by the time I made it back to the home that had once felt warm and safe.

But the moment I saw our wedding photo, every dead memory came rushing back like a blade to the chest, and there was nowhere to hide.

I pulled the photo off the wall and smashed it with my own hands.

The crash was loud. Valerie came running out in a sheer lace negligee.

"Nathaniel, that's enough!"

"So now you're blaming me for betraying you? What about you? Have you ever stopped to think about what you did wrong?"

"When I was lonely and couldn't take it anymore, where were you? When I was scared, where were you?"

Valerie had always been good at twisting things in her favor. She was the one who'd done wrong, yet she always found a way to come out clean.

Not this time. This time, there was no way out.

My eyes were bloodshot, the kind of red that only came from a rage beyond reason.

"So this is what you were wearing when you crawled into Morris's bed to please him, huh?"

When I was drunk earlier, when I watched the surveillance footage, she'd been wearing that same sheer dress to satisfy herself and entertain Morris.

I dug my nails so deep into my palms that they broke the skin. Valerie didn't even flinch at my anger.

"Oh, so that's what you're jealous about!"

"Fine then. Come on!"

She sprawled across the couch without a shred of shame, spread her legs, and put on an expression like she was waiting to be taken.

I felt a humiliation unlike anything I'd ever known. Before I could even react, she snapped at me impatiently.

"Well? Come on! I'm giving it to you right now. Hurry up."

To drive her point home, she reached up and tore away the last scrap of fabric covering her, baring skin that was pale and smooth—except for the marks. Bite marks. Bruises. Left by another man's hands and mouth.

I didn't feel a shred of desire. I felt sick.

"Ugh—"

I bolted to the bathroom and hunched over the toilet, retching for what felt like an eternity.

My body shook uncontrollably with fury. Only then did I truly understand just how shameless and reckless a spoiled wife could become.