"Restructuring," he said. "They had to make cuts."
I didn't think twice. I held him, stroked his back, tried to comfort him.
"Their loss," I murmured. "Someone as capable as you? Companies will be fighting over you."
I believed every word.
Until a young woman showed up at my door.
She was younger than me—mid-twenties, maybe. Pretty, in an unassuming way. But her eyes were old. Tired.
"You're Warren Gilbert's wife, aren't you?"
I nodded, something cold settling in my chest.
"I couldn't stand by and watch you keep being deceived." She took a breath. "So I came to tell you the truth."
Her voice was steady, but her hands trembled slightly at her sides.
"Your husband didn't resign. He wasn't laid off either. He was fired." She met my gaze. "Because when we were on a business trip together, he tried to force himself on me. I fought back. I reported him. Made enough noise that the company had no choice but to let him go."
She paused, something like pity flickering across her face.
"I'm not here to steal your husband, if that's what you're thinking. Honestly? A man like that?" She shook her head. "Run. As far and as fast as you can."
In that moment, I felt the blood drain from my extremities. My fingers went numb. My feet turned to ice.
In my mind, Warren had always been the Gilbert family's golden boy. The perfect husband. He never went out drinking with sleazy friends. Apart from necessary business trips, he was always home.
And yet he'd done this.
Something so vile it defied everything I thought I knew.
I'd been awake all night because of what came after—the explosive fight that had torn through our apartment like a hurricane, leaving nothing but wreckage in its wake.
He denied everything, staring at me like I'd lost my mind.
"Jade, what's wrong with you? Early menopause?"
"Why are you so paranoid lately?"
"After everything I've done for you, how can you not see it? I've been out there busting my ass looking for work, and this is what I come home to?"
We screamed at each other until he stormed out, slamming the door hard enough to rattle the walls.
I stayed behind, stewing in my own rage.
Sleep wouldn't come. I tossed and turned for hours, that forum post burning in my mind like a brand.
No. I'm not letting this go.
I sat up, grabbed my phone, and started typing a reply of my own.