My defiance was the final straw. They erupted.
“How did our family end up with a troublemaker like you?” my mother-in-law shrieked, her previous support forgotten. “Haven’t you brought us enough shame for one day?”
‘This is ridiculous!”
My father-in-law, his face purple with rage, strode forward and slapped me across the face.
‘You’re a hen that can’t even lay an egg!” he roared. “Only my son would be stupid enough to treat you like a :reasure. And you’re still not satisfied?”
The blow was powerful, my cheek instantly stinging with a fiery pain. My mom, seeing me struck, rushed t my side, shielding me with her body.
‘How could you hit my daughter? We can talk this out!” she cried.
My own father, mortified by the scene, just wanted it to end. “Claire, listen to me. Whatever the problem is you and your husband should discuss it in private. Why make a public spectacle like this?”
Thomas has been so good to you…”
Through the storm of accusations and pleas, I stood unshaken.
My voice cut through the noise, calm and measured. “You all want to know why I’m doing this, don’t you?”
looked at my mother-in-law. “Mom,” I said, using the term for the last time. “Why don’t you tell them?”
The room fell silent as everyone remembered that her sudden change of heart was the catalyst for all of
his. What had she seen on that phone?
My mother-in-law covered her face, her body shaking with sobs. “Claire, please, don’t say any more. It’s our family that has wronged you… I’m so sorry…”
She beat her chest in despair. “What a disgrace. How did I raise such a son? I can’t show my face in public ever again…”
Now everyone was thoroughly confused.
A flash of panic crossed Thomas’s face before he masked it with indignation. “Mom, have you been posses- sed? What are you babbling about?”
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At that moment, I raised my phone. “Whether she’s babbling or not,” I announced, “you’re all about to find out
I angled the screen so everyone could see.
It was security footage.
It showed Thomas, his arms wrapped intimately around another man in the stairwell, pressing him agains the wall. They were locked in a passionate kiss. One of Thomas’s hands was gripping the man’s hip, the othe wrapped tightly around his waist. His voice, captured by the camera’s microphone, was a low growl.
‘God, I’ve missed you, baby…”
The video ended. The room was utterly silent. Then, chaos.
My mother-in-law was openly weeping, humiliated. My father-in-law’s eyes rolled back in his head, and h
collapsed, unconscious.
Oh my God… what the hell did I just see?” one of the colleagues gagged. “Thomas… he’s… oh, I think I’n Jonna be sick…”
Thomas himself was white as a sheet. He lunged for the phone, his face a mask of terror.
Where did you get that?” he screamed.
Claire, what are you doing? This is fake! It’s Al! You’re setting me up!”
sidestepped him easily, my voice like ice. “That’s what I’d like to know. How did it come to this? I didn’ vant it to be this ugly, Thomas. You’re the one who forced my hand. So now everyone gets to see exactl
what you are.”
).
The chaos subsided into a stunned silence. Every eye was on me.
‘At first, I did suspect you and Jenna,” I began, my voice clear and steady. “But then, building managemen old me something interesting. Jenna’s apartment has a unique layout; a service staircase that connects directly to the 30th floor.”
‘That’s when I realized Jenna was just a decoy. A sick child is the perfect excuse for a doctor to make freq uent visits. Your real target was upstairs. Your real target was Lily.”
“But there was a problem with that theory. The night we fought, I checked Lily’s social media. She had post- ed pictures from a trip two cities over. How could she know the details of our argument? That’s when I knew something was wrong.”
“Lily kept dropping clues, almost as if she wanted me to think it was her. But she made a mistake. She didn’t know the layout of the 29th floor. Our next-door neighbor has been having packages stolen, so he installed a hidden security camera over his doorframe. The angle is tricky, but it just so happens to perfectly capture the stairwell landing. I asked to see the footage. And I found what I was looking for.”
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My gaze fell on Jenna, then Lily. “That man in the video is your brother, isn’t he? Or perhaps I should say, your mutual brother, Chris.”
“Your family values sons over daughters, doesn’t it? You two have been catering to his every whim your who le lives. It’s no surprise you’d sacrifice your own reputations to help cover up his dirty little secret.”
My eyes finally landed on Thomas. “You really went to a lot of trouble, didn’t you? All this elaborate decepti on just to cheat on me. You are truly disgusting.”
With that, Thomas finally snapped. He lunged forward, snatched the phone from my hand, and smashed it or the floor.
‘No! It’s not true! They’re all lies! You’re slandering me!”
But I was prepared. I pulled out my backup phone and played another file.
I knew you’d deny it. So, a few days ago, I had a friend borrow Chris’s car. This is from his dashcam. Woul you like to listen?”
A recording filled the room. The sounds were unmistakable, intimate. Then, voices.
Chris’s voice, whining: “How much longer do we have to hide like this? I want to be with you out in the open.’
And then Thomas’s, deep and soothing: “Soon, baby. I’m working on it. I’m just worried about my parents They wouldn’t be able to handle it. I mean, I never thought I’d fall for a guy either…”
Chris snorted. Thomas’s voice turned playful. “Hey, it’s not my fault. Who could resist a seductive little thing ike you?”
The recording ended. Several people in the room doubled over, vomiting.
The farce was over.
Jenna and Lily both rushed to apologize, claiming they were forced into it, that they had no choice. I ignorec hem, shaking off their hands as if they were contaminated.
My parents, furious and ashamed, demanded an immediate divorce. They insisted that all marital assets gc o me. My in-laws, disgraced, didn’t dare to argue.
As I was leaving, Thomas made one last, desperate attempt to speak to me. He was met with another sharp slap.
“Get away from me, you filthy animal.”
I never saw him again after that day.
But news has a way of traveling. The story, inevitably, got out. The hospital, citing damage to its reputation, fired him immediately. His parents, unable to bear the shame, disowned him and moved to another city.
Through it all, he clung to the belief that his love for Chris was real, that they could rebuild their lives togeth-
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But Chris was just playing a game. Once the scandal broke, he vanished without a trace, protecting his own
name.
Overnight, Thomas lost everything-his career, his family, his lover. He became a pariah, aging ten years in a
matter of weeks.
But what did any of that have to do with me?
My life was just beginning.
