Chapter 504

Olivia

“Your husband is cheating on you. I have proof.”

I blinked in surprise down at the text that was on my screen. It was from an unknown number, without so much as an area code that I recognized.

“Hah. Yeah,” I said out loud, shutting off my phone. “Right.” I shook my head, chuckled, and walked over to the fridge to figure something out for dinner. The bright white light of the fridge filled the dark kitchen, and all that stared back at me was the bare minimum to make some pasta.

“I guess I’ve shirked on the grocery duties,” I muttered. I ran a hand through my hair and sighed; I had been shirking on a lot of duties, actually. Dishes, laundry, cleaning the house… All of it felt so difficult lately.

And Nathan had been at work so late every night that he hardly had the time or energy to help.

But he wasn’t cheating on me. Nathan would never cheat on me. We had made that very clear. And besides, he was my fated mate, my childhood best friend. I knew him better than anyone. I would have smelled another woman on him, too.

Unless…

My gaze slid over to my phone again, which was still sitting in the middle of the counter. Only this time, the notification light was blinking again. I moved over to it much faster than I meant to and picked it up to find that another text had come through.

“Don’t believe me, Olivia? What about all those late nights at the ‘office’?”

I frowned and my fingers began to move of their own accord, typing out a response: “Who are you? This isn’t funny.”

But just before I hit send, I shook my head and deleted the entire text. “No,” I said out loud, tossing my phone back down on the counter. “No, he wouldn’t.”

Suddenly not feeling very hungry, I walked over to the sink and got to work on the dishes instead. The warm, soapy water was like a balm, and the methodic movements of washing the dishes helped to soothe my anxiety.

No, Nathan wouldn’t cheat on me. And I knew him better than anyone; he just wasn’t that type of guy. He loved me.

Even as I repeated those words in my head, though, I couldn’t help but begin to chew my lip nervously. We had been so… distant lately. We hadn’t even really slept in the same bed for more than a few hours in weeks, and we hadn’t made love for even longer than that.

Maybe he was beginning to stray. Maybe he needed a form of emotional support that I just wasn’t giving him.

Out of the corner of my eye, the notification light on my phone blinked again. I cursed under my breath this time, practically throwing a half-washed plate back down into the soapy water so hard that the water splashed up onto the counter.

But I already had my phone in my hand and was sliding the screen to unlock.

A new text stared up at me then, and I let out an audible sigh. Not from the mysterious unknown number, but from Nathan. From my husband.

It was a blurry selfie of him smirking in a bathroom mirror. His shirt was partially unbuttoned, his sleeves rolled up, his tie loosened and his hair was a mess. Normally, seeing him like this would have made me laugh.

Not now, though. Now, just a few weeks after our son’s funeral, seeing him get drunk in what looked to be a run-down bar bathroom just made my eyes mist over with tears.

“Missing you,” the text read. “Call later?”

My hand began to tremble as I looked down at the picture. Here I was, unable to even eat in my own home, and my husband was… out. Drinking. Drunk. With Dan, no doubt. Dan, who had sex with prostitutes while his own wife sat at home alone.

All I could manage was a single emoji—a sad face. And then, with a huff, I set my phone back down.

Gently, this time.

To steady myself, I pressed my palms into the cool marble counter and gripped the edge tightly, as though that would somehow keep me from falling straight off of the earth. I took a few deep breaths to steady myself further, but they were ragged from my heart racing so fast.

“I would know if he was cheating on me,” I whispered. “I would smell another woman on him.”

My wolf hummed in agreement in the back of my mind. “Indeed. I haven’t smelled anything. No perfume, no strange scents, nothing.”

I nodded in affirmation and pushed myself away from the counter. “Right. He wouldn’t… except…” I shook my head, biting my lip as the realization washed over me. “Unless he showered after…”

Just as I was muttering this to myself, the notification light on my phone went off again. I quickly opened it and felt my heart race when I saw another text from the unknown number pop up.

“Look, if you want proof, all you have to do is ask.”

I swallowed and typed out a response. “Who are you?” I asked.

“That’s not important.”

“Can you see me?” As I hit send on that message, I glanced out the kitchen window. Nothing but an empty, amber-lit street stared back at me. No one was here, but just in case, I snapped the curtain shut.

“No,” the unknown number responded. “I can’t see you.”

I let out a shuddering breath before I typed out the next text. “What sort of ‘proof’ do you even have? My husband isn’t the cheating type.”

There was a moment of no response, and then: “I have pictures. He seems to enjoy staring at secretaries and busty bartenders.”

“Send them,” I said against my better judgment.

A moment later, two pictures came through: one of Nathan, surrounded by a ton of other Alphas in a crowd. They were headed to the summit meeting, no doubt, and it appeared as though the picture was taken from amongst a crowd.

And Nathan stood up ahead, staring directly at… a secretary’s breasts. She seemed to be laughing at him, as though he had said something funny. And he wasn’t even trying to hide it.

Then there was the second picture: Nathan, taken from amidst a crowd once again, this time in a smoky bar. He was sitting at the corner of the bar with none other than Dan, and a busty blonde bartender was bending over in front of him.

His eyes were locked on her ass.

As I looked at these two pictures, my heart began to pound even harder and my mind began to race. “Who are you?” I repeated, typing quickly. “How did you even get these pictures?”

Another pause, then: “Is this not enough proof for you?” the unknown sender asked. “If you want more, I’m following him to a brothel right now.”

“No,” I said out loud. I clapped my shaking hand over my mouth and blinked back the tears that threatened to come. No, he wouldn’t…

But when the mysterious caller then sent me a picture of my husband and Dan walking up to a nondescript brick building in the snow, I felt my heart sink even further into the pit of my stomach.