The Coma In Her Bed

My husband suffered a massive heart attack mid-thrust inside my best friend.

Now, the ER doctors are clutching his surgical consent forms, waiting for me—the legal wife—to sign.

Over the phone, my mother-in-law shrieked in absolute despair while my best friend sobbed in terror.

I turned a deaf ear to them, taking my time to admire my makeup in the mirror.

There was absolutely no rush. Waiting until I changed into this pitch-black mourning dress to slowly watch his countdown to death wouldn't be too late.

After all, when my parents and my son, Noah, were lying in the morgue, I survived a dead-silent night exactly like this one, shedding tears until my eyes literally bled dry.

Now, it is finally my husband's turn to go to hell and atone for my family.

......

In the emergency room hallway, Dorothy lunged at me like a rabid dog. "You vicious bitch! Why are you so late?! Are you trying to kill my son?!"

Her eyes were bloodshot. She grabbed me by the collar, her spit practically flying into my face.

I frowned, peeling her fingers off me in disgust. "This is a hospital, not a farmer's market. Keep your voice down."

"Mrs. Anderson!" The doctor interrupted us. "The patient suffered an acute myocardial infarction. His coronary artery is completely blocked! If you don't sign right now, he's going to die on the operating table!"

"Sign it! Are you deaf?!" Dorothy shrieked.

I took the pen from the doctor. The tip hovered over the paper, but it didn't drop.

"Doctor," I spoke up, "I just want to figure out—why exactly would an extremely healthy thirty-year-old man suffer such a massive heart attack?"

The air in the hallway instantly froze.

The doctor's mouth hung open in shock. Dorothy's screaming got stuck in her throat like a dead rat.

My gaze slid past them, landing on the woman cowering in the corner.

Madeleine. My best friend of ten years.

From being inseparable in college to standing by my side as my only bridesmaid at my wedding. Once upon a time, Madeleine was the closest person to me in this world outside of my own flesh and blood.

Right now, she was shivering, tightly wrapped in an oversized men's dress shirt. Under the harsh fluorescent light, the fresh, dense cluster of dark purple hickeys littering her neck and collarbone stung my eyes.

Catching my gaze, Madeleine's voice trembled. "Selena..."

"Oh, Madeleine is here too," I said, my tone completely flat. "Dressed like that and waiting outside my husband's emergency room in the middle of the night... must be exhausting for you."

The color drained from her face as huge tears rolled down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, I..."

Looking at her playing the sickeningly pathetic victim, my thoughts were ruthlessly yanked back to a month ago.

Everything falling apart started with a single receipt.

Kyle had claimed he was going on a business trip for three days. But in the pocket of the suit jacket he brought back, I found a rumpled receipt for a limited-edition Van Cleef & Arpels necklace.

The date was the second day of his supposed trip; the location, however, was a local boutique right here in New York.

The suffocating suspicion flooded my nasal passages like a rising tide, nearly drowning me on the spot.

What followed was my secret investigation. Checking his phone, combing through credit card statements, planting a GPS tracker on his car.

I suffered from insomnia night after night, my hair falling out in clumps, desperately praying that it was all just my natural paranoia.

Until Madeleine's birthday party.

That staggeringly expensive necklace was resting perfectly around my best friend's neck.

"That's a beautiful necklace," I complimented, forcing down the trembling in my voice.

Madeleine touched the pendant, her face flushed with coy shyness. "Thank you. Someone very special gave it to me. He said it represents his one-of-a-kind love for me."

Not far away, Kyle was holding a glass of wine, chatting and laughing with people. His gaze shot across the crowded room, intertwining intimately with Madeleine's in mid-air.

That secretive yet blatantly naked exchange of looks was like a rusted serrated knife, brutally sawing at my heart.

I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted the heavy metallic tang of blood.

That very night, I slammed the stack of bank statements and photos I'd uncovered right into Kyle's face.

"So this was your business trip?!" I sneered.

Kyle panicked for a split second before calmly lighting a cigarette and taking a deep drag.

"Since you already know, there's no point hiding it. All you do nowadays is revolve around Noah and complain about trivial things like a bitter housewife. Madeleine understands me. She gives me the peace and relaxation you can't."

"How dare you justify cheating so righteously?" I was shaking with fury. "She is my absolute best friend! Kyle, we are getting a divorce."

"No! I will absolutely not agree to a divorce!" Hearing those words, Kyle instantly lost his nerve, grabbing my hands in a hysterical, tearful panic.

"Selena, I was just talking out of anger! It was really just a meaningless fling! I swear, I'll go cut ties with her completely tomorrow and never see her again! Do it for Noah, please don't destroy this family... I'll handle everything!"

Watching him make blood-oaths with red-rimmed eyes, and thinking of Noah, who had a heart defect and couldn't live without a father, my heart twisted in agony.

In the end, I softened.

I thought he would change, but I was dead wrong.

I accidentally discovered Madeleine's secret social media account and stumbled upon a photo.

In the picture was a little boy, about three years old. He had the exact same striking blue eyes and slightly curly brown hair as Kyle.

The caption read: [My little prince. Daddy came to see you again today.]

Three years old.

That year, Kyle and I had only been married for exactly four years, and my son, Noah, was only two and a half.

That meant while I was still suffering through a painful pregnancy, they were already rolling around in bed right under my nose, even having a child!

My entire marriage, from the very beginning, was nothing but a cesspool built on lies.