Chapter 4

I stood there, surrounded by the ridiculously romantic scene, and felt a sudden, sharp pain in my gut. It wasn' t emotional. It was physical. A cramp so intense it made me double over, gasping for air. The stress, the shock, the grief-it was finally taking its toll.

"Ethan!" Olivia cried out, her performance of a loving wife instantly kicking into high gear. She rushed to my side, her face a perfect picture of concern. "What' s wrong? Are you okay?"

"My stomach..." I managed to get out, the pain making it hard to breathe.

"Oh my god," she said, her voice rising in panic. "Sit down, sit down." She guided me to one of the chairs at the beautifully set table. "I' m calling an ambulance."

"No," I said, shaking my head. It was just a cramp, a brutal one, but I didn' t need a hospital. The last thing I wanted was more drama. "Just... give me a minute."

But Olivia was already in full panic mode, a mode I now recognized as a performance for an invisible audience. "No, I' m not taking any chances. You look pale."

Just then, a figure emerged from the side of the house. It was Alex Thorne. He was still wearing the hospital bracelet, and he held his bandaged arm with a pained expression. My silver cuff was gleaming on his other wrist under the fairy lights.

"I heard shouting," Alex said, his voice filled with a false, noble concern. "I was worried, so I came right over. Is everything alright?" He was playing the part of the concerned friend, the hero rushing to the scene. He was a master manipulator, and Olivia was his star pupil.

"Alex, thank god you' re here," Olivia said, rushing to him. "It' s Ethan. He' s collapsed."

Alex came over and knelt beside my chair, his face a mask of sympathy. "Ethan, old friend. What' s going on? You don' t look so good."

I just stared at him, at the man who had stolen my life, my wife, my future. I felt a surge of pure, unadulterated hatred.

"He needs a doctor," Olivia said frantically. "Alex, can you help me get him inside?"

"Of course," Alex said, his voice smooth and reassuring. He put his good arm around my shoulder, and together, they helped me to my feet. The proximity to him, the smell of his cologne mixed with Olivia' s perfume, made me sick.

They half-carried me into the living room and laid me on the sofa. Olivia was fluttering around, getting a glass of water, a cold compress. Alex stood back, observing the scene with a look of detached interest.

Then, Olivia did something that made the world stop. She thought I was distracted by the pain, my eyes closed. She turned to Alex, her back to me, and he reached out and gently squeezed her hand. She leaned into him, just for a second, a silent, intimate gesture of shared conspiracy. He whispered something in her ear, and a small, secret smile touched her lips before she turned back to me, her face once again a mask of wifely devotion.

It was so quick, so subtle. But I saw it. I saw everything. The casual intimacy, the shared secret. They were a team. They had been a team for years.

A memory flashed in my mind, a painful, searing image. Me and Olivia, on this very couch, a few years ago. I had been sick with the flu, and she had taken care of me, fussing over me, her touch gentle and loving. She had whispered in my ear, "You' re my whole world, Ethan. I' ll always take care of you."

The memory was a ghost, a phantom limb that ached with a pain that was real. That woman was gone. Or maybe she never existed at all. The woman standing in front of me now was a stranger, a liar, a thief.

The full weight of her betrayal crashed down on me, not as a sharp pain, but as a suffocating, crushing weight. She hadn' t just cheated on me. She had erased me. She had made our entire life together a lie, a joke. She had stood beside me, slept beside me, told me she loved me, all while being legally married to another man. My protégé. The man I had trusted.

A strangled sound escaped my lips, a mix of a sob and a gasp. The pain in my gut was nothing compared to the agony in my soul. I was utterly, completely, and irrevocably broken.

In my distress, I shifted on the couch, my foot knocking against a small side table. A glass of water tipped over, shattering on the hardwood floor.

The sound was loud in the quiet room.

Olivia and Alex both froze, their heads whipping around to look at me. Their secret, intimate moment was broken.

Their eyes weren't filled with concern for my health anymore. They were filled with alarm. They had been caught.