Chapter 3The Unwelcome Surprise

Ross and I had been together for almost a decade—three and a half years dating, six years married. We had a beautiful, bright five-year-old daughter.

Two years ago, he’d taken a promotion that required him to relocate. He promised that as soon as he was settled, he’d move Angela and me over to join him.

I waited patiently, never complaining, no matter how exhausting it was to raise our child alone.

But the chat logs told a different story. The night Angela and I were both sick with a fever, he’d claimed he was swamped with work. In reality, he was celebrating Amber's birthday.

The time I got into a car accident and broke my leg, and he said he couldn't get away from the office for Angela's parent-teacher conference, he was actually on a weekend trip with Amber.

And on Valentine's Day, he sent me a simple "Love you" text. To Amber, he sent a screenshot of a reservation for a romantic getaway, captioned, "Forever and always."

Forever and always with her?

Then what was I?

Before seeing those messages, I had never once suspected Ross would cheat. I believed his ambition was for our family, that his loyalty to our marriage was absolute.

But the old saying was true. No woman ever makes it out of her husband's phone alive.

Every message between him and Amber was a knife, twisting deeper into my heart.

The pain was a tidal wave, so powerful it threatened to drown me. I felt the air leave my lungs, my vision tunneling as the world went dark at the edges.

Ross steadied me as I swayed, his voice thick with guilt. "Stella, I'm so sorry. But I swear, nothing physical ever happened between us."

"And by 'physical,' you mean... sex?"

"We didn't."

"So, in your mind, you've done nothing wrong?"