Chapter 2
Waiting around was unbearable, so I messaged Lailah Wilcox, the girl in the comments who claimed she could help expose Henry.
Her profile photo showed a stunning woman with an incredible figure. Even more interesting, her location tag read Auremburg, the very city our family trip was supposed to end in.
I sent her Henry's WhatsApp contact.
To be honest, my palms were sweating.
Henry and I met back in college. We dated for eight years and got married right after graduation.
Once we were married, I became a full-time housewife.
More than a decade slipped by in the blink of an eye. Our marriage had always seemed stable. I'd never once suspected he might cheat.
But Henry had always been arrogant. And with me stuck at home day after day, I gradually faded into the background.
He got used to my presence. Took me for granted.
I'd had my own career once. But after our second child was born, Henry and Cassidy never stopped pressuring me.
"Kids need their moms. Only moms can take care of them!" they'd say.
I caved and quit my job.
Once I stepped into that role, there was no way back out.
I wasn't just raising the kids. I was running errands nonstop, for Henry, for Jagger, for Cassidy. From morning to night, I was on my feet.
Somehow, I'd been reduced to a full-time, unpaid domestic worker, with no say in the matter.
Every dollar I spent was monitored by Henry.
If I wanted to buy anything beyond basic necessities, I needed his approval first.
Meanwhile, Henry never lifted a finger. He couldn't even keep track of his own socks.
This summer break, he suddenly suggested a family trip to "relax."
The timing worked. Daniel had just finished middle school, and Abram had graduated from elementary school. Our schedule was wide open.
He dumped all the planning on me, so I had to put together a trip for the whole family, Henry, Jagger, and Cassidy included.
I spent half a month getting everything ready.
I handled everything, from booking hotels to picking out places to visit.
Henry didn't care. Neither did Jagger, Cassidy, Daniel, or Abram.
Honestly, things were a total mess right now.
Just then, Cassidy called again. "Kayleigh, where are you? Abram has diarrhea! I told you to apologize already. Weren't you listening?"
Through the phone, I could hear Abram crying hysterically.
"Mommy! Mommy!" he sobbed, over and over again.
My heart clenched, but I couldn't let myself cave now.
"Tell him to come pick me up," I said.
Henry snatched the phone from Cassidy and barked, "Kayleigh, it's just booking a hotel! I already found one! Come if you want, or don't, whatever!"
He hung up on me, just like that.
I couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh. He was unbelievable.
How can he be so clueless and still act like he's totally justified?
I kept an eye on the clock, waiting for Henry to come pick me up.
I had everyone's ID cards with me. Let's see how Henry plans to check in without them.
It was already dark outside.
I found a sofa tucked away in a corner of the service area and settled in to rest.
I tapped on Lailah's profile picture, just wanting to check in and see if there was any update.
But the moment I hit send, I realized she'd already blocked me.
I was totally baffled.
I opened up Circlo and saw that my post was flooded with hate.
[This is just clickbait, report it!]
[It's all fake, don't waste your time!]
[Your husband dumped you and you're still posting? Stop the act already.]
I was already pissed off, and seeing all those comments just made me even more pissed.
What really got under my skin was that the comments pinned to the top were all from Auremburg locals.
Just as I was about to fire back at every single one of them, Henry showed up.
"Kayleigh, are you doing this on purpose?!" he shouted.
As soon as he spotted me, he slapped me across the face.
"You took everyone's ID cards with you, and you even canceled the hotel reservation on purpose?" he yelled. "Are you trying to leave the whole family stranded with nowhere to go?
"Abram got sick from eating ice cream in this heat. if you hadn't insisted on having it, none of this would've happened! You did this on purpose, right? You wanted to ruin our whole trip!"
He tore into me, unleashing a barrage of accusations without holding back.
I couldn't tell if I was dizzy from his slap or just from all the crap Henry was yelling at me.
He was the one who left me here first, and now somehow everything was suddenly my fault.
"What do you want?" I said.
I held my face, just looking at him.
"Hand over the ID cards! If you really don't want to stay with me, then let's get divorced!" Henry snapped.
There was a hard, unforgiving glare in his eyes. I'd never seen him look at me like that before.
He'd never even brought up divorce before. There should be a reason he's acting like this now.
"Seriously, you two? Is this really worth talking about divorce over?" Cassidy said.
Cassidy pulled us apart, then turned on me. "Kayleigh, Henry came all the way back to get you. Why are you still sulking? Just let it go and stop making a fuss!
"Yeah, seriously, stop making a scene! Abram's still burning up, just get us back to the hotel, settle down, and then head to the hospital!"
My father-in-law, Jagger, backed her up right away.
Somehow, every single problem was pinned on me.
All this chaos, apparently, it was all because of me.
Henry jumped in before I could say anything.
"Don't bother. Just head back on your own. After this trip, we're done, divorce papers and all," he said.
His face was stone cold, not a trace of doubt. He was dead serious.