Chapter 2
After hanging up, Emily picked up her purse and walked out of the room.
She felt she needed to calm herself and sort out her thoughts.
As the door closed and the lock clicked into place, the room fell silent.
Only the sound of the cleaner arriving broke the silence.
William had watched Emily grow up, so when she called, he knew right away that something irreversible had happened.
This time, he came along with the cleaner, wanting to see for himself what was going on.
When he opened the door and saw the mess everywhere and the bedroom door shut tight, his brow stayed furrowed.
"Clean everything up. If any furniture or carpets are dirty, replace them. And prepare a fresh set for Ms. Summers in the room next door," he instructed.
As he finished speaking, William's phone rang. It was Emily.
"William, could you pack up my things? I don't plan on coming back anytime soon. I'm heading out for a while," she said.
After saying that, she hung up and turned on her laptop.
Emily and Brian had been together for eight years. Last night, when he didn't answer her calls or texts, she immediately sensed something was wrong.
Brian was hiding something. No matter how busy he was with his experiments, he'd always send her a message.
This morning, when Brian walked in, the scent of perfume clinging to him made it clear that he'd seen a woman after leaving the lab, and they must've been close enough for the fragrance to linger.
Emily lay back on the bed at her own beauty salon, eyes closed. That rare late night yesterday had left dark circles under her eyes.
'How long has this been going on?' Emily wondered.
She replayed all those days in her mind. Some were sweet, others felt cold and lonely.
A month ago, Brian had come home with a necklace from some fancy brand. It was a brand he'd never cared about before. He wouldn't have known where to buy it unless someone else had taken him there.
Three months ago, Brian claimed he was off to a lecture and disappeared for a whole month. He only stayed in touch with Emily via social media, not sending her a single photo the whole time.
Half a year ago, he came home late one night, looking strange, and that was when their relationship really started to go downhill.
'Why did he say he was late that night?' Emily thought to herself.
Emily searched through their messages, looking for clues in their old conversations.
'Oh, that's right. It was because of a class reunion,' Emily thought to herself.
From that day on, Brian stopped calling, texted her less and less, and started coming home less frequently and always later than before.
"Ma'am," a staff member's voice sounded nearby, checking if Emily was asleep.
Seeing that Emily still had her eyes closed, the staff quietly lit a scented candle and slipped out of the room.
Once the staff member had left, Emily picked up her phone and dialed.
She said, "I want you to dig up everything Brian's been doing these past six months and find out who he spent last night with. You've got one week. Money's not a problem."
Emily didn't care what the person on the other end said. She hung up and closed her eyes again.
'I was so stupid. How could I have missed all those signs?' Emily thought, her grip on her phone tightening.
"Brian, you better not betray me. If you do, then you'll have no one to blame but yourself," Emily said to herself, her eyes still closed, her voice low and tight, like she was barely holding back her anger.
Emily opened her eyes and boarded the flight to Riviera.