Chapter 5

"Hank, you're amazing," Shelly gasped, her voice full of satisfaction. "You're so much better than that loser at home."

"Of course." Hank laughed smugly. "That bookworm husband of yours could never measure up to me. Baby, when are you going to come clean with him? I can't wait any longer."

"Don't rush it," Shelly purred, her voice dripping with sweetness. "He's away on a business trip, and he's getting at least 70 thousand in bonuses.

"As soon as I get the money, I'll ask for a divorce. Then we'll take the cash and travel the world together."

"70 thousand? That's barely anything," Hank complained, sounding annoyed.

"What do you know?" Shelly laughed softly. "That's the appetizer. Our house is worth at least 3 million right now.

"And his parents left him an old dump that's still worth about 1 million. When we divorce, I'll make sure he walks away with nothing. All of it will be ours."

"Baby, you're a genius."

"Of course. I'm willing to risk it all for our future."

That was it. I couldn't hold back anymore. I slammed my fist down on the table.

For their future, huh? Let me walk away with nothing, huh?

Shelly was truly the "perfect wife."

I vowed to make sure they left with nothing, drowning in debt they would never crawl out of. They would be ruined for life.

I grabbed my phone and carefully saved the video, making sure not a second was missed.

Then I called my private investigator. "Look into Hank and his wife's night shift schedule for me.

"Also, find out which loan shark in town offers the fastest cash and the highest interest rates."

There was a pause on the other end. "Sir, I really wouldn't advise you to mess with that kind of business. Once you're in, it's hard to get out."

I let out a cold laugh. "It's not for me. Someone else needs it."

*****

For the next few days, I stuck to my "business trip" routine.

During the day, I pretended to be in meetings at the partner company, using a new phone card to stay in touch with my boss and coworkers, sending them updates on the "project progress" to keep up appearances.

At night, I stayed hidden away in my hotel room, monitoring everything happening at my house like a phantom, making sure I didn't miss a single detail.

Shelly and Hank hooked up at my place almost every night.

With each passing night, they got bolder and more shameless, not even bothering to hide anymore.

They left their dirty traces on my couch, my dining table, and even my study desk.

With all the footage I was gathering, I was stacking up more and more evidence against them.

I discovered how Shelly slowly siphoned off my cash to buy Hank a 200-thousand-dollar BMW.

I found out she fed me some sob story about her mom needing surgery, scammed 100 thousand out of me, and then dumped it right into Hank's so-called gym business.

I also found out she'd been secretly dealing with those shady loan sharks behind my back.

At first, it was only small loans—in the tens of thousands, sometimes even more.

Shelly used that money to feed Hank's ever-growing vanity. She bought him designer watches, limited-edition sneakers, and luxury handbags.

She was like a puppet, driven by desire, recklessly draining our future to fill Hank's bottomless pit of greed.

Meanwhile, Hank shamelessly enjoyed everything, constantly messing with her head and manipulating her emotions whenever he felt like it.

He would say, "Baby, my friend bought his girlfriend a Hermès bag.

"Shelly, I've been hanging out with some buddies who are all into cars. My BMW is nothing compared to theirs."

Every time, Shelly would grit her teeth and borrow even more money.

I watched her on the surveillance feed, bowing and scraping to those loan sharks over the phone, begging for more money. She was so desperate that she even stooped to taking compromising photos of herself as collateral.

I didn't feel angry; instead, I felt an icy sense of satisfaction.

Go on. Keep it up. Step by step, they would push themselves deeper into the abyss.