Chapter 1
My wife Emily Carter's best friend, Sophia Miller, was caught cheating, so we went over to try and help them work things out.
Sophia was crying her eyes out, and her husband, David Miller, looked like he was about to explode.
Emily stepped in, trying to smooth things over.
"Hey, you're married, just talk things through," she said.
David snapped, pointing at her. "Shut up! Stop acting like you're some saint!"
I was about to blow up, but what he said next hit me like a bolt of lightning.
David yelled, "You're way sneakier than anyone here. Your husband has no clue, does he?"
I instinctively looked at Emily, expecting her to blow up and snap back.
But she didn't.
Her face went ghostly pale, and she bit down hard on her lip, unable to get a single word out.
*****
The door to David's place was left slightly ajar.
From inside, I could hear a woman's sobs, muffled and coming in fits and starts.
And a man's rough, heavy breathing.
Emily pushed the door open, and I followed her inside.
The living room was a total mess.
Shattered glass cups littered the floor, throw pillows were strewn everywhere, and a photo album had been torn to pieces.
Sophia, Emily's best friend, was sitting on the couch, her hair a mess, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed.
Her husband, David, stood in the middle of the living room, his chest heaving, his eyes so red they looked like they might bleed.
When he saw us, his glare didn't soften at all.
Emily walked over and gently patted Sophia on the back.
She spoke softly.
"Come on, you're married. Can't you just talk things out?
"Did it really have to get this bad?"
Before she could finish, David stabbed his finger toward Emily.
His finger was like a loaded javelin, ready to strike.
"Shut up!" he roared.
His shout thundered through the room.
The air in the living room froze.
"Stop pretending to be the good guy!" he spat.
I frowned and took a step forward.
"David, why are you yelling at her?" I demanded.
David didn't even look at me. He stared Emily down, his gaze full of fury.
There was anger, contempt, and something mocking I couldn't quite put my finger on.
He shouted, "You pull more tricks than anyone here. Bet your husband has no idea, huh?"
Time stood still.
My head went numb, like someone had jammed a steel spike right into my brain.
Instinctively, I looked at Emily.
I imagined how she'd react.
She'd blow up, maybe even smack David right across the face.
Or maybe she'd snap back, demanding to know why he was accusing her of something so ridiculous.
But she didn't.
She just stayed silent.
Emily's face went pale, then paler, until she looked like a sheet of paper soaked through.
She bit down so hard on her lip, even drawing blood.
She stared at David, her eyes wide with shock, fear, and was she begging him?
She couldn't get a single word out.
My heart sank like a stone.
It was like I was plunging into a bottomless abyss.
Sophia's sobs stopped, and she just stared at Emily, stunned.
David let out a harsh, mocking laugh, the sound like sandpaper scraping against my nerves.
"What, cat got your tongue?" he sneered.
"Want me to spill all your dirty secrets to your husband, one by one?"
Emily was shaking.
My voice finally came back to me, rough and raspy. "David, spit it out. What are you really saying?"
He finally turned to me, looking down on me with pity, like I was beneath him.
"James, are you really that dumb, or just playing dumb?" he sneered.
"Your wife and her best friend are cut from the same cloth!
"No, she's way more of a player than Sophia!"
Emily shot to her feet and snatched up her bag.
"Let's go!" she choked out, her voice sharp and thick with tears.
She wouldn't even look at me, just grabbed my arm and yanked me toward the door.
I let her drag me, my legs stiff as boards.
As we passed David, he leaned in and whispered so only the three of us could hear.
"Ask her how familiar she is with Westview Residences, Building 2, Unit 1, Apartment 1701."
I froze on the spot.
But Emily was surprisingly strong, she practically dragged me out the door.
The motion-sensor lights in the hallway didn't come on.
It was pitch black.
I could hear her ragged breathing, and my own heart pounding like a drum.
Back in the car, she started the engine, her knuckles white as she gripped the steering wheel.
We didn't say a word the whole ride.
The air in the car was so thick. I could barely breathe.
I stared out the window at the neon lights flying past, that address echoing over and over in my head.
Westview Residences, on the west side of the city.
It was a place I'd never even heard of.
When we got home, the moment the door clicked shut, I blocked Emily way.
"Why did he say that?" I demanded.
Emily's tears started streaming down her face, big and heavy.
"He's crazy! James, he's totally lost it!" she sobbed.
"Sophia cheated, and now he's just biting at anyone he can!"
She cried so hard, so hurt, like she'd been accused of something she could never have done.
Normally, I would've pulled her into my arms, my heart aching for her.
But tonight, her sobs were like nails on a chalkboard to me.
"What's that address he mentioned?" I asked, my voice steady but cold.
I stared straight into her eyes.
Emily's sobs faltered for a second.
She wouldn't even look me in the eye.
"I...I don't know," she stammered.
"How am I supposed to know what place he's talking about?
"He's just making things up!"
Her sobs got even worse, tears streaming down her face.
"James, we've been married for five years. Would you really believe a stranger instead of your own wife?" she cried.
Five years. That was right.
We met in college, and tied the knot as soon as we graduated.
Everyone always said we were the model couple.
She was always gentle and caring, and I always tried my best for us.
I never once doubted her.
Not even once.
But seeing her go pale and speechless at David's place, it felt like a dagger straight to my heart.
She didn't look like someone who'd just been falsely accused.
It was pure panic, the kind one saw when someone's deepest secret got exposed.
Looking at her tear-stained face, she suddenly felt like a total stranger to me.
That night, she went to bed early.
Or maybe she was just pretending to be asleep.
Her breathing was steady, and she didn't move a muscle.
I lay there, staring up at the ceiling, wide awake.
In the darkness, every sound and sensation felt razor-sharp.
David's furious yelling.
Emily's silence.
That address, burned into my mind.
It all kept replaying in my head, over and over.
Lying there wide awake, I grabbed my phone, opened the map app, and punched in that address.
Westview Residences.
An upscale apartment complex.
About a forty-minute drive from where we lived.
And it was in the opposite direction from her office.
I turned off my phone and glanced at Emily sleeping next to me.
Moonlight slipped through the curtains, casting a faint glow on her face.
The face I'd seen for nearly ten years suddenly felt shrouded in secrets.
Maybe David really was just losing it.
But why was that address so specific?
It was precise down to the apartment number.
No, I couldn't let this go.
I have to check it out myself.
Whatever the truth was, I needed to see it with my own eyes.