Chapter 2

I answered the phone, and Mason sounded a bit impatient. "Molly, what are you up to? Your coworker told me you've taken four days off in a row.

"Every day you skip means less pay. Why aren't you going to work?"

"I've been busting my ass for days. Can't I even get a break?" I snapped back.

My gaze turned icy, and I wasn't holding back like I usually did.

Mason noticed something was off and softened his tone. "Molly, is something wrong?

"I'm not saying you shouldn't take time off, but you know we're not rolling in cash, right?

"I'm out there busting my ass for our future, and all you care about is having a good time, leaving everything for me to handle. I'm your husband, not some robot. I get tired, too."

"Tired, huh?" I snorted. "You say you're tired, but you look way more lively than I do.

"What, are you secretly hooking up with someone behind my back or something?"

Mason shot back right away. "Molly, what are you even talking about? Everyone knows how well I treat you. How could you question my faithfulness?

"I'm a top university graduate, and I married you just like we agreed. Doesn't that prove how much I care about you?

"If you keep acting all suspicious, it's only a matter of time before things fall apart between us."

He was so defensive right now.

After all these years together, he couldn't hide a thing from me. Whenever he was guilty about something, he always threw accusations at me first.

It was like that would somehow make him the good guy.

"Think it through, Molly. Trust is everything in a marriage. I don't want to hear you talking like this again," Mason said.

Just as Mason was about to say more, a loud, middle-aged woman's voice suddenly came through the phone.

She called out, "The water's ready. Come take your bath!"

My brow jumped. Sophia's presence was impossible to miss. But Mason acted like it was nothing. "I'm on a business trip. Just got a lady to massage me.

"Anyway, Molly, I gotta run. Get yourself together and get back to work. We're still in debt, and we can't afford to lose a breadwinner.

"Love you, bye."

I couldn't help but laugh in exasperation.

I grabbed my phone and logged into my alt account, ready to see where Mason was.

Mason loved sharing his life with everyone.

He was always posting updates and showing off on his social media.

When he got into that top university, I was worried he'd start looking elsewhere, so I used my alt to follow his alt to see if he was messing around with other girls behind my back.

But after more than four years of keeping tabs on him, I never caught him doing anything shady.

On his graduation day, he even got down on one knee and proposed. I trusted him after that, so I stopped spying on him.

But now, I locked my eyes on his alt account, obsessively checking every new post.

While I was killing myself with overtime, he was out wining and dining with Sophia, old enough to be my mom, having candlelit dinners, beach vacations, and sunrise hikes.

I was barely surviving, and he was out there living in bliss with her.

He even had the nerve to post, [Every day with the one I love is so calm and cozy.]

Everyone assumed Sophia was his mom, and they kept praising him for being so loyal and family-oriented.

He took advantage of that mix-up to spend time with her out in the open, and nobody gave him any grief for it.

The worst anyone said was that he was a total mama's boy, still tied to his mom's apron strings.

I literally gagged.

I must've been blind. There were times when Mason and Sophia were openly flirting right in front of me, and I just thought he was being nice to her because she was older.

I even felt proud, thinking he was the kind of guy I could count on forever.

Seriously, I should've paid more attention. I was dumber than a rock.

I wiped the mess from my mouth and scrolled to Mason's latest post.

Today, he was about to spend the night at a brand-new hotel with Sophia.

He claimed Sophia had never stayed in a nice hotel before, so he was taking her to experience something nice for once.

People who had no clue were all gushing in the comments: [He's so good to his mom. What a great guy.]

I sneered, pulled up the hotel address, and headed out to bust them right then and there.

When I got to the hotel and was just about to figure out which room Mason was in, a man's hand rested lightly on my shoulder.

Before I could even react, a magnetic voice said, "What a coincidence, Mrs. Pearson.

"Since we've bumped into each other, I want to know when you are planning to pay back the money you owe me."

The guy behind me, chasing his debt, was dressed to the nines in a sharp suit, and he was ridiculously handsome.