Chapter 3
The key slipped into the lock. It turned gently.
A soft click sounded, and the lock opened.
In that instant, my heart seemed to skip a beat.
I pulled open the drawer.
No love letters, no secret gifts, nothing I expected to find.
Right on top, a black phone sat there, silent.
It wasn't the phone Ryan usually carried.
I picked it up and pressed the power button.
The screen lit up, no password.
The wallpaper made my blood run cold.
Ryan and Jessica were locked in a tight embrace, grinning like they owned the world. The beach behind them was bathed in golden sunset light, casting a warm glow over their figures.
I'd never seen Ryan smile like that, so free, so wild.
And I'd never seen Jessica look at someone with that kind of intensity, her eyes were brimming with infatuation and adoration.
I opened the photo album.
Every single picture was of them together.
In every shot, they were side by side, on snowy mountains, in ancient towns, wandering foreign streets.
From two years ago right up to last month, the memories stretched on.
All those times Ryan told me he was at company retreats, on business trips, or out entertaining clients, and they are all just covers.
Turned out, she was right there by his side on every single trip he took.
So I was the clueless idiot, left completely in the dark.
I closed the album, my fingers trembling as I opened WhatsApp.
There was only one contact in his WhatsApp, Jessica.
Their chat history hadn't been deleted. The screen was packed with their messages, overflowing from top to bottom.
[Ryan, your wife was nagging me again today. She keeps saying you don't spend enough time with her,] Jessica texted.
[Why bother with her? She's just another clueless woman. If her family couldn't help me land some deals, I would've dumped her long ago,] Ryan replied.
This conversation was from six months ago.
[Honey, I've got my eye on a new bag. When are you gonna get it for me?] Jessica asked.
[Send me your Venmo. Buy it yourself. And make sure she doesn't find out,] Ryan replied.
This conversation was from three months ago.
[I messed with her today, told her you only gave her a thousand for living expenses, and she totally believed it. She even looked all touched. She's such an idiot, way too easy to fool,] Jessica texted.
[That's my smart girl. Keep stringing her along. Once I finish up her dad's project, I'll lay it all out for her,] Ryan replied.
This conversation was from today.
Every word, every sentence, was like a venom-tipped knife, slicing right into my heart with ruthless precision.
Ten years of friendship, three years of marriage, everything I believed in was nothing but a meticulously planned con and exploitation in their eyes.
To them, I, Sophie Grant, was just a gullible fool, easy to manipulate, naive, and only valuable for my family's connections.
I kept swiping the screen, my fingers icy and nearly numb.
Underneath the phone, I noticed a document envelope.
I slid it out, flipped it open, and pulled out whatever was inside.
It's just a few documents.
The first document was proof of Ryan's asset transfer.
Turned out, he'd been siphoning off our joint savings bit by bit over the past year, funneling it all into some random account I'd never even heard of. The total was over 240 thousand dollars.
The second document was a real estate purchase contract.
He'd bought a spacious luxury apartment in another city, paid cash, no mortgage, and the deed was in Jessica's name.
And the third document was an accident insurance policy.
Ryan was the one who took out the policy.
The person insured was me, Sophie Grant.
And in the beneficiary section, two words jumped out at me, clear as day, Jessica Hart.
The coverage amount was 1.67 million dollars.
The policy was set to take effect tomorrow.
It was like a thunderclap in my mind.
The last string holding my sanity together snapped for good.
It wasn't just about scamming me for my money or using my family's status.
They wanted me dead.
A bone-chilling cold shot up my spine, making me tremble all over, not from anger, but from pure, paralyzing fear.
I always thought I was living in a world of sunshine and happiness.
But now I realized I'd been standing right on the edge of a cliff, and the two people I trusted most were about to shove me off, grinning, ruthless, like it was all just a game to them.
It took what felt like forever for me to stop shaking and pull myself together.
I didn't cry. Tears are for people who actually deserve them.
They're not worth a single tear from me.
I took out my phone and carefully snapped pictures of everything in the drawer, every document, every chat record, making sure I captured every detail.
Then I put everything back the way it was, locked the drawer, and tucked the spare key back into my jewelry box.
After all that, I sat in the dark study, waiting quietly.
Was I really waiting for something?
I was waiting for my heart to slowly rebuild itself from the wreckage, piece by piece.
Until it became a cold, unfeeling stone that would never again beat for anyone.
I didn't know how long I'd been sitting there when my phone rang.
The caller ID showed Ryan's name.
I looked at that familiar name, hit answer, and switched to speaker.
Ryan's voice came through, gentle as always, but with a barely noticeable hint of probing.
"Sophie, did you have dinner with Jessica? Did she mention anything?"
The bell of judgment is ringing.