Chapter 3

I didn't sleep a wink last night. Richard came back at six in the morning, bringing me breakfast.

He put a bouquet of fresh roses in the vase.

It was his little ritual. Every morning when I woke up, I would see roses on the nightstand.

He always said it was his way of showing his love for me. But after what happened last night, I could hardly tell which of his words were true and which were false.

"Want me to help you take a shower?" Richard asked.

I hadn't slept a wink last night, and I looked like a total mess.

Just as he always did, Richard came over to me and planted a kiss on my forehead. "I'm sorry. I didn't think about how you felt. Please forgive me."

Richard sounded so sincere that it was hard to believe he was the same man from last night.

He promised, "I'll be gentle with you from now on. If you're not in the mood, I won't ever push you. I love you. For you and this family, I'd do anything."

Richard kept pouring on the sweet talk, but I didn't want to hear a single word he said.

I pushed his hand away and headed back to the bedroom, totally exhausted.

"Get some rest. I'm heading to work," Richard said.

It wasn't until I heard the door that I finally snapped out of it.

If it weren't for the bruises on my arm from Richard's grip, I would have thought last night a dream.

Waking up, the house still looked as warm and happy as ever. But I knew deep down, things would never be the same again.

Even though I was running on zero sleep, I rushed straight to the study.

I could come in here whenever I wanted, but I never snooped around his things, even though he was my husband.

I knew all of Richard's passwords, so I opened every drawer and started going through the files. But I was too naive. How could he have left any evidence? The documents and the computer contained no evidence.

Was I overthinking?

Was it Richard's crazy sex drive? But what was the deal with that guy who showed up last night?

Why did he show up at my house at that hour?

And what about the roses in his hand?

My mind was full of questions, but there were no answers to be found.

I kept telling myself to calm down, that this was not that simple.

Except for his insatiable appetite in bed, Richard would bend over backwards for me. Whatever I wanted, he'd make it happen.

I lived way out in the suburbs, and for three miles in any direction, there was not another house.

I used to wonder why Richard insisted on moving us so far away from his office.

Now I realized this villa wasn't a home but a fancy prison.

I didn't dare think about it too much; the thought made my hair stand on end.

And then I noticed something that made my blood run cold. I couldn't log into the house security system.

Staring at the security feed I couldn't access, a place suddenly popped into my mind: the basement.

I'd only been down there once, right after we moved in. It was so dark and creepy, and I tripped over some junk.

I remembered that time Richard carried me out with a sigh.

"Let me handle all this clutter from now on. You sit back and enjoy the good life, Mrs. Carter," he said.

Now, I was standing at the entrance to the basement again, only to find that I needed a password to get inside. And it wasn't any ordinary door. It was specially rigged.

If I put in the wrong password, the whole thing would seal itself up and send an alert straight to Richard.

It wouldn't open again unless I could prove exactly who I was.

I stood at the entrance to the basement, racking my brain.

I knew all of Richard's passwords, but after everything that went down last night, I wasn't sure if any of them would unlock this door.

The catch was, I only got one try.

"If I get it wrong, whatever. It's probably not anything important in there," I muttered.

I typed in the password and waited, my heart pounding.

I wasn't sure what I was hoping to find. Was I trying to dig up proof that Richard was cheating on me? But deep down, I didn't believe he was.

If a guy could sleep with his wife every single night and still have the energy to cheat, I'd have to give him some serious credit.

The lock beeped, and the door unlocked.

I was thrilled. I couldn't believe the password I entered actually worked.

My hand gripped the doorknob, and I felt a rush of mixed emotions.

I'd used the date Richard and I registered our marriage as the password.

Then I didn't have time to process anything because I found the basement walls covered with my private photos.

I never imagined walking into a room like that.

The room, not big or small, was full of my photos: some in sexy uniforms, some in underwear, and the worst showed me naked in bed with several pairs of leather shoes beside it.

I had no recollection of these photos at all.

I was not someone who took sexy pics of myself.

Although I'd wear something hot for Richard if he asked, I never let him snap any photos.

I couldn't stop shaking. A kind of fear I'd never felt before hit me hard.

In the middle of the room, there was a computer, and it wasn't password-protected.

As soon as I hit play, a video of me with a man appeared.

In the video, I was totally out cold, and that disgusting man was taking advantage of me, doing whatever he wanted.

His face looked oddly familiar. It was the same man who'd walked into our bedroom last night.

There was more than that clip on the computer. Scrolling down, I found many others, including nude photos of me and intimate shots with multiple men.

The screen was plastered with my private photos, making me feel like I'd been thrown into a giant porn site. And the leading lady of that site was none other than me.

I never imagined the truth would be this twisted.