Chapter 3
I didn't look back.
An icy smile tugged at the corner of my lips.
Andrew, take a good look.
It was not your call anymore.
It was up to me now.
As soon as I walked out of the hotel doors, my phone buzzed.
A text popped up from a number I didn't recognize.
[The safe in Andrew's study. Use Sophie's birthday as the password. Everything you want is inside.]
I stared at the message, frozen for a few seconds.
It was from an unknown number, with no name attached.
Who could it be?
A friend of Andrew's? Or maybe one of Sophie's enemies?
I didn't have time to think about it. I grabbed a cab and headed home.
The home we'd built together for three years felt like a cold battlefield.
I unlocked the door with my fingerprint and pushed it open.
The house was pitch black, silent enough to make my skin crawl.
In the entryway, the slippers I'd set out for Andrew were still sitting there.
His jacket, the one he'd tossed off without a second thought, was draped over the couch.
Our wedding photo hung on the wall, showing us grinning like nothing could ever go wrong.
Everything looked exactly the same as yesterday.
But only I knew that something inside me had already shattered beyond repair.
I didn't bother turning on the lights.
I went straight to the study and locked the door behind me.
His study was always strictly off-limits to me.
He claimed it was packed with important documents, so I was never allowed to just go in whenever I wanted.
I always listened to him.
Thinking about it now, it was honestly ridiculous.
In a marriage, what could possibly be more important than trust between husband and wife?
I walked up to the hidden safe built into the wall.
It was seriously well concealed.
If nobody had tipped me off, I probably never would've found it in my entire life.
I took a deep breath and started punching in the password.
Sophie's birthday...
I remembered catching a glimpse of her job application form once.
0925.
I tapped those four digits on the keypad.
A soft beep sounded.
The safe clicked open.
My heart dropped straight to rock bottom.
He actually used his side chick's birthday for the safe's password.
Wow, Andrew, you must really be obsessed with her.
There wasn't much inside the safe.
A few stacks of documents, a USB drive, and a jewelry box.
I opened the jewelry box and found a diamond necklace inside.
I recognized the brand. Sophie had worn this exact necklace on last month's magazine cover.
It was worth a fortune.
Turns out, he'd already been lavishing her with expensive gifts behind my back.
I let go of the necklace and picked up the stack of documents.
The first one was a property deed.
A luxury apartment in the southern district, 1,938 square feet.
Sophie's name was on the deed.
It was bought six months ago.
That was the month he claimed he was working nonstop on a project and didn't come home once.
He said he was sorry, and swore he'd make it up to me after the project wrapped up.
I believed him.
I even cooked soup and delivered it to his office building.
Turns out, he wasn't burning the midnight oil at work. He was cozying up with his new girl in their fancy place.
My hands were trembling.
I flipped open the second document.
It was an accident insurance policy.
Andrew was listed as the policyholder.
The one insured was me.
In the beneficiary section, my name had been scratched out.
And in its place, he'd written Sophie.
The change was made just last week.
Right on the day he told me I wasn't allowed at the celebration party.
In that instant, a chill shot straight from my toes to the top of my head.
It felt like my blood had frozen solid.
He cheated on me, moved our money around behind my back.
He even had my death all planned out.
If anything happened to me today, that huge insurance payout would go straight to Sophie.
They could use the money from my death to live happily ever after together.
Heartless.
Andrew, you really were cold-blooded.
I grabbed my phone and took photos of every single document.
I made sure not to miss a single thing, every photo, every video.
I spotted the USB drive.
I plugged it into the computer and found just one video file inside.
I clicked it open.
The video was downright obscene.
The setting was the master bedroom of that luxury apartment in the southern district.
The people in the video were Andrew and Sophie.
The timestamps showed it was filmed throughout the last six months.
I watched with a blank expression, then copied the video to my phone too.
After I was done, I put everything back in the safe, just as it was.
I closed the safe, as if nothing had happened.
I left the study and went back to the bedroom.
I opened the closet, and my suitcase was right there in the corner.
I started packing.
I didn't have much, so it didn't take long before the suitcase was full.
Before I left, I took one last look at this home.
Then I pulled a recorder out of my bag.
It was the one I used when I was a reporter.
I turned it on and slipped it behind the wedding photo frame.
After that, I grabbed my suitcase and walked out without looking back.
As soon as I closed the door, my phone started ringing. Andrew was calling.
I switched my phone to silent and didn't bother picking up.
He kept calling, again and again, just wouldn't let up.
Finally, he shot me a text.
[Julia, where are you? Let's talk. Stop making a scene.]
I stared at those words, stop making a scene, and gave a cold, mocking laugh.
I deleted the message and blocked his number.
Andrew, this game was just getting started.
I was not here to make a scene.
I was going to make sure you lost everything.