Chapter 1. The Betrayal

Katherine POV

I arrived outside of my husband’s office apprehensively. Greg Combs, my husband of five years, had been avoiding my calls since last week.

“Katherine, what are you doing here?” My husband’s secretary asked strangely. Her gaze shifted to Greg's closed door.

“Is Greg around? Can I see him?” I asked tiredly.

“He’s in a meeting. I don’t think he can see you right now.” Her tone sounded weird.

I looked around us. Everyone’s busy but I knew that they were listening. It was common knowledge that my husband Greg forbids me from coming to the office especially since they were busy with the ongoing merger with SF conglomerate, a business giant in robotics owned by self-made billionaire Lucas Sanders.

On ordinary days, I wouldn’t defy Greg’s orders, but not today. The hospital informed me that Greg failed to pay for our daughter’s operation which was due today.

I tried appealing to Lorrie, his secretary.

“I need to talk to him. He was not answering my call.” I said, feeling desperate.

Lorrie looked regretfully at me before shaking her head.

“I am sorry, Katherine.” Her voice trailed off, cluing me in. She's not going to give me some slack, I realized.

But I can't let her words deter me. I need to see Greg. I skipped past Lorrie to slip through Greg's door.

I was relieved to find out it was not locked and I was able to get in. My hands made quick work of the lock so Lorrie can’t follow me.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I successfully shut her out, but the moment I turned around, I instantly regretted my decision because right then, my world began to crumble.

A trail of clothes belonging to a man and a woman greeted me. Then, I heard moans.

Without thinking, I followed the sound until it brought me outside of Greg’s private quarters. He maintains this room for when work piled up.

The door was slightly ajar, allowing me a partial view of a woman’s bare back while she was bouncing on my husband’s lap.

I winced when I heard a familiar voice shout. “That’s it, Greg. F*ster!”

My chest tightened when I realized what was happening.

I stood there frozen, trying to digest what I had been trying to ignore this whole time.

Greg, the man who promised to be a good husband to me, had changed.

It was a gradual change, but since I was busy with our daughter Erin’s hospitalization, I never suspected that he would be having an affair.

But here is my proof. The answer to his long office hours, going out of the house in the middle of the night, endless hours on the phone. It’s all right before my eyes.

I bit my lip as I choked back a sob, feeling like my world collapsed.

I could not breathe while I stared at them doing the deed.

I don’t know how long I stood there, watching them, but as their moans, groans, and d*rty talks filled the air, I could not help feeling like I was dying inside.

I had given up everything for Greg. I had been a dutiful wife. I supported him with his work, and this is what I get - his betrayal.

My world spun at the circumstance facing me and felt like I was going to keel over any moment at the realization that I had been betrayed by the only man I trusted the most.

When they finished, there was silence, and then I heard footsteps. I was so caught up in pain that I was not able to react quickly.

Greg’s stunned face greeted me when he saw me standing outside the door to his private room, my hand covering my mouth.

“What are you doing here, Katherine?” He asked impatiently.

I looked at his naked frame and felt anger welled up inside me, knowing what he had been doing on the other side of the door.

“Why Greg?” I asked, choking back a sob.

Greg looked down but before he did that, I saw a trace of guilt and regret crossed over his feature, but it was gone fast.

“Greg, darling.”

A woman’s familiar voice carried its weight to our senses that we were both jarred into attention.

I looked at her, my husband’s mistress, and my heart squeezed painfully in my chest.

My eyes darted from her to Greg and back to her.

“How could you, Noreen? I trusted you, and believed you were my friend. How can you betray my trust?”

Tears flowed freely down my cheek at this blatant betrayal by the two people I trusted most. Greg, my husband of five years, and Noreen, my friend, confidante and godmother to my daughter, Erin.

“Don’t blame Noreen. She has not done anything wrong.” Greg cut in.

He was defending her.

As if it was not enough, Greg protectively snaked his around her waist, pulling her body to him in comfort.

Greg’s action only showed me that he places Noreen in high regard. Even when we were together, Greg was never protective of my feelings.

I smiled bitterly when it all became clear to me now.

Greg never comforted me when he knew that he made me cry. He even acted like nothing happened the next day.

The comparison made the ache even more painful that I had to raise my head like a drowning man to take a huge gulp of air.

“I am sorry, Katherine. The last five years had been a mistake.” Greg told me with a sincerity that cut through my soul.

I bit my lip, unsure where this is heading.

“What do you mean?”

Greg rustled his hair and sighed.

“I don’t love you anymore.” he told me, looking at me straight in the eye.

“Such perfect timing, Greg. Just when I needed strength for our daughter’s operation today.”

This time, Greg did not even flinch when he told me.

“About her operation. I can’t carry the weight of her hospital bills anymore. We both know that she is not my daughter and I have to stop helping her. If you want, find her father. Find the man who knocked you up five years ago and make him be responsible for his own daughter.” Greg told me, shattering my hopes and my heart even further.