Chapter 3
PART 3:
Instead of becoming a better man, Richard changed.
He started making jokes at dinner parties.
“Lauren’s got me on a military schedule,” he would say, raising his wine glass. “Trying to turn me into a father whether nature agrees or not.”
Everyone laughed.
Lauren laughed too.
Because wives learn how to survive public embarrassment with a soft smile.
Then the jokes became accusations.
He told his mother Lauren was too stressed.
He told his friends she was obsessed.
He told Lauren she was lucky he stayed.
And then came the secretary.
Young.
Polished.
Always available.
At first, she was just “helping with late reports.”
Then she became the person Richard texted during dinner.
The person whose name lit up his phone at midnight.
The person whose perfume clung to his collar.
Lauren did not confront him immediately.
She wanted proof.
Not because she needed it to know.
Because Richard had a talent for making her sound crazy.
One Friday night, he came home after 2 a.m.
His shirt was wrinkled.
His wedding ring was in his pocket.
Lauren stood in the kitchen, holding the cold dinner she had stopped reheating hours ago.
Richard looked at her and sighed.
“Don’t start.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Lauren whispered.
“That’s the problem,” he snapped. “You never say anything. You just stand there looking wounded.”
Lauren stared at him.
“Are you seeing her?”
Richard laughed.
“You mean the woman who actually treats me like a man?”
That was the first time he said the quiet part out loud.
Two weeks later, Lauren found a photo hidden in his deleted folder.
Richard at a park.
The secretary beside him.
Two children between them.
Richard’s hand resting on the boy’s shoulder.
The caption was simple.
“Finally where I belong.”
Lauren felt her whole body go cold.
That night, Richard did not deny it.
He walked into the bedroom, watched her hold up the phone, and smiled like he had been waiting.
“You weren’t supposed to find it like this,” he said.
“Are they yours?” Lauren asked.
Richard’s silence answered before his mouth did.
“They could be,” he said. “That’s what matters.”
Lauren stared at him.
“They could be?”
His face darkened.
“She gave me what you couldn’t.”
Lauren sat down on the edge of the bed.
It was not just betrayal.
It was theater.
Richard was building a story where he was the victim.
The patient husband.
The man forced to find fatherhood somewhere else.
And Lauren was the barren wife who ruined his life.
The next morning, he told her to meet him at the fertility clinic.
“I want this finished,” he said. “I want the doctor to explain it so there’s no confusion when I file.”
“File for what?” Lauren asked.
He looked at her like she was slow.
“Divorce.”
Lauren nodded.
She did not scream.
She did not beg.
She simply said, “Then bring every document you have.”
Richard smiled.
“I planned to.”
But Richard did not know Lauren had received a call from the clinic three days earlier.
Not about her results.
May you like
About his.
👉 Richard walked into that clinic ready to destroy Lauren — unaware she already knew his file held the one truth he feared most…
