The next night, I waited until the kids were asleep, and Adrian had retreated to the guest room. Then I sat in the dark kitchen and opened the video footage.
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Adrian wasn’t with a woman.
He was alone on the couch, holding a photograph.
I couldn’t see what it was.
Then, he started crying. Adrian NEVER cries.
I kept watching, my breath hitching in my throat. Suddenly, he picked up his phone and dialed a number.
Oh, thank God I bought cameras with sound, I thought, leaning closer to the speakers.
“I transferred the money to your account this morning,” Adrian said into the phone.
He paused, listening to whoever was on the other end.
“No, Ruth still doesn’t know, but I think it’s time to tell her.”
Another pause. He touched the photo tenderly, and I recognized it now: our wedding photo.
“I know she hasn’t spoken to you in years,” he continued, “but I don’t think she’d want you to struggle like this.
She…”
He paused again, sighing deeply as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “She is stubborn, but she’s your daughter…”
A chill ran down my spine. He wasn’t talking to a mistress.
He was talking to my mother!
I gripped the edges of the laptop screen. “Why would you be giving her money? How did she even find you?”
“But…” Adrian paused again, his shoulders slumped.
“No, I agree. You shouldn’t have to beg her for help, especially when you’re sick. You need your strength.
I’ll handle it. I promise. You won’t be alone in this.”
He hung up the phone.
A surge of anger and terror washed over me. I screamed at the screen.
“OH MY GOD… WHAT HAVE YOU GOTTEN YOURSELF INTO?!”
I didn’t even realize I had said it out loud until Adrian appeared in the kitchen doorway, his eyes wide and panicked.
“What’s wrong?
Why are you screaming?”
I closed the laptop slowly, my fingers lingering on the lid.
For years, I had hidden the truth about my mother. I’d built a wall between us and thought that would be enough to keep my family safe, but I was wrong.
She had just gone around that wall and hooked the person I loved most into her web.
It broke my heart.
I looked into his eyes. For the first time in weeks, I saw the sweet, considerate man I’d married.
But I couldn’t confront him then. I knew how my mother operated, and if she could reduce him to tears, then he was already in too deep for talking.
I had to show him the truth.
“Come with me,” I said, grabbing my car keys.
“Where?” Adrian frowned.
“It’s late, Ruth.”
“There’s something you need to see, something I’ve kept secret for far too long. Please, just get in the car.”
I drove to the outskirts of town, to a neighborhood of small, tidy houses that masked the rot inside them.
I parked a few houses down from a familiar blue door.
“Stay in the car,” I told him.
“I’m going to call you from my phone. Don’t say anything, just listen.”
“What? Why?” He peered out at the quiet street.
“Who lives here? Ruth, what are we doing?”
“I promise you’ll understand everything soon. Just trust me for now.
Can you do that?”
He looked at me for a long time, searching my face. He finally nodded.
I dialed his number as I stepped out of the car. When the call connected, I put my phone in my coat’s breast pocket so the speaker would pick up my voice.
Then I walked up to my mother’s house and knocked on the door.
It opened almost immediately, as if she had been waiting behind it.
“Look who’s here,” she said, her voice dripping with artificial sweetness.
“How long have you been speaking to my husband behind my back?” I asked, skipping the pleasantries.
She laughed.
“Long enough that I was beginning to wonder if you’d ever figure it out.” She stepped aside, gesturing into the dimly lit hallway. “Come in, dear. Don’t stand on the porch like a stranger.”
I walked inside, and she closed the door behind me.
“Tea?” she asked.
My temper spiked.
“I’m not here to visit. I told you I never wanted to see you again. I made that very clear.”
She smiled triumphantly as she settled into a velvet armchair.
“You thought you could walk away from your own mother, but you can’t. Blood is thicker than your little grudges, Ruth.”
Clarity settled over me then.
“Is that why you did this?
To manipulate me into coming to see you? You targeted Adrian because you knew I wouldn’t answer your calls.”
She scoffed. “Is it a crime for a mother to want to see her daughter during her final days?”
“Final days?” I asked, my voice flat.
“Is that what you told him? That you’re dying?”
“I implied,” she corrected smoothly. “He filled in the rest.
Men are so predictable when they think they’re being chivalrous.”
There was no hesitation in her voice. No denial. She was proud of it.
“He was so easy,” she added, leaning forward.
“I showed him a few old hospital bills, and he even started sending me money to help cover the expenses. Such a sweet man. But don’t worry, you can have that money back… on one condition.”
“So that’s your game?
Manipulate Adrian to get me here, then use my own money, money he gave you out of kindness, against me?”
“These are the lengths you forced me to go to… You should be ashamed of yourself, Ruth.”
I clenched my hands into fists. “What’s your condition?”
“All I ask is that you visit me once a week for two hours and bring your children. I want to meet my grandbabies.”
“Oh, don’t be so stubborn, Ruth.
You know I always get what I want, eventually. Look at you, now. Right back where you belong, after years of silence.”
The front door opened behind me.
My mother stood up, her expression shifting instantly to one of frail concern.
Adrian stepped up beside me. “You used me.”
His voice wasn’t loud, but it was heavy with a cold, hard fury.
Her eyes narrowed, calculating the damage.
“I did what I had to do. Ruth left me. I simply gave you a chance to be the bigger person since she clearly wasn’t up to the task.”
“You took advantage of me to get to her,” Adrian said, his voice rising.
“You lied about being sick. You made me think my wife was a monster for abandoning you!”
“I’ve been working overtime!” Adrian continued, his face flushing red. “I’ve been taking extra jobs on weekends to help you financially!
And it was all a lie!”
My mother didn’t look guilty. She just looked bored, as if the conversation had become tedious.
I stepped forward, so I was inches from her. “You will never contact us again, and you’ll return every single dollar.
If not, our lawyer will handle it.”
She stared at me with that same cold, empty look I remembered from my childhood.
“You can’t keep cutting me out, Ruth. I’m your mother.”
I turned away without answering and left that house, Adrian following close behind me.
The night air was crisp, and for the first time in weeks, I didn’t feel like I was suffocating.
We climbed into the car.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I should’ve told you the truth about her years ago, her mind games and manipulations…”
Adrian exhaled a long, shaky breath. “Yeah, but I should’ve told you she contacted me.
I thought I was helping. I thought I was fixing a broken family. I feel like such a fool.”
“You aren’t a fool, Adrian.
You’re a good man. She just used that goodness against you.”
He reached out and took my hand.
“No more secrets,” I said.
“No more secrets,” he agreed.
The shadow that had been standing between us for weeks had finally vanished.
We had a lot of work to do to fix our trust, but as I started the engine, I knew we were going to be okay.
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