0:00
The packing was done. The fishing gear,
0:03
the lures, the worn out flannel shirts,
0:05
all neatly stowed in the back of the SUV
0:08
for the annual trip with my two best
0:11
But this year, the ritual felt hollow.
0:14
This trip was different. Kenny, our
0:17
third amigo, had a business meeting and
0:19
was flying out later. Don had to leave
0:21
early for a conference on Friday. With
0:24
the wives out of the picture, my own
0:26
Becky had decided to stay home. My usual
0:29
pre-trip ritual of passionate love
0:31
making, a yearly feast that sustained
0:33
our lackluster love life for the rest of
0:35
the year, felt like a last supper. I was
0:39
angry, but not at the trip. I was angry
0:42
at the silence between us, the years of
0:44
quiet decline. I was angry at a love
0:47
that had gone from a roaring fire to a
0:50
smoldering ember. The final betrayal
0:52
began not with a fight, but with a quiet
0:54
confession. I was in my home office
0:57
nursing a beer, trying to drown the
0:59
pre-trip anxiety. Becky came in, wine
1:03
glass in hand, her face a mask of
1:05
pitiful determination. She looked
1:07
scared, but also resolute.
1:10
I know this will make you angry, she
1:12
began, but please just listen. My gut
1:15
clenched. This wasn't about the kids or
1:18
the bills or some small mundane problem.
1:22
I haven't been happy with our sex life,
1:24
she continued. A low, steady hum that I
1:26
felt in my bones. You don't turn me on
1:29
anymore, David. My mind reeled. The last
1:33
week had been a flurry of passion. A
1:35
final desperate attempt to reclaim what
1:37
we had lost. Was it all a lie? She took
1:40
a deep breath, her eyes fixed on mine. I
1:43
met a man who makes me feel alive again.
1:46
I intend to have sex with him. My anger,
1:49
hot and sharp, was ready to erupt. I
1:52
opened my mouth to shout, to call her a
1:54
cheater, but she held up a hand. I
1:57
consulted with Dawn about divorce laws,
1:59
she said, and a new chilling reality
2:02
descended upon me. You can't afford to
2:05
divorce me. I'll get 2/3 of your salary,
2:08
the kids, the house. You'll be
2:10
financially ruined, her voice was calm.
2:13
A dispassionate lecture on a future I
2:15
was powerless to stop. I won't tell you
2:18
who he is, she warned. and if you try to
2:21
find out, there will be consequences."
2:24
She handed me a thick envelope, an inch
2:27
thick, filled with a detailed report of
2:29
my life over the past month.
2:32
Everything from a stain on my shirt to
2:34
every time I'd looked at another woman
2:38
I felt a cold dread creep over me. It
2:41
was a report that could only have been
2:43
commissioned by someone with serious
2:45
money or serious connections.
2:48
Was she with a millionaire? the mafia.
2:52
Now I'm going to bed," she said, her
2:54
voice dropping to a seductive whisper.
2:57
"If you want me tonight, come over.
3:00
Nothing has to change unless you make
3:03
She walked out, hips swaying, a
3:05
temptress in the twilight of our
3:08
I sat there, the envelope heavy in my
3:10
hands, a stranger in my own home. The
3:13
next morning, she woke me with her rage.
3:15
"Get your sorry rear up, Dave. You're
3:19
My gut instinct was to cancel. I needed
3:23
to think, to plan, to figure out how to
3:25
get my life back without losing
3:28
I called Roger, one of my fishing
3:30
buddies, to tell him I was out. His
3:32
response, however, was a final nail in
3:34
my coffin. "Oh no, Dave," he said, his
3:38
voice cheerful. "That's not going to
3:40
happen. Becky called me this morning and
3:43
said you were under a lot of pressure.
3:45
She said you need this vacation. I
3:47
promised her I'd make sure you went. The
3:50
fear was cold and suffocating. It was
3:52
Roger or maybe Kenny or Dawn. One of
3:56
them, all of them were in on it. Later
4:00
that day, Becky called me at work. This
4:03
is your last warning, she said, her
4:05
voice a steel blade. Do not contact me
4:07
or you'll be trash and you'll never see
4:09
your children again. Am I clear? She
4:12
hung up before I could respond. Roger
4:15
had turned me in. I was alone. At dinner
4:18
that night, in a Denny's parking lot
4:20
with my friends, I confessed everything.
4:23
The years of emotional distance, the
4:25
sudden burst of passion, the shocking
4:29
Don, my friend and lawyer, listened with
4:31
a strange, almost serene calm.
4:35
Dave, he said, I hate to tell you this,
4:38
but as a representative of the court, my
4:41
duty is to report such things. If I hear
4:43
that one of Becky's lovers has been
4:45
hurt, I'll have to report you." He then
4:48
proceeded to give me a legal rundown of
4:51
how I would lose everything.
4:53
"Buddy," he concluded. "You better just
4:56
accept your fate." I stared at him at
4:59
the strangely happy look on his face at
5:01
Roger's wide knowing smile. "These
5:05
weren't my friends. They were her
5:07
accompllices. That night after getting
5:09
me drunk, I overheard Don and Roger
5:11
talking on the porch. They were worried
5:13
that I wasn't being tolerant enough.
5:15
They talked about how they would keep
5:17
the pressure up to make me accept the
5:19
situation. It all made a sickening
5:22
crystalclear sense. They were enjoying
5:25
this. She wasn't having an affair with
5:27
one man. She was having an affair with
5:30
all of them. The informants she had
5:33
everywhere weren't some millionaire's
5:34
goons. They were my best friends. The
5:37
rest of the trip was a blur of silence
5:39
and a boiling rage. I came home on
5:42
Friday night to find Becky in one of my
5:44
shirts, the remnants of passion on her
5:46
body. I glared at her, but said nothing.
5:50
"The betrayal was too deep for words. I
5:53
tried to transfer money from our joint
5:55
accounts, but discovered the password
5:57
had been changed. "I hired Don as my
6:00
lawyer," she said, her voice laced with
6:02
mock regret. "He just told me how you
6:05
behaved. he'll contact you. My heart,
6:09
already shattered, splintered into a
6:10
million pieces. I left, driving to my
6:13
office and warehouse complex. A fortress
6:16
against the storm I knew was coming.
6:19
The next morning, a man served me with a
6:21
restraining order. It wasn't just
6:23
against me. It was for Becky and the
6:25
kids. And the final cruel twist. The
6:29
order required court approval for any
6:31
expenses from my personal or business
6:33
accounts. I was trapped. A man with no
6:36
home, no family, and no money to fight
6:39
back. Hopeless, I drove to my assistant,
6:42
Gertrude's house. I was about to turn
6:44
away when her husband Tad saw me. "You
6:47
look damn bad, Dave," he said. "For
6:50
God's sake, sit down and talk to us. For
6:53
the next hour, I poured out the whole
6:55
sorted tale. The betrayal of my wife and
7:00
Gertrude, a kind and steady woman, was
7:04
If you need somewhere to stay, she said,
7:06
you can use one of our free rooms. Tad,
7:10
a man of few words, listened intently.
7:13
If what you say is true, he said, you
7:15
need powerful help. He then told me to
7:18
take off all my clothes and get in the
7:19
shower, a chilling precaution against
7:24
In the cement rain shelter under the
7:25
stairs, away from any prying eyes or
7:31
we would not just get me out of this, we
7:34
would make them all pay. They had
7:36
awakened a monster, a man who had lost
7:39
everything and was now ready to take it
7:41
all back. And it all started with a
7:44
simple, chilling truth. A man with
7:46
nothing left to lose is the most
