“Linda, I’m not the one cheating on you, so could you please stop looking at me like that? You want to know who that woman is? Fine. I can see everything from here. Let’s go—to my office.”
Cameron tugged at my arm like I was a stubborn toddler.
I was heartbroken and furious. My body felt like it was made of jelly, and the anger made my whole frame tremble. After three years of marriage, Jim Jackson had never once made me this angry. He’d practically bent over backwards to fulfill every wish I had.
How could someone who loved me so deeply—who spoiled me like a queen—go and cheat on me?
The word affair had always been part of other people’s sad stories, never mine. Never Jim’s. We were college sweethearts! He dated me for four years, then gave up a cushy job arranged by his school just so he could follow me to New York and chase his dreams.
He didn’t just chase them, he caught them. The guy was a rising star in medicine, praised by everyone. Even my father, the hospital dean, had said he’d gladly hand over the hospital to him one day.
Jim didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, didn’t gamble—heck, he barely had a vice. After work, he always came home on time. He cooked, cleaned, folded laundry, and made sure my favorite snacks were stocked like clockwork.
I thought we’d be one of those rare couples who stayed in love for a lifetime.
But now, this perfect, too-good-to-be-true husband that everyone admired… was cheating?
It felt like it was being struck by lightning from a cloudless sky. No warning. No thunder. Just pain.
Seven years of love, just gone.
We never even had a serious fight in all those years. We’d been supportive, affectionate, the couple people pointed at and said, “Look at them. That’s real love.”
So why the hell would Jim betray me?
My brain couldn’t make sense of it. My heart refused to believe it.
Cameron dragged me into his office, sat me down in his chair, turned on the computer, and pulled up the hotel’s surveillance footage.
“There. Watch closely. You ridiculous woman—you go around being dramatic without using your damn brain.”
He shoved the mouse and stormed off to take a glass of water to me.
And then I saw it.
My eyes widened. My breath caught.
My blood boiled.
Bang! I grabbed the pen holder on his desk and hurled it across the room.
“Damn it! Claire Winter?!”
If the mistress had been a random nobody, maybe I’d have stayed somewhat calm. But Claire?
Claire, smiling at Jim like spring had come early. Claire, giggling and touching his arm like she belonged there.
I wanted to set the entire hotel on fire.
Claire wasn’t just some girl—she was my best friend. My college roommate! I remembered when her family couldn’t afford tuition, and I paid her fees. I even got my dad to hold a position open for her at our hospital, so she wouldn’t have to hustle to find a job.
And this is how she thanked me? By crawling into my husband’s bed?
What a disgusting pair.
Cameron stayed surprisingly calm through my emotional meltdown. He came back with the water, shoved it into my hands, and said in his usual blunt, no-nonsense tone:
“Alright. Just tell me—do you want her arm or a leg? I’ll take care of it.”
“Leave me alone! You’re such a jerk—always joking around! That’s my husband!”
“Yeah? And your husband is all but dry-humping another woman right now!”
Cameron looked like he wanted to crack open my skull and see if my brain was still functioning. Like—was I seriously this blind?
I downed the glass of water in one gulp, stood up, kicked the chair aside, and stormed toward the door.
“Hey! Where are you going? Linda—don’t do anything stupid!”
His voice chased after me as I slammed the door shut behind me with a loud bang.
And just like that—I was gone.