Alberta and Wilfred were already gone, but two new messages waited in my phone：
【Today is Wilfred's birthday. I'm throwing him a party. I'll come see your mother once it's over.】
【That whole scene earlier was your fault, when you get right down to it. From now on, keep your hands off anything that belongs to the company.】
I didn't type a single word back.
By dusk, two topics had crashed onto the local trending lists.
Number one: Southport's top businesswoman spares no expense for her young assistant's birthday.
I tapped it. Wilfred's birthday party was streaming live.
Alberta had her arm hooked through his, greeting her close friends and business partners one by one.
The way she carried herself, you'd have thought he was the husband.
It was a treatment I had never once received.
That was when I heard one of Alberta's closest girlfriends ask：
“Alberta, are you and our boy Wilfred finally about to make it official? That stay-at-home husband of yours should probably pack his bags and clear out, don't you think?”
Wilfred looked at Alberta, his eyes full of expectation.
She hesitated a moment, then answered with a smile：
“Clearly, Wilfred is the better choice.”
I closed the stream.
Number two was a video.
In it, inside a dim car, a man with a towel stuffed in his mouth was curled up, getting slapped hard across the face.
That man, beaten down to nothing, was plainly me.
The comment section was boiling over.
【Holy crap, what is this? Shouldn't somebody call the cops?】
【You living under a rock up there? The guy getting hit is Nathan James, Southport's number-one kept man, and his wife is Alberta Pruitt. Didn't you see she's right next door throwing a birthday bash for her little boy toy? This is obviously her birthday gift to her lover boy!】
【Oh, it's that kept man. Slap him a few more times for me, I love to see it!】
I closed the comments and met the eyes of the man in the video, humiliated and numb.
I told myself this was all about to end.
Just then a message came in from Alberta：
【Nathan, once Wilfred's birthday is over today, I'll have someone take that video of yours down. The internet has no memory. Everyone will forget it soon enough.】
This time, I replied.
【The party's at the Southport Grand Hotel? Good. I'm on my way to wish Wilfred a happy birthday.】
I called a courier right away and had him deliver two things for me.
The medical staff I'd hired arrived at the hospital. They would be responsible for my mother's safety during the transfer.
We headed straight for the airport.
Before boarding, I blurred a video heavily and uploaded it online.
Then I took my mother and left without looking back.
Alberta. Wilfred. The show's about to begin.
