Eve reacted as though she'd just heard the most ridiculous joke of her life.
"Lowell, who do you think you are? You're nothing but a lousy sales rep!"
"Since you don't know what's good for you, you can kiss your paycheck goodbye!"
With that, she stormed into the bedroom and slammed the door. The lock clicked behind her.
The air in the living room turned suffocating.
Then a wave of dizziness hit me out of nowhere.
I remembered the doctor's warning: my anemia meant I couldn't afford to get worked up.
The room spun. My legs buckled, and I hit the floor.
I needed to call 911, but my phone was still in the bedroom. I dragged myself to the door and tried the handle.
Locked. I knocked.
All I got was Eve's cold, contemptuous laugh from the other side.
"Oh, so now you realize you were wrong? Too late!"
"You're not setting foot in this bedroom tonight!"
Then silence.
Half an hour passed. I was on the verge of losing consciousness when Eve finally opened the door to use the bathroom.
She found me lying on the floor. No concern crossed her face. She nudged me with her foot.
"Keep faking."
She stepped over me and walked into the bathroom.
When she came back out, I still hadn't moved.
Only then did it dawn on her that something might actually be wrong. She fumbled for her phone and dialed 911.
The ambulance arrived, and she was about to ride along to the hospital. But then Gabriel called.
"Evie, I got bitten by a dog on my way home today. What if I get rabies? I'm so scared."
The color drained from Eve's face. She immediately switched to a soothing tone. "Don't worry, I'm coming right now!"
As she turned to leave, a nurse caught her arm.
"Your husband's severely anemic. You're not going with him?"
Eve's expression was frantic. She glanced at me, my face white as a sheet, and pulled her arm free.
"Someone else needs me. He's got you people. That's enough."
"Besides, he's probably faking it. I'm not forgiving him until he apologizes."
She hailed a cab and vanished into the night.
One of the male orderlies watched her go, then looked down at me with a sigh.
"If that were my wife, I'd have filed for divorce a long time ago."
By the time I woke up in the hospital, Gabriel had posted on social media again.
This time he was showing off a watch worth a million dollars.
The caption read: "Thank you to my generous boss lady for this gift. I'll repay you with every ounce of energy I have, every single day."
The comments underneath were a parade of sycophants.
"Only Gabriel could get this kind of attention from Ms. Pruitt!"
"Gabriel, when are you going to replace the husband so we can all come to the wedding?"
There were plenty more where those came from.
My expression didn't change. I closed the app.
A message from one of my people came through: a file. Eve's complete affair timeline.
Last June, while I was hospitalized, Eve and Gabriel had checked into a hotel together. The file included a photo of them in bed.
I remembered that we'd already been splitting everything fifty-fifty for four years by then, but Eve's growing impatience with me had left me craving even the smallest scrap of warmth.
So I'd called her. Told her I didn't have any money on me. Asked if she could come see me and help cover my medical bills.
She'd barely let me finish before hanging up.
"Lowell, I'm on a business trip and I don't have time. Besides, our agreement is crystal clear: neither of us borrows money from the other. It kills motivation. If you're broke, tough it out. Consider it a lesson. Maybe it'll teach you to work harder."
Then there was last November.
The company had organized a team retreat. Eve said she needed to stay behind at the office to meet with clients.
But according to the file, she and Gabriel had spent the entire day going at it in her office.
Now it all made sense. The flush on Eve's cheeks when she came home that night. The hungry way Gabriel's eyes had followed her. It had been right there in front of me the whole time.
