"You're Mr. Dickerson's wife?"
"Yes."
He frowned—a subtle expression, like he couldn't quite believe me and was trying to figure something out at the same time.
"Dickerson took leave. He's with his girlfriend at her prenatal checkup." He said it slowly, deliberately, as if making sure I caught every word. "If you're going to make up an excuse, at least make it a good one."
My mind went blank.
"I'm his wife."
"We've been married for almost five years."
He looked at me, and I watched his expression shift—from suspicion to pity, then to something else entirely.
He pulled the files in his hands closer to his chest and took a step back.
"Is something wrong with you?" He tapped his temple, looking at me the way you'd look at someone who'd lost their mind. "Call security!"
I don't know how I ended up outside.
When the security guard grabbed my arm and steered me toward the exit, I didn't even resist.
I crouched on the curb, buried my face in my knees, and cried until my whole body shook—until there were no tears left to cry.
Monday. The day Hudson said he'd be back from his business trip.
Seven o'clock sharp, he walked through the door.
"The apartment," I said. "I want to talk about it."
He blinked, that same mild expression settling over his face. "What about it? Still thinking about that unfinished building?"
"It's not unfinished."
I held his gaze.
"I went there today."
His expression didn't change, but the hand holding the remote stilled for a fraction of a second.
"Why would you go there?" He shook his head with a laugh, his tone the kind you'd use to soothe a child. "Didn't I tell you? It's nothing but a construction site. Going there was a waste of time."
"A construction site?"
I heard my own voice—quiet, so quiet it didn't sound like mine.
"I saw the building today. Fifteen stories. Fully finished. Move-in ready."
He stopped talking.
"I also met the person living in unit 1502." I kept going. "She asked me who I was looking for, then shut the door."
The remote slipped from his hand and hit the floor. He didn't pick it up.
The air went still. So still I could hear the low hum of the refrigerator.
"Hudson." I said his name. "Tell me right now—is that building unfinished or not?"
His mouth opened. Then closed.
A few seconds passed before he lowered his head, his voice dropping. "The developer did run into problems back then. Later, a new company took over and they resumed construction. I wasn't trying to hide it from you, it's just..."
Just what? He didn't finish.
"Just what?" I finished for him. "Just that it was convenient to move another woman in?"
His head snapped up. "It's not what you think!"
"Then what is it?"
I pulled out my phone, scrolled to the surveillance footage the property management had given me, and held the screen in front of his face.
There he was, his arm around the woman, standing at the entrance to the building. She was on her tiptoes, kissing him.
He glanced at the screen. The color drained from his face.
"What is this?"
I asked.
He said nothing.
"Last week you said you were on a business trip. Was this the business trip?"
His eyes dropped. His Adam's apple bobbed.
"There's one more thing." I put the phone away. "I went to your office."
His shoulders flinched.
"Your coworker said you took three days off." My voice was steady. "To go with your girlfriend to her prenatal checkup."
I looked at him and said each word with absolute clarity.
"Hudson, she's pregnant."
He raised his head and looked at me with an expression I'd never seen on his face before. Panic. Guilt. And something else.
"Sybilla—" He said my name, his voice hollow.
"Three years." I cut him off. "Three years. Every single month, I've been paying the mortgage on that apartment while living in this rental. Cutting every corner. Skipping every small pleasure. Telling myself that once the building was done, we'd finally move in together. And you?"
He didn't speak.
"You lived in that apartment with another woman for three years."
Somewhere in the middle of saying it, tears started falling. I didn't know when they'd begun.
"She's pregnant. You went to her prenatal checkups with her. You had your arm around her. She kissed you. The two of you walked through that door together." My voice cracked. "That's my door, Hudson. The one I make mortgage payments on every single month."
He stood up and reached for my hand. "Sybilla, just let me explain—"
I stepped back.
"Go ahead." I looked at him. "I'm listening."
He went silent again.
I waited a few seconds, then spoke for him. "Let me guess. You're going to tell me it wasn't intentional? That you meant to come clean but didn't know how? Or maybe you'll say I'm the one you really love, and she was just a moment of weakness?"
His lips moved. No sound came out.
I wiped the tears from my face. My hand was shaking.
"Do you know how I left today?" I said. "Your colleague called security on me. He told them I was crazy. They dragged me out of the building."
I paused.
"Hudson, we've been married almost five years."
He never lifted his head.
