That evening, when I pulled into the driveway, I noticed something off: Natalie’s car wasn’t there. She was usually home by this time, her punctuality being one of her defining traits. But recently, she had been coming home later and later, with increasingly flimsy excuses.

The silence inside the house was unsettling, and my mind began to race with doubts. Given my line of work, the thought crossed my mind: Could Natalie be cheating on me?

Hours later, Natalie finally returned, looking exhausted. I couldn’t hold back my suspicions any longer. “Where have you been? You’ve been late a lot recently. Is there something you’re not telling me?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. I even asked if she was being unfaithful.

Her reaction was one of shock. “Hank, I love you. I could never cheat on you. I’ve just been busy grading tests at school,” she explained, sighing. She was a dedicated teacher, after all, and her explanation made sense. I nodded, trying to let it go.

But during dinner, as we talked about our day, a message on Natalie’s phone shattered my fragile peace. The message read, “Honey, will you be there tomorrow?” The intimacy of it caught my attention.

Natalie quickly deleted the message and tried to continue our conversation as if nothing had happened.

I couldn’t contain my curiosity. “What was that?” I asked, my voice heavy with suspicion.

“What do you mean?” she replied, feigning confusion.

“The message. I saw what it said,” I pressed, frowning.

She sighed, rubbing her forehead. “Hank, it’s not what you think,” she said, trying to reassure me. She even showed me her phone, claiming it was a wrong number.

But my skepticism lingered, and my appetite vanished.

Later that night, as Natalie lay peacefully beside me, gently snoring, my doubts grew. Unable to sleep, I knew I had to find out the truth, even if it meant crossing a line.

Carefully, I used her finger to unlock her phone. What I found made my heart sink. There was a contact named “Rabbit,” with messages discussing secretive meetups that coincided with the nights Natalie had come home late.

I also checked her bank statements, another tactic I had used many times in my cases. To my horror, I discovered payments for children’s toys, hospital bills, and other expenses that made no sense. Did she have a child I didn’t know about? Was she calling the child “Rabbit”? And more importantly, who was the father?

As I scrambled to put her phone back, Natalie stirred, and I pretended to sleep. Inside, I was a mess. The idea that she was leading a double life was overwhelming.

The next morning, I decided to follow her. I parked discreetly outside her school and watched as she left earlier than usual. I tailed her to a run-down house in a modest neighborhood and waited as she entered. After a few minutes, I got out of the car and peered through a window.

What I saw nearly made me sick. Natalie was with a man, and the atmosphere between them was cozy, familiar. I was convinced they were intimate, especially when she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

But then something even more shocking happened—Natalie emerged from the house, rolling a little girl in a wheelchair. The girl beamed at her, and Natalie returned the smile. I was too stunned to move, trying to process what I was seeing.

Suddenly, a dog barked loudly, startling me. Natalie looked around, clearly alarmed. I panicked and tried to quiet the dog, but it was too late. She had noticed me. In the chaos, I bolted, scrambling over a fence and tearing my pants in the process.

Back in my car, the image of Natalie with the little girl haunted me. I drove home in a daze, unsure of how to confront her.

When she finally came home that evening, I decided to confront her head-on. “Natalie, stop. I know everything,” I said as soon as she walked through the door.

She looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“I know you’re cheating on me,” I accused bluntly.

She was taken aback, denying it and attributing her late nights to work. I pressed her about the suspicious messages.

“Hank, you went into my phone?” she asked, appalled.

“Yes! Yes, I went into your phone. I’m the bad guy, right? It’s me spending money on another family,” I snapped, my voice dripping with sarcasm and hurt.

She was visibly shaken. “What are you talking about? What other family?”

“I saw everything, Natalie. I followed you. You don’t work late at school; you go to some man and a little girl,” I continued, my anger boiling over.

“You followed me?” she asked, incredulous.

“Yes,” I admitted, unashamed.

“I can’t believe this,” Natalie said, throwing her arms up in exasperation. She stormed into our bedroom, and I followed, only to see her packing a bag.

“Where are you going?” I demanded.

“I don’t know. A hotel or something,” she said, stuffing her bag with clothes.

“Fine,” I snapped, storming out of the room. But I noticed her phone on the bed and grabbed it. In the living room, I installed a tracking app, just in case. I returned the phone to its place and went back to confront her.

But when I saw the pain in her eyes, my anger began to wane. I didn’t want to fight anymore. “Let’s talk,” I pleaded. “We can fix this. You don’t have to leave.”

But Natalie was resolute. “Yes, I do,” she said, zipping up her bag. As she brushed past me, she added, “For your information, the man and child you saw are my brother and niece.”

I was taken aback. “Why have I never met them before?” I demanded. But she ignored me and walked out, slamming the door behind her.

In a fit of rage, I swept the items off the mantel, screaming out my frustrations. Then, breathing heavily, I realized I needed to know more. I searched our bedroom, and what I found left me reeling.

In a hidden compartment of her wardrobe, I discovered a gun, several fake passports, a bag of money, and a newspaper clipping about a bank robbery.

I was stunned. “What?” I whispered to myself. “Who did I marry?”

In a daze, I wrapped the items in a bag, put them in my car trunk, and drove to the hotel where Natalie was likely staying. Fortunately, I was right, and after bribing the receptionist, I found her room.

I knocked on the door, disguising my voice as room service. When she opened the door and saw me, she crossed her arms, clearly irritated. “What else do you want to talk about, Hank? I already said I’m not cheating on you,” she sighed.

“I believe you’re not cheating,” I admitted, holding up the bag. “But I found this. A gun, fake documents, money. What’s going on, Natalie?”

She sighed deeply and invited me inside. She confessed that she had been involved with bad people and a bank robbery to pay for her niece’s urgent surgery. I listened in shock as she explained everything.

“You robbed a bank?” I whispered, still processing the information.

“Yes,” she admitted quietly. “There was no other way. My niece, Katie, was dying. My brother, Tom, didn’t have the money. I had to do something. This was before you and I even met.”

“We have to tell the police, Nat. But my friend Luke is the best criminal defense attorney in the state,” I began, my lawyer mind kicking into gear. “You can’t live this double life, waiting for the sword to drop. Come home with me, and we’ll figure this out together.”

Natalie looked into my eyes, and I saw the fear she had been carrying for years. Finally, she nodded, and we drove home.

At home, Natalie made tea, and we sat at the kitchen table, discussing our next steps. But as we talked, my eyes grew droopy. I remembered Natalie guiding me to bed, but after that, everything was a blur.

The next morning, I woke up disoriented. Blinking rapidly, I noticed a strange redness on the sheets. When my vision cleared, I saw a knife covered in blood beside me.

Panic set in. Did Natalie want to frame me? Was she pretending to be dead?

“Natalie!” I screamed, jumping out of bed. I noticed a trail of blood leading out of the room and saw the house in disarray, much worse than what I had done the night before.

I called out for Natalie, but there was no answer. I heard movement outside and peeked

through the blinds, seeing two policemen talking to my neighbor. My car looked like it had been driven through rough terrain, but I had no memory of leaving the house.

The two cops knocked on the door, and I knew I had to get out. Grabbing the gun, I jumped out the window and ran, the police hot on my heels.

I managed to lose them by hiding in a familiar spot, but I knew I needed to find Natalie and get some answers. I used the tracking app I had installed on her phone and followed it to an empty road. There, I found her phone discarded in the grass—a clear sign that she had planned everything.

Frustrated but determined, I decided to visit her brother’s house. When I arrived, I knocked relentlessly until Tom opened the door. Without hesitation, I pulled out the gun and walked inside.

“Call Natalie. Now,” I demanded, pointing the gun at Tom’s face.

When Natalie answered, I didn’t waste any time. “Hi, Natalie. You sound very much alive for someone who’s supposed to be dead. Contrary to your plans, I haven’t been detained. But Tom here isn’t doing so well. I have a gun pointed at him, and if you don’t come here within the next six hours, I will kill both Tom and Katie.”

“You wouldn’t do that,” she gasped.

“Want to test me?” I replied, my voice cold.

“Hank, please,” Natalie begged.

“You have six hours,” I said, cutting off the call.

I waited, the gun never leaving my hand as Tom and Katie sat on the opposite couch. I knew I was supposed to feel bad, but I was beyond caring at that point.

Finally, Natalie burst through the front door, her eyes wide with fear. “Hank, I beg you. Let them go,” she pleaded.

“Why did you do this, Nat? Why did you fake your death?” I demanded, my voice shaking with anger.

“I don’t want to go to prison. You wanted to turn me in. I couldn’t take that risk,” she confessed.

“I love you, Natalie. We could have faced this together,” I said, my voice breaking.

“But in prison, I would have been alone,” she replied, tears streaming down her face.

Before I could respond, the police stormed in, their guns drawn. They arrested me for threatening Tom and Katie, but I told them everything about what Natalie had done.

Natalie finally admitted the truth, and they arrested her too. As they took her away, our eyes met one last time, a silent goodbye.

I turned to Tom, apologizing for everything I had put him and his daughter through. “I’m truly sorry for all the anxiety I caused you. I didn’t want to, but I needed Natalie to come, and this was the only way.”

The police arrested me, and as I sat in the patrol car, I tried to justify my actions. “I needed her to come,” I muttered to myself.

“No goal justifies threatening anyone at gunpoint. You should’ve called the police, explained what happened, and let us handle it,” the officer responded.

Reflecting on those words, I realized the magnitude of my mistakes. I wished I could go back and start over, but I could only do better in the future, starting by calling Luke. I desperately needed his help.

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