Chapter 5

  Patrick Banks 

  ~•~

  Valerie seemed shocked as I told her about it. 

  "You are really a good actor." I shook my head as I saw her stunned reaction. "I mean, that's your line of work. Why am I surprised?" I added with a scoff. 

  She narrowed her eyes on me. "Can you hear yourself? Who did I cheat on you with?" 

  "Oh, please! Drop the act already." 

  My patience was wearing thin, and I was sick of her pretense. The pain of her betrayal pierced through my heart, and it felt like I was stabbed with a knife. 

  Valerie's expression turned serious. "Stop playing games with me. Who did I cheat on you with?" She didn't hide the frustration in her voice. 

  "Jamal." His name burned on my lips. 

  I made a mistake by trusting Valerie. 

  I had made my concerns about Jamal known to her. Even though she assured me that nothing was going on with them, I always had this tiny voice in the back of my mind telling me that it would eventually happen. 

  I saw Jamal as a ticking time bomb. 

  And I was right. 

  She convinced me that he was family and she had known him for a long time. But she ended up cheating on me with him. 

  The thought of her infidelity with him made my stomach churn. My mind raced with so many unanswered questions. 

  Wasn't I good enough for her? What could he offer that I didn't have? I felt so devastated and betrayed. I had been nothing but loyal to Valerie for the past three years. 

  Our marriage was perfect. 

  We were role models to a lot of people. But she ruined everything just because of her co-star? It didn't come as a surprise to me because they spent a lot of time together. 

  I even asked her to quit. I wanted to pay her twice what she made every year from her acting career. But she refused. Valerie didn't want to depend on me. 

  She practically chose her career over our marriage. 

  "Jamal?" Valerie laughed. "You want a divorce because I cheated on you with Jamal?" She looked at me like I had just said the most outrageous thing in the world. 

  "Are you seriously asking me that?" 

  "Where did you get that information from?" She asked with a hint of amusement in her voice. "Oh my goodness." 

  My jaw hardened. "You're not even going to try to deny it?" I narrowed my eyes on her, letting out a deep breath. 

  "I didn't cheat on you with Jamal." Her tone turned defensive. "I didn't cheat on you with anybody!" She added, her voice firm. 

  Valerie was looking at me and lying straight to my face. If I didn't have all the evidence I needed, I could have easily believed her lies. 

  "Oh, please." 

  "Who told you about it? Where did you get the information from?" Her eyes flashed with curiosity. "I can't even believe you would accuse me of something like this." 

  "It's not an accusation, Valerie." I countered. "You were caught red-handed. Just stop lying to me and admit it." 

  Valerie responded with a disappointed scoff, shaking her head. "Show me the proof then. You can't just accuse me of doing something without having any evidence to back it up." 

  My goodness! She was such a good actor. 

  I couldn't even look at those photos and text messages anymore. I certainly didn't need to show them to her. 

  She was already aware of what she did. 

  I felt so insulted and would feel more miserable if I showed my evidence to her. I loved Valerie. God, I loved her more than anything. Maybe that was why it hurt me so damn much. 

  But I wasn't even interested in talking about it anymore.

  I had put so much effort into our marriage, and I knew it was time to walk away. Staying with her would mean that I was disrespecting myself. 

  It was a good thing that I had finally told her about it. I had been carrying this burden alone for days, and it was messing with my mental health. 

  I didn't want to believe it at first. I kept wishing it wasn't true. I wanted to be wrong. 

  But after thinking about it for a while and connecting the dots, I realized that everything was true. Who knows how long they have even been sleeping together? 

  "Just sign the papers, Valerie." I continued, trying hard to mask the pain in my voice. "You will be free to do whatever you want." 

  The worst part about everything was that she wasn't even remorseful about anything. She didn't even apologize or try to fix things. 

  She was just focused on defending herself. 

  I couldn't just stand there and watch her lie to me anymore. "I've already signed my part, I hope you do the same before I return." 

  Valerie was quiet. 

  I wondered what was going through her mind. 

  She finally got what she wanted. Now she could be with Jamal. I always watched their show even though my friends advised me not to. 

  I saw how good their chemistry was on screen. I should've known better. The image of their infidelity replayed in my head, and I closed my eyes briefly to push it away. 

  Our conversation was over, so I grabbed my keys and headed out of the house. "Aren't you staying for dinner with Valerie?" The maid asked as she saw me walking past the living room. 

  We hadn't had dinner together in a while. 

  So many things had changed in such a short period. 

  "I'm not staying for dinner." My voice was cold. 

  The maid knew better than to ask any further questions. 

  As I settled down in my car, I couldn't believe that my marriage was over. I never imagined something like this could happen. 

  I always thought Valerie was the endgame. I pictured us growing old together. But it wasn't going to happen anymore. 

  Cheating was one thing I couldn't move past. 

  Just as I was about to turn on the engine of the car, my phone buzzed with a text from Jessica. [ Have you done it yet? I'm already waiting for you at the hotel.] 

  [ Yes, I'm on my way. ] 

  I stared at my screen for a long second before tossing my phone onto the passenger seat. My hands trembled as I gripped the steering wheel.

  I wasn't proud of what I was about to do. But I wanted Valerie to feel the heartbreak and betrayal too. I wanted her to hurt just like I did.

Chapter 6

  Valerie Will

  ~•~

  Jamal? 

  How could Patrick say I cheated on him with Jamal?

  I couldn't even believe he would accuse me of cheating on him. Let alone, cheating on him with Jamal. We had talked about it several times and I assured Patrick that nothing was happening between us. 

  We were just co-stars. Nothing else. 

  But Patrick didn't trust me. 

  How can a marriage work without trust? The accusation was so baseless and I couldn't help but wonder who fed him with all those lies. 

  Why did he even believe the person? 

  He claimed he had evidence, but he didn't want to show it to me. I was so confused that I couldn't even bring myself to trust his words. 

  What if he was just tired of the marriage and used Jamal as an excuse to end it? I never cheated on him, so there was no way he had any evidence to back up his accusations. 

  My whole world was falling apart right in front of me and I couldn't do anything about it. Patrick had made up his mind, and I wasn't sure anything I would say would make him reconsider his decision. 

  As my eyes darted toward the divorce papers, a lone tear dropped down from my eye. Was this really the end of my marriage? 

  The thought of ending things felt so scary. I wasn't ready to get a divorce. It never crossed my mind. My marriage was so perfect, and I thought we would be married forever. 

  Patrick promised me that he would never give up on me. But I guess it was all a lie. He jumped at the first chance he saw to leave me. 

  Was he even in love with me or was our whole marriage a lie? My heart ached and I sat down on the bed, my mind racing with different thoughts. 

  After a few minutes, I let out a sharp breath and picked up my phone. I needed to talk to my best friend about it because I was about to lose my mind. 

  "Celeste." I let out a relieved sigh as she answered the phone. "What are you doing?" I asked with a hint of urgency in my voice. 

  "I'm just on my lunch break, you sound sad. Is everything okay?" She asked, her voice laced with concern. Celeste had this superpower of knowing when things were wrong with me even through the phone. 

  I responded with a scoff. "No, everything isn't okay." My voice was slightly cracked. "Patrick wants a divorce." My heart shattered into a million pieces as I voiced it out loud. 

  "What?" She gasped in disbelief. "A divorce? Why?" 

  I shrugged my shoulders. "He said I cheated on him." 

  "Valerie would never cheat on anyone! You didn't cheat on him." I couldn't help but smile at Celeste's response. She knew me too well, I wouldn't intentionally hurt someone like that. 

  If only Patrick felt the same way about me. 

  Why didn't he believe me?

  "Where did he get such information from? Why would he even think that you cheated on him? Isn't your marriage going great?" Celeste continued, her voice filled with a hint of curiosity. 

  "He won't say anything. He's sticking to the fact that I cheated on him with Jamal." 

  "Jamal?" 

  I laughed, even though I was feeling an excruciating pain in my chest. "Yes, Jamal." 

  "That's crazy. Maybe someone is just feeding him with lies and trying to sabotage your marriage." Celeste responded sympathetically. 

  "I hope so," I muttered under my breath. 

  I would prefer this scenario instead of the one I was thinking about. It would be better if someone else was behind it. 

  At least, I would be able to fix my marriage. 

  But if Patrick came up with the accusations by himself and was lying about having evidence just to leave the marriage, I wasn't sure we could fix it anymore. 

  "So what are you going to do?" 

  I rubbed my temple in frustration as I thought about everything. But I didn't trust myself to make the right decision, so I had to ask Celeste for advice. "What do you think I should do?" 

  She let out a wistful sigh. "Marriage is for better or for worse, right?" She asked and I nodded. "You shouldn't give up on him so easily. Talk to him and convince him that you didn't cheat on him." 

  "But he has already signed the papers. It's just my signature left to finalize it." I replied, running my fingers through my hair. "He said I should sign my part before he comes back home." 

  "Don't sign it yet. At least, let's do some digging and find out who is behind everything. I'm sure it's just a phase and it will be over very soon." 

  Celeste's words were soothing. I wanted to believe her. I hoped she was right. But I remembered the way Patrick looked at me with disappointment in his eyes. 

  It seemed like all the love he had for me had vanished. 

  Different thoughts raced through my mind, but I decided to be optimistic. I chose to believe that everything was one big misunderstanding. 

  Everyone had ups and downs in their marriage, right? This was just a test of our love. One day, we would look back and laugh about it. 

  "Just take a deep breath and relax, I'll meet up with you tomorrow and we'll talk about the next step." Celeste continued when I remained silent. 

  I obliged and let out a deep breath. "Thank you for listening to me. You are the best friend anyone could ever ask for." I expressed my gratitude, meaning every single word. 

  "I'm so lucky to have you too. Take care, love." 

  With that, the call ended.

  I tossed my phone on the bed and drifted off to sleep. 

  I tried to block the sound of my ringing phone. But whoever was on the other end of the line was persistent. I wasn't ready to wake up, I wanted a distraction from reality. 

  After a few moments, my phone stopped ringing. 

  I continued sleeping peacefully until it started ringing again. Who could it be? With a loud groan, I opened my eyes and reached out to my phone. 

  Why was my mother calling me at that time of the night? 

  "Mom?" I asked in a groggy voice as I answered the phone. 

  "You got divorced?" She snapped. 

  I sat upright immediately. 

  I hadn't even signed the papers yet. How did she know about the divorce?