After a few days, Marlon didn't mention it again, and I thought the matter was over. After all, Marlon's card was in Linda's hands. Even if he wanted to help his relatives, he would not use my savings.
However, when I went to the mall to buy clothes on the weekend, I found that my card balance was insufficient when I was at checkout.
I remembered that there were more than 180 thousand dollars in the card. How come it suddenly was insufficient?
I quickly looked through the transaction records and found a transfer record of 180 thousand dollars the night before. The recipient was Marlon.
I immediately called Marlon to question him. He didn't know what to say on the other end of the line and hesitantly admitted that he had secretly transferred my money to his account. Then, he transferred the money to Vera.
"Honey, don't be angry. I promise that Vera will return the money to us soon."
Marlon's voice sounded full of guilt and uneasiness. "I didn't tell you because I was afraid you would think too much..."
"Were you afraid that I would think too much? Is that's why you used my savings without authorization?" I said angrily.
"Marlon, I misjudged you! "
In order to make up for his mistake, Marlon invited me out for dinner, hoping to mend our relationship.
While we were having dinner, he kept apologizing to me and promised that such a thing would never happen again.
When I was about to forgive him, he received a call, and his expression suddenly changed. He hurriedly said, "There is an emergency at my company." Then, he left the restaurant.
I sat in the empty restaurant, looking at the table full of food, but I had no appetite.
Marlon left and came back in the early morning with a strong smell of alcohol.
"Honey, I'm sorry for making you worry," Marlon staggered in front of me and said apologetically, "After leaving the company, I received a call from Landen's wife. Landen had a quarrel with her and threatened her to kill himself, so she asked me to comfort him."
After that, Landen went out with Marlon to drink, so Marlon came back late.
Landen was Marlon's close friend and often appeared in the stories about his childhood.
As Marlon spoke, he took off his coat, revealing his shirt.
I noticed a faint lipstick mark on the cuff of his shirt.
I immediately thought of his unusual behavior and realized that he had made up two stories at once.
The next day, when I arrived at the company, I borrowed phones from two colleagues.
One of them was Darien, who worked in the same office as me.
Due to business dealings, he and Marlon were friends on WhatsApp. When I used Darien's phone to browse Marlon's Moments, it was exactly the same as what I saw on my phone. There were mostly industry trends, and he posted one in a few days.
The other was Amara in the financial department.
She and Marlon were not friends on WhatsApp. Strangers could read ten posts in the Moments.
The ten posts showed me a different Marlon, who I had never known.
Among the ten Moments, only one was about industry trends, which was consistent with my understanding of him, and that was the one I could see on my phone.
Among the other nine Moments, three showed off his body at the gym.
People might think he was a trainer in the gym.
In the other six Moments, he pretended to be a young man who loved culture and arts. He either read literary masterpieces in the corner of a bookstore, shared touching poems in monologue, appreciated the colors and lines in an art exhibition, or inadvertently revealed his artistic insights.
They were filled with loneliness, dignity, beauty, soul, and tireless efforts.
I seemed to see the legendary fake elite.
I could hardly accept the fact that he was Marlon, my husband, who was usually honest and kind.
It was like a bolt from the blue. I was stunned for a few seconds.
It turned out that Marlon, who was honest in front of me and obedient in front of his mother, had another side.
I was not the kind of woman who only knew how to cry and complain.
Over the years, I had been working hard, which had trained me to be calm and decisive in dealing with any issue.
Whether I chose to maintain the marriage or part ways with Marlon, I needed evidence in my favor.
I didn't believe the scum would voluntarily give up his property and leave with nothing when he divorced me. Even if he wanted to do that, Linda, who always controlled Marlon, would disagree.
A few days later, when Marlon was asleep, I quietly turned on his phone and installed the tracking APP that I had bought online on his phone. I turned on the matching with my phone and hid the APP on his phone.
The next morning, I asked Baylee, my good friend, to call me. She pretended to be my leader and asked me to go on a two-day business trip. I quickly packed my luggage and said goodbye to Marlon in a hurry.
Before I left, Marlon pretended to care about me and told me to be cautious. His acting talent was admirable, but deep down in his heart, he might be secretly triumphant and hoped that I would leave as soon as possible.
I stayed in a hotel near the company to collect evidence of Marlon's infidelity and do my work at the same time.
Near noon, the APP that connected Marlon's whereabouts reported that Marlon's destination was a hotel not far from his company.
I immediately rushed to the hotel where Marlon was. I changed into my newly bought clothes and put on a hat and a mask. Then, I stood quietly in the hotel lobby with a book, waiting for him to appear.
Five hours later, Marlon brought a scantily clad woman to check out at the front desk. The woman had her back to me. She had wavy hair and was standing right next to Marlon. Marlon turned around from time to time to touch the woman's hand.
As I watched them walk out of the hotel, I suddenly realized that the woman's handbag looked familiar. It was a limited edition Moynat, a niche brand, and it was pale blue, an uncommon color. I seemed to have seen it somewhere, but I couldn't remember.
It had been confirmed that Marlon had cheated on me, and I got the evidence. On the way back, the bag kept appearing in my mind.
As soon as I arrived at the company on Monday morning, George Cook, General Manager of my company, called me to his office and told me to follow up on an important project.
The project was promising. Besides my company, several leading companies in the industry were also following up on it.
"Tessa, focus on this project. If we succeed, I will promote you to vice general manager."
I had been in the company for five years, and George recognized my ability. I was happy that he entrusted such an important project to me.
I understood that men could betray women, but work would not.
Just as I went out of the General Manager's office, I bumped into Sydney, the new marketing manager.
She was from the headquarters. According to internal information, she was on a six-month assignment with the goal of making some achievements in my company. Then, she would return to the headquarters for promotion.
Although she was assigned to my company to be in charge of marketing, I had only met her once. It was the second time, and I ran into her.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Lawson," I bowed my head and apologized repeatedly.
Just as I lowered my head, I saw a light blue limited edition Moynat handbag.
I finally remembered that the woman I saw in the hotel when I was following Marlon was holding the same bag as Sydney's.
I thought, "Are Sydney and Marlon together?"
The thought shocked me. Was Sydney the woman who went to the hotel with Marlon?
I stayed in the hotel for two days. In addition to updating the project plan, I paid attention to Marlon's every move.
What was strange was that he returned home on time these two days and did not spend nights out.
When I returned home on the third day, Marlon seemed to have been prepared and had cooked a sumptuous dinner. I thought he was trying to please me.
"Tessa, I heard that George has assigned you to be in charge of the project of Atlando Company. It is an important project."
Did he hear that? Who told him?
"How did you know that?" I fixed my eyes on him and wanted to know how he would make up the story.
He dared not look at me and lowered his head to put some food onto my plate. "You know, although we are in different companies, we are in the same industry. The news will be spread."
Marlon was right. His company and mine were in the same industry, but my company was at the upstream end of the industry while his company was at the downstream end.
In addition, my company occupied an important position in the industrial chain due to technological innovation and enjoyed a high reputation.
After dinner, I began to pay attention to every corner of the house, from the bedroom to the bathroom, from the kitchen to the balcony.
Finally, I found a long, curly hair in the gap of the bathroom sink. The woman in the hotel and Sydney also had long, curly hair.
In the trash can for toilet paper, I saw another neatly folded piece of toilet paper with blood stains. Neither Marlon nor I had hemorrhoids, so it looked more like the paper a woman used during her period.
I didn't expect Marlon to be so bold. He brought that woman back home during the two days when I was "on a business trip".
I carefully took photos of the evidence.
Marlon's voice came from the living room. "Tessa, I'm going out. There is a problem with an order. I will be back soon."
"OK, see you later." After Marlon left, I installed the micro surveillance camera in the living room.
Fifteen minutes later, the APP reported that Marlon's car was parked at Malus Hotel.
