KATHLEEN'S POV
"What do you think happens between a man and a woman when they go to a hotel?" Sean said, carelessly destroying the last thread holding me together.
My blood ran cold. Sean was lying. And he knew what his words meant for me.
"What is this nonsense, Sean?" I drew him by the collar, violently shaking him. "Why are you doing this to me? Nothing happened between us… tell them the truth." I pleaded amidst sobs.
My entire world was presently hanging on a thin thread and only Sean could save me.
Sean threw my hands off him dusting his clothes "You can't keep denying what we shared, Kathleen."
"What proof do you have to back up your claims?" Jeremy, my husband finally spoke. He had been sitting in silence all along. While my mother-in-law watched from the sides.
Sean reached into his pocket and held up a car key.
"Kathleen gave me her car," he said. "The same one she claimed was stolen. She gave it to me because she never leaves the house. She said I had a better need for it."
"What? I never did that," I cried out, but my mother in law snapped at me to be silent.
"You should have treated your wife better." Sean said, finally breaking the last piece holding Jeremy together.
Immediately, my mother-in-law ordered Ms. Bang, head of house keeping, to check the car's dashcam.
When Ms. Bang returned, she played a short clip. It was the moment in the restaurant garage when Sean leaned close to remove something from my hair. But from the camera's angle, it looked intimate. It looked like a kiss. It was damning.
Jeremy's face twisted in agony. His hand came down so fast I did not see it coming.
For the first time in our marriage, he raised his hand.
The sound echoed violently through the living room, sharp and unforgiving, amplified by the silence that had settled heavily around us. The cold stillness of the mansion absorbed the impact of this single moment.
My head snapped to the side and my body followed before I could steady myself. My knees gave way and I fell hard to the floor. The sting on my cheek burned sharply, but it was nothing compared to the pain spreading through my chest as I looked up at him, my husband, the man who once swore to protect me, now standing over me with eyes filled with rage and disgust.
"How could you do this to me?" he shouted, his voice contained with raw fury. "Did I not love you enough? How could you betray me like this?"
My mouth opened, but no sound came out at first. My throat felt tight, my chest aching as tears gathered despite my effort to hold them back.
"I did not betray you, Jeremy." I whispered, my voice barely audible as tears gathered uncontrollably. "Jeremy, please listen to me. I am innocent."
The word innocent felt fragile as it left my lips, as though it could shatter before it even reached him.
Behind him, my mother-in-law stood perfectly still, her posture composed, her hands folded calmly in front of her. She said nothing, but I saw everything. The way her eyes lingered on me. The way her lips pressed together, hiding what she did not want to reveal too openly. There was satisfaction there.
Jeremy laughed bitterly, a sound that sliced through me deeper than the slap. "Innocent?" he scoffed. "After everything I saw. After the pictures. After the disgrace you brought on us. You have dragged Shaw's family name through dirt and I will never forgive you."
Each word landed like a blow, heavier than the last, crushing the air out of my lungs. I reached out to him instinctively, still kneeling on the cold floor, my fingers trembling as they brushed the edge of his trousers.
"Please," I begged, my dignity dissolving as desperation took its place. "I swear on my life. On our child. I would never betray you."
He stepped back sharply, as though my touch disgusted him.
"Do not say that," he snapped. "Do not use my child to clean your filth."
The living room felt too large and too small all at once, the high ceilings pressing down on me as the walls seemed to close in.
My mother-in-law finally spoke, her voice calm, measured, as though she were restoring order. "Jeremy, this is enough. This scene does not belong in this house." Then she faced me. Her voice now filled with disgust, " I warned you never to bring shame to this family. For what you have done, you no longer belong to this household."
On hearing her words, Jeremy did not hesitate.
"Get her out," he said coldly. "I never want to see her again."
Those words were the end of me.
The maids approached me reluctantly, their eyes avoiding mine as they helped me to my feet, not gently, not cruelly, just obediently. I was no longer the woman of the house. I was something to be removed.
As they dragged me toward the door, I turned back, searching Jeremy's face one last time, hoping for doubt, for hesitation, for anything that suggested he might still see me.
But Jeremy did not look at me. He turned away.
I caught my mother-in-law's gaze instead.
She met my eyes fully this time, no longer hiding her smile.
As they dragged me, my feet scraped the floor with every step until they pushed me outside the gate and slammed it shut behind me. I stood there barefoot, trembling, too stunned to even cry.
I stood barefoot and broken outside the gates of the house I once called home, too stunned to even cry.
Then suddenly, water drops began to fall from the sky.