When Doom Found Violet

Violet  I was practically buzzing with excitement as I drove home. I had just picked up my third-anniversary gift for my husband, Paul—a Camaro. He'd wanted this car for a long time. I'd caught him looking at it more times than I could count. Either scrolling through pictures on his phone or pulling up listings on his laptop. What Paul didn't know was that I'd spent the last year working a second job at night just so I could buy it for him. He thought I was putting the extra money away for when we eventually had children. We both knew kids were expensive, so he'd never questioned why I was working so much. I couldn't wait to see his face. I'd even bought one of those ridiculously huge bows to put on the hood. Pulling into our driveway, I looked at our little house and smiled. It wasn't anything fancy, and we'd eventually need something bigger if we had children, but it was ours. And I loved it. I climbed out of the Camaro, grabbed the giant bow from the trunk, and carefully placed it on the hood. Perfect. Paul had texted me earlier saying he wasn't feeling well and had left work early. I felt bad that he was sick, especially on our anniversary, but at least his present might brighten his day. I walked inside. The living room was quiet. "Paul?" Nothing. He'd probably gone to bed. I made my way toward the back of the house and quietly opened our bedroom door. I froze. My cousin Stella was naked, riding my husband in our bed. For several seconds, I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't even comprehend what I was seeing. Then something inside me snapped. "Yeah, I can see you're sick." My voice shook. "It must be terminal." Both of their heads whipped toward me. Stella scrambled off Paul with a startled shriek and grabbed the sheet. While Paul practically fell over himself trying to find his boxers. "Violet, baby, it's not what it looks like." I stared at him. "Oh, really?" My voice rose. "Because it looks like my cousin was riding your d**k. Am I seeing that wrong?" "Vi—" I turned around. I couldn't stay in that room. I couldn't look at either of them. Tears burned my eyes as I headed for the door, but Paul caught my arm. "Please, baby. We can talk about this." I ripped my gaze toward him. "Let go of me." "Yeah, Vi," Stella added from behind us. "It was an honest accident." I slowly turned toward her. "An accident?" Stella pulled the sheet tighter around herself. Something inside me shattered. "I defended you." Her face changed. "Every time the family talked about you, I defended you." "Every time they said you'd never amount to anything or called you a w***e because you slept around, I stood up for you." " Even to your own sister." "Violet—" "No." Tears spilled down my cheeks. "I defended you because I thought you deserved a chance. I thought everyone was judging you unfairly." I looked between my cousin and my husband. Apparently, I was the fool. "Now I see you're exactly who they said you were." Stella flinched. I turned back to Paul and yanked my arm from his grip. "Happy anniversary, honey." Paul's face went blank. Then realization hit. "f**k!" He'd forgotten. Of course, he had. I walked out of the house, marched straight to the Camaro, and ripped the giant bow off the hood. Paul followed me outside, still pulling his shirt over his head. "Whose car is this?" I stopped. Of everything that had just happened, that was what caught his attention? "Mine." His eyes widened. I opened the driver's door. "It was going to be yours. Happy anniversary." Paul stared at the Camaro like I'd just kicked him in the chest. "But now it's not." "Violet, wait—" I climbed inside and slammed the door. The engine roared to life. "Violet!" I backed out of the driveway and hit the gas. Within two minutes, my phone started ringing. Paul. Decline. It rang again. Decline. Tears streamed down my face as I drove. I didn't know where I was going. I only knew I needed to get away. Paul Fuck. All I'd wanted was to f**k Stella once and get her out of my system. I'd wanted her since the wedding. She'd worn this tight purple dress that hugged every curve, and I'd thought about her more times than I wanted to admit. I knew it was wrong. Violet was my wife. But I'd tried ignoring it, and that s**t hadn't worked. Not long after, Violet started working nights, supposedly so we could save money before having kids. Stella stopped by the house to drop off some keys. Her sister was going out of town, and they'd asked Violet to check on the place. They trusted Violet. Everyone did. Stella had always been the irresponsible one in her family, but my sweet Violet defended her constantly. That first night, one thing led to another. Stella and I f****d. It should've ended there. It didn't. We started hooking up at least once a week. Sometimes I felt guilty. Violet was busting her ass working two jobs because she thought we were building a future together. While I was screwing her cousin behind her back. But I never thought she'd find out. Now she had. And I'd forgotten our f*****g anniversary. Then I walked outside and saw the Camaro. My dream car. Violet had bought my f*****g dream car. For me. And just as quickly as I'd realized it was supposed to be mine, she drove away in it. "Oh God. What are we going to do?" I turned toward Stella. She was crying. I didn't have time for this s**t. I went back into the bedroom and searched through the clothes scattered across the floor until I found my jeans and pulled my phone out of the pocket. I called Violet. No answer. I tried again. Nothing. "Are you listening to me, Paul?" I looked at Stella. "Shut the hell up, Stella. We never should've started this shit." Her mouth dropped open. "My cousin hates me now!" "Yeah, because you slept with her husband!" "You slept with me too!" I dialed Violet again. Voicemail. "You knew exactly what you were doing," I snapped. "So did you! You wanted me. I saw the way you looked at me at the wedding." I glared at her. She wasn't wrong. That only pissed me off more. "Get out." "What?" "Get the f**k out, Stella." "Paul—" "Now. I don't give a flying f**k where you go. Just get out." I tried Violet again. She had to come back. I could fix this. I had to. Violet I'd been driving for more than an hour. My phone wouldn't stop ringing. Calls. Texts. More calls. I refused to look at any of them. There was nothing Paul could say that I wanted to hear. I'm divorcing him. The thought should have terrified me. Instead, it felt like the only thing I was certain of. I pressed harder on the gas. My phone rang again. "Just stop!" I glanced down for only a second. When I looked back up, my light was green. I entered the intersection. Headlights suddenly appeared from my left. Too fast. My eyes widened. The other vehicle blew straight through the red light. There wasn't enough time to react. Metal slammed into metal. My body jerked violently against the seat belt as the Camaro spun. Pain exploded through my head when it struck the frame. Then everything went black.