His Wife's Sinful Revenge

Chapter 2: The Proposition

~Vivian~

For a few seconds, I didn't move. Nathan was far too gone in his adultery to notice my presence. Bella noticed me first, and gasped as she tried to scramble out of the bed, clutching the bedsheet around her naked body. In her panic, she tripped, and her legs tangled in the sheets, sending her sprawling onto the floor. Nathan saw me then, his face draining of color the second he laid his eyes on me.

My heart broke as I looked at him. The man I had loved for five years. The man I had traveled across countries for, just to make his birthday special. The man who had just betrayed me in the cruelest way possible.

My voice was shaky when I finally spoke. “Is this some kind of trance?” I shook my head fervently and rubbed my eyes. “Am I hallucinating?”

"Vivian—"

His voice seemed to drag me out from the illusion that this might be a bad dream, or a hallucination.

"Oh my God," my voice trembled. "Oh my God, this is happening. This is actually happening."

Nathan was already pulling on his pants, his hands trying to reach out to me. "Vivian, please, listen to me—"

"No. No, no, no." I took a shaky step back. "Tell me I’m seeing things, Nathan. Tell me this is some kind of sick joke."

The maid was crying now, clutching the sheets tightly around her body.

Nathan reached for me, but I shot out my hands in negation, my breath coming in short, ragged gasps. "Don’t you dare touch me with those filthy hands!"

The murmurs behind me grew louder. Someone muttered a curse. Another person let out a low whistle.

"Holy s**t, man."

"This is messed up."

Tasha’s voice shrieked through my earpods, still connected. "Vivian? What’s going on? Why is everyone gasping? What happened?!"

I didn’t answer. My head was spinning. Just minutes ago, I’d been gushing about him to my best friend. Gushing about how he was different from the others, about how much I trusted him. Gushing about the man who was now standing in front of me, looking at me like I was the one about to ruin his life.

Tears burned behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. "Was this why you told me not to bother coming to spend your birthday with you?" my voice trembled, but I forced myself to meet his gaze. "Because you knew you were about to do this?"

"Vivian, please, just let me explain—"

"Explain?!" my voice cracked. "Explain what, Nathan? That I took a flight all the way here to surprise you but somehow caught you screwing the maid in OUR bed?"

Nathan ran a hand through his hair. "It’s not what it looks like—"

"Not what it looks like?" I let out a bitter laugh. "Oh, I must be hallucinating then. Maybe you were just giving her a full-body massage. Is that it? Or maybe you tripped, and your p***s just happened to land inside her v****a?"

Nathan flinched, but didn't say anything in defense. We stood there, each having a lot to say but never saying it, until someone in the doorway cleared their throat.

"Uh… I think we should probably leave now."

I turned, remembering that we had an audience. Nathan’s colleagues. His friends. Our friends. Shame enveloped me and I desperately felt like disappearing.

A few of the guests snorted in disbelief, others whispered, their voices hushed yet filled with judgment. One by one, they turned away, their expressions filled with shock, pity, and awkward discomfort.

Tasha’s frantic voice was still shouting through my earpods. "VIVIAN?! What is happening? You’d better tell me it isn’t what I think it is. I swear, I’ll gut Nathan and feed his intestines to the birds if—"

I exhaled shakily and slowly brought a finger to my ear. "I’ll call you back."

Then I hung up and turned to Nathan.

"Why would you humiliate me like this?" "You made me look like a fool. And the worst part? I was just out there, talking about how much I love you. God, I feel so–" my breath hitched. "So disgusted with myself."

Nathan sighed as he buttoned his pants, as if my pain exhausted him. "Vivian, don’t be dramatic, please."

I scoffed. "Dramatic?" I let out a bitter laugh. "I walked in on my husband screwing our maid, Nathan. I think I’m handling this pretty damn well.”

He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling like a man burdened by a long day at work. "Look, I won’t sugarcoat this. I’ve been struggling to stay in this marriage."

I flinched, but he kept going anyway.

“Five years, Vivian. It’s been five years of hell."

My heart almost stopped. "Hell?" I echoed.

He turned to face me fully now, his expression cold. There was no guilt in his eyes. No regret. Just exhaustion.

"You don’t know how to satisfy me," he said simply. "I’ve tried, Vivian. But you just…don’t do it for me. You're too boring for me. And you’re always bugging me about kids and those irrelevant things."

A sharp pain shot through my chest, as if the air had been punched out of my lungs. "You…" my voice cracked. "Nathan, we– we’ve always been fine. I-I thought–"

"You thought wrong."

I blinked at him, trying to hold back tears. "And the kids' thing?" I tried again. "We…we always said we’d wait until we were ready. We both wanted—"

"No," Nathan cut in. "You wanted kids, Vivian. Not me. And that’s why I’ve been taking suppressants.”

I gasped, the revelation springing painful tears to my eyes. “You’ve been the cause of my childlessness for five years, and yet you allowed your family to treat me like I was the problem? How could you be so heartless!”

"Even if I wanted to, I was never going to have kids with someone like you.”

Everything was happening too fast for me to grasp. I took a deep breath to calm the choked sob breaking out of my throat. “Then why did you marry me?"

"Because you loved me too much."

I staggered back. "What?"

"You were perfect," he said, his voice void of emotion. "You cook, you clean, you take care of everything. You're a good prop for a wife."

"Prop?" The word felt like a slap. "Nathan, I’m your wife, not a–a toy you get to sleep with when you feel like it!"

He shrugged. "And that is why I need more. Besides, I hate having s*x with you. I’ve always forced myself to do it all these while."

Tears stung my eyes. "So that’s what Bella is? ‘More’?"

"She gives me what I need," he said simply. "She’s so good in bed, and gives it to me however I want it. Something you never could."

"I gave you everything, Nathan."

He sighed. "Exactly. That’s why I have an offer for you too."

I swallowed, "An offer?"

"A choice, really." He sat at the edge of the bed, completely unbothered by the sheets still smelling of his affair. "We either get a divorce, or—" he met my gaze. "We open the marriage."

For a moment, I thought I misheard him.

"What?"

"You heard me." He leaned back, his posture relaxed, as if he were discussing vacation plans. "I’ll keep f*****g Bella, and others, if I feel like it. And you’re free to do the same."

I stared at him, horrified. "You want ME to sleep with other men?"

Nathan scoffed. "You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But at least this way, I won’t have to sneak around anymore."

I shook my head rapidly, the room tilting. "You’re insane."

"No, Vivian. I’m just done pretending."

"So all this time, while I was planning surprises, while I was thinking of our future, you—you were just waiting for a chance to tell me I wasn’t enough for you?"

"You were never enough for me," he said bluntly.

A sob broke from my throat. "And you let me love you anyway?"

Nathan’s lips pressed into a thin line. "You loved me enough for both of us. It worked. Until it didn’t."

I squeezed my eyes shut, gripping my arms tightly, trying to hold myself together. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t the life that I dreamt of.

"And if I say no?" I opened my eyes, my vision blurred with tears.

Nathan tilted his head. "Then we get a divorce."

The finality in his tone sent a fresh wave of pain crashing into me.

"So those are my only options?" my voice cracked. "Either I let you sleep with other women, or I walk away from the last five years of my life?"

Nathan nodded. "It’s time to be realistic, Vivian."

Realistic.

Right.

Because nothing about this nightmare was real.