MY EX-HUSBAND'S BROTHER

Evelyn's POV The box sat on the kitchen counter, wrapped in silver paper with a white bow. I stared at it while the pasta boiled over on the stove. Water hissed against the hot burner but I could not move. Could not breathe. "Evelyn?" Richard's voice came from the living room. "Are you okay in there?" I turned off the stove with shaking hands. "Fine. Just… checking on dinner." The box was from Silverman Jewelers. The same place Richard bought my engagement ring four years ago. Inside was a diamond bracelet with a tiny engraving: Forever Yours. He had given it to me this morning before leaving for work, kissing my forehead and whispering that tonight would be special. Our fourth anniversary. He said he had big plans. I clasped the bracelet around my wrist, watching it catch the light. It was beautiful and expensive . Everything Richard gave me was expensive but expensive things could not fill the empty spaces in our marriage. My phone buzzed on the counter. A text from Mirabel. "Girl, are you ready for tonight? You better be wearing something that will make Richard forget his own name!" I smiled despite everything. Mirabel had been my best friend since college. She was the only one who remembered the old Evelyn. The one who stayed up all night drafting building designs. The one who won the Henderson Prize for architectural innovation. That Evelyn died four years ago. "Wearing the blue dress he likes," I texted back. "Dinner at eight." I put the phone down and turned to the living room where Richard sat on the couch, his laptop open, his face illuminated by the screen. Even now, even on our anniversary, he was working. "Honey, dinner will be ready in twenty minutes," I said. He did not look up. "Can we make it thirty? I need to finish this email." "You said you would be done by seven." "I know, baby, but this is important. Tonia needs these files before tomorrow's investor meeting." Tonia. His business partner. The woman he spent more time with than me. I walked to the couch and sat beside him. "You have been working on this all week. Can it wait until tomorrow?" Richard finally looked at me, and for a moment, I saw the boy I fell in love with in college. Messy hair, bright eyes, a smile that made me believe in forever. "I promise, after tonight, things will slow down. The company is about to close the biggest deal of my career. Then we can take that trip to Greece you have been wanting." He said the same thing six months ago. And six months before that. "Okay," I whispered. He kissed my cheek and went back to his laptop. I stood and walked to the bedroom, my chest tight. The blue dress hung in the closet, tags still attached. I bought it three weeks ago specifically for tonight. As I reached for it, Richard's iPad on the nightstand lit up with a notification. I was not the kind of wife who checked her husband's devices. I trusted Richard and I believed in our marriage. But something made me pick up that iPad. Something made me look at the screen. A message from someone named Victoria: "He fell asleep. I finally got him down. Miss you already." My fingers moved before my brain could stop them. I swiped open the iPad. Richard never locked it at home. He said he had nothing to hide from me. The message thread was short. Just three texts from this Victoria person. But when I clicked on Richard's side of the conversation, everything changed. The messages were not there. Just gray boxes with a lock icon and the words: Encrypted Message. Richard had encrypted his texts to this person. My hands trembled as I scrolled up. There were hundreds of encrypted messages going back months. All to Victoria. "Evelyn, I am heading out to grab the wine!" Richard called from the living room. " I should be back in fifteen minutes!" The front door closed. I sat on the bed, the iPad burning in my hands. There was a password. There had to be. Richard would not encrypt messages unless he needed to hide something. I tried our anniversary date but it was wrong. I tried his birthday…Wrong. I tried my birthday wrong again. Then I remembered something. Last month, Richard came home late smelling like perfume. When I asked about it, he said he had been at a company dinner. Tonia's birthday celebration. I typed in the date: 0715. The messages unlocked. The first thing I saw was a photo. A woman with long dark hair, lying in bed, wearing nothing but a bracelet. The same bracelet is currently on my wrist. Below the photo, Richard's message: "You look perfect. I cannot wait to see you tonight." The woman's response: "Your wife does not suspect anything?" Richard: "Evelyn trusts me completely. She always has." I scrolled down, my vision blurring. More photos; more messages; months of conversations about hotel rooms; stolen moments; lies he told me so he could be with her. And then I found the most recent message, sent just this afternoon. Victoria: "I told you. The test came back positive. We are having a baby." Richard: "I know. I saw the doctor's report. We will figure this out." Victoria: "When are you going to tell her?" Richard: "Soon. I promise. Just let me get through this anniversary first. I need to keep Evelyn happy until the Henderson project closes. Her father's connections are the only reason we are even in the running." The iPad slipped from my hands and hit the floor. My father. Vincent Henderson. The man who gave Richard his first major investor. The man who believed Richard would take care of his little girl. Richard married me for my father's money and connections. And now he was having a baby with someone else. The front door opened downstairs. "Evelyn! I got the wine! Where are you?" I picked up the iPad with numb fingers, my heart pounding so hard I thought it would break through my ribs. Richard's footsteps came up the stairs. "Sweetie?" The bedroom door opened, and there he stood, holding a bottle of expensive red wine, smiling at me like he had not just destroyed our entire marriage. "There you are," he said. "Ready for our special night?" I looked at him, this man I gave up everything for, and heard my voice say something I never planned. "Who is Victoria?”