When Patrick, Jane’s husband, begins paying more attention to his phone than to her, she suspects him of cheating. Then, things get heated when she finds a mysterious ring under the seat of his car.Lately, everything about my husband seemed off. Patrick, usually an open book to me, had become a mystery. He went from not caring about his phone when we were together to being glued to it, guarding it like a precious secret.I’ve been eating alone most nights because Patrick has been shut up in our study, claiming to work, when in reality, I could hear him whispering on the phone.
“What’s going on, Patrick?” I asked him after enduring the same cold routine for two weeks. “Work is demanding, Jane,” he said, maintaining eye contact. “It’s going to settle down soon, I promise.” Usually, Patrick would sit down with me and discuss his work, but he retreated to the study with a mug of coffee instead.It wasn’t just the distance between us—it was the silence, the unspoken words that filtered through our home.A few days after that conversation, Patrick told me to use his car for work. “Use mine, darling,” he said, after I mentioned that stopping at a gas station would make me late for work. “I filled it up last night.” I got into Patrick’s car, breathing in the familiar scent of his cologne mixed with the worn leather seats. While adjusting the driver’s seat, I found it—a beautiful ring hidden beneath the seat, in a velvet box. It wasn’t mine, that much was clear.But it was absolutely stunning, and there was a familiar sense to it. The delicate design and the way it shimmered in the light made my heart sink.Whose ring was it? I started the car and began driving to work, while questions started to flood in. Was there someone else? Had Patrick’s late nights and guarded phone been for another woman? Who was at the end of his hushed phone calls? I walked into my office feeling the weight of Patrick possibly cheating on me. My 30th birthday was coming up soon, and Patrick told me that he planned something big. But what if he wouldn’t be around long enough to celebrate with me? What if he was going to leave me for someone else?In a fit of anger—or perhaps desperation, maybe even revenge—I came up with a plan.