After the Affair, I Made Him Leave with Nothing

That evening, I happened to glance at my husband's phone and saw his chat with a chatbot.

"Wife bought a purse for five hundred bucks. Such a waste. How do I get her to return it?"

The next second, a new message popped up on his WeChat.

"Mr. Cox, the Hermès bag you ordered has arrived."

"Would you and Ms. Gray like to pick it up in person, or shall we deliver it to you?"

My hand clenched around the phone and started to shake.

My husband's last name was indeed Cox. But mine sure as hell wasn't Gray.

I steadied my breathing and typed a reply to the sales associate.

"Tomorrow at ten a.m. Deliver it to the house."

"I'll take it to Ms. Gray myself."

——

Ten a.m. Daniel would be at work. I'd have the house to myself.

After sending the message, I opened the navigation app on his phone and memorized the address of the neighborhood he'd been visiting most often lately.

I deleted the entire conversation with the sales associate, then set the phone back exactly where it had been.

Daniel came out of the bathroom right on cue, freshly showered.

He dropped onto the bed beside me and slipped the phone away as if it were nothing.

"Evie, that purse you bought today—why don't you just return it?"

I looked at him, and all I could feel was how terrifyingly unfamiliar this man I'd been married to for six years had become.

"Daniel, today is my thirtieth birthday."

"You didn't get me a gift. I can't even buy myself a five-hundred-dollar purse?"

He rubbed his hands together, his expression sheepish.

"That's not what I meant."

"It's just, you know, ever since Rose was born you haven't worked. She's in preschool now, and money's tight."

"We have to be smart about spending…"

I didn't want to hear another word. I stood up and cut him off.

"I'm going to shower. I still have to take Rose to school in the morning."

Early the next day, Daniel left for work and I dropped Rose off at preschool.

At ten on the dot, the courier from Hermès arrived as promised.

When that forty-thousand-dollar bag was placed in my hands, my chest ached so hard I couldn't breathe.

In Daniel's eyes, five hundred dollars on a purse for me was wasteful—but forty thousand on a bag for another woman was perfectly fine. What a joke.

But this wasn't the time to feel sorry for myself.

I pulled myself together, got in the car, and drove to the address I'd memorized from his phone the night before.

A woman with a striking face opened the door.

"Hi. Who are you looking for?"

I wanted to be sure I had the right person, so I kept my composure and asked.

"Are you Ms. Gray?"

She nodded.

Once I had my confirmation, I held up the shopping bag.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?"

Understanding crossed her face. She stepped aside and let me through.

So she'd already guessed who I was.

The moment I walked in, the place hit me like a slap—Gucci heels in the shoe cabinet, a Burberry scarf tossed over the sofa, a Louis Vuitton coat on the standing rack by the door, a Chanel bag sitting on the coffee table.

All of it.

I didn't know how much Daniel had paid for, but I knew he'd paid for plenty.

Julia caught the look in my eyes, and a flicker of contempt crossed her face.

"Oh, that Daniel. He's always buying me things like these. I keep telling him no, stop, I don't need them—but he just won't listen."

"But then again, he's not wrong, is he? A woman's got to look good. After all, how a woman looks is how her man looks. Wouldn't you agree, Miss Weiss?"