Hundreds of them, increasingly intimate, increasingly inappropriate. The July party wasn't the beginning. It was just when the emotional affair became physical. He looked away, jaw- clenching. That's semantics.
No, it's honesty or the lack of it. You and Rachel have been lying so long, you started believing your own story. The poor lonely wife, the noble other man, the distant husband. But the evidence doesn't support that narrative. The evidence showed two people who actively pursued an affair, who made hundreds of conscious choices to betray a marriage, who lied not just to me, but to everyone around them.
What do you want from me? He sounded tired, suddenly defeated. An apology, permission for me to admit I'm a terrible person. I want you to stop pretending you're not. I slid a folder across the table, one I prepared specifically for him.
This is a copy of everything I showed Rachel. Phone records, credit card statements, text messages, photos, your entire affair documented. I gave Rachel the courtesy of seeing it first. Now you get the same. " He opened the folder slowly, started reading. I watched the blood drain from his face as he turned pages as he saw his relationship with my wife laid out in stark black and white.
Evidence he'd probably convinced himself didn't exist. "Why are you showing me this? " he asked without looking up. "Because I want you to understand something. This doesn't end with divorce papers and moving trucks. This ends when I decide it ends.
And right now, I haven't decided yet. He looked up sharply. What does that mean? It means I have choices, Marcus. I can file an atfall divorce and make all of this public record.
I can share these documents with your employer. I'm sure they'd be interested to know their employees are using company time and resources for extrammarital affairs. I can tell your parents, your friends, anyone who will listen about what kind of man you really are. That's you're threatening me. I'm explaining consequences.
You made choices. Those choices have implications beyond just getting to sleep with my wife. And I'm the one who gets to decide what those implications are. He closed the folder, pushed it away like it might contaminate him. Rachel said you were being vindictive.
I didn't believe her, but maybe she was right. Vindictive would be ruining your life because you ruined mine. What I'm doing is giving you the same choice I gave Rachel. Cooperate with an honest dissolution of this mess or watch me make it as painful as possible. I pulled the folder back toward me.
So, here's what's going to happen. You're going to give me a full written statement about your relationship with Rachel, dates, locations, the truth about when it started and how it developed. Every relevant detail. Why would I do that? Because if you don't, I'll subpoena you for the divorce proceedings.