The Evidence Against My Wife

Chapter 1

My phone chimed while I was working late at the office.

I pulled it out and found a text message containing nothing but a photograph.

The moment I opened it, blood rushed to my head and my entire body went rigid.

My wife, Laura Bennett, lay in another man’s arms. Her face was flushed, and from the state she was in, it was obvious what they had just done.

All the strength drained out of me.

I couldn’t believe my wife had betrayed me.

Before I could recover from the shock, another message arrived. This one was a voice recording.

It contained nothing but Laura’s cries.

I immediately called the number, but whoever had sent the messages refused to answer.

Then I called Laura. Her phone was switched off.

Panic swallowed me. It felt as if a thousand blades had been driven through my chest, as if my entire world were collapsing around me.

I worked myself to the bone for our family, staying late at the office, and she had repaid me by cheating on me.

There was no way I could let this go.

As far as I was concerned, I had never wronged Laura once during our marriage. We’d met on a marriage-minded blind date, and when I married her, my family had paid hers two hundred thousand yuan as a betrothal payment.

In the five years since then, I had treated every problem in her family as if it were my own.

When her mother suffered a heart attack and ended up in the hospital, I paid all her medical bills.

As Laura’s husband, I had given her everything she asked for. If something was within my power, I did it. If it wasn’t, I found a way.

And this was what I received in return.

I drove home as fast as I could, calling the number that had sent the photograph over and over again. The bastard rejected every call.

The picture showed Laura clearly, but the man’s face wasn’t visible.

I stormed into the Carter family home and found Laura watching television with our daughter.

She looked as if nothing had happened.

Hatred surged through me at the sight of her sitting there so calmly. She had nerves of steel. After what she’d done, she could still relax in front of the television without a care in the world.

If Daisy hadn’t been there, I would have walked over, slapped that vicious woman across the face, and demanded a divorce on the spot.

Laura looked up at me. Then she rose and walked over.

“Daniel Carter, come into the bedroom. I need to talk to you about something important.”

I stared at her.

So she couldn’t wait any longer. Was she about to confess everything?

If she wanted a divorce, I would make sure she walked away from our marriage with nothing. And there was no question about it: I would fight for full custody of Daisy.

But I still didn’t have conclusive evidence. At the very least, I had no idea who the other man was.

I followed Laura into the bedroom and waited for her to tell me what was so important.

To be honest, I was nervous.

Chapter 2

My palms were slick with cold sweat.

If Laura admitted the affair and demanded a divorce, I wouldn’t just be the husband she’d humiliated. I might lose my daughter too.

Worse, she could walk away with half the house, the car, and everything else we owned. That would be letting her off far too easily.

The thought filled me with equal parts fear and rage.

Even so, I forced myself to keep my anger under control.

“Laura, what did you want to tell me?” I finally asked.

“Daniel, there’s something we need to discuss.”

“What is it?”

Laura’s expression turned cold. Anyone looking at her could have seen that she was already in a foul mood.

“Daniel, when I married you, I was settling. I’ve endured a lot since then.”

My heart sank as I listened to Laura. So I hadn’t been wrong after all. That woman was finally ready to lay everything on the table and ask for a divorce.

A suffocating heaviness pressed against my chest. After all these years of sacrifice, what had I gotten in return?

I let out a cold, humorless laugh inside.

This wasn’t the first time Laura had said something like that. She had always believed she’d gotten the short end of the deal by marrying me. Her close friends, she often pointed out, had husbands with secure public-sector jobs. They lived in spacious houses, wore designer clothes, traveled whenever they wanted, and went out for elegant afternoon tea.

In the past, listening to her complaints had made me feel guilty. It was true that Laura and Daisy hadn’t lived especially well over the years.

But I hadn’t been a bad husband. When it came to Laura, I had practically given her everything she asked for. As long as I could meet her demands, I did.

So I kept silent.

My mind was already racing ahead. If Laura asked for a divorce, how could I turn things around? How could I keep our marriage from falling apart?

A dozen images flashed through my mind.

Then, to my surprise, Laura abruptly changed direction.

“Daniel, I can endure a difficult life with you, but Daisy shouldn’t have to suffer with us. Don’t you agree?”

I looked at her in confusion, unable to guess what she was really after. Still, I nodded instinctively.

“Daisy’s starting first grade soon, isn’t she? If she’s going to school, she should attend the best one in the city, Oakridge Elementary.”

The moment I heard the name, my expression changed.

Oakridge Elementary was widely considered the best elementary school in the City. Even its least qualified teachers had graduated from top universities, and several had studied overseas. The quality of education was undeniably excellent.

But tuition was only part of the problem. To enroll Daisy there, we would also need a condo in the preferred school zone.

Chapter 3

And property in that area was expensive. The average home price elsewhere in the City was only around eight thousand dollars per square meter, while prices near Oakridge ran closer to twenty thousand.

As Laura spoke, I suddenly felt as though I understood where this was going.

After a few seconds of thought, I said, “Daisy doesn’t need to attend a school that expensive. Riverside Elementary is perfectly good, and it’s right nearby.”

“Daniel, what exactly are you trying to say?” Laura demanded, immediately claiming the moral high ground. “You don’t want Daisy to have a better life? You don’t want to give her a proper education?”

“That’s not what I mean, Laura. You know our financial situation. Last year, we paid your mother’s hospital bills, and we covered the repairs on her house. Where do you think we’re going to find the money now?”

I explained patiently, though I couldn’t understand why she had suddenly become so concerned about Daisy’s education. She had never shown this much interest in our daughter before.

For the past few years, Laura had done almost nothing around the house. She was either playing cards or on her way to play cards.

A good wife? A good mother? She didn’t deserve either title.

If I hadn’t loved her so deeply, if I hadn’t wanted to preserve our family, I might have divorced her long ago.

I thought about it for a while. Then a frightening possibility surfaced in my mind.

Could Laura be trying to get money out of me?

That was only a suspicion for now. After all, she was presenting everything as something she wanted for Daisy’s sake.

I couldn’t turn against her openly yet.

So I continued, trying to remain calm. “Laura, I really don’t have that kind of money right now.”

“I know you don’t,” Laura said suddenly. “But your mother does, doesn’t she?”

Laura’s words made my head ring.

My mother did have some money, but that money had come from the settlement after my father’s fatal accident at the construction site. He had paid for it with his life.

The moment I heard Laura say that, I could no longer hold back my anger.

“Laura, how can you even say something like that? Don’t you know where my mother’s money came from? My father died for it. He left it behind so Mom could support herself in her old age. You’re not planning to take that money too, are you?”

I was practically shouting.

I never thought Laura could be so shameless, so utterly heartless.