He did not look like a man who was sorry for what he had done to his wife. He looked like a man who was terrified because he had finally been caught in his lies. “How long have you been sleeping with my best friend while you were sleeping in our bed?” I asked.
He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out of his throat as he stared at me. “It was just a mistake that got out of hand,” he finally managed to whisper. I laughed because my body did not know how to process the level of disgust I felt.
“Forgetting to pick up the milk is a mistake, but what you did was a calculated plan,” I told him. He lowered his gaze to the floor because he could no longer look me in the eye. My father stood up and told him that his access to every account was being revoked immediately.
“Civil lawsuits are being filed today and the auditors will be looking for criminal charges,” my father declared. Mark lost all of the color in his face and began to beg for a second chance. “Thomas, we can fix this because you know how much I truly love your daughter,” he cried out.
I took a step toward him and looked him directly in the face with a look of pure steel. “No, Mark, you loved my last name and you loved the money that came with it,” I said. “You wanted everything that belonged to me except for the woman herself,” I added.
That afternoon, everything moved very quickly as the security guards escorted Mark out of the building. His cell phone kept ringing and I assumed it was Lydia calling to ask about the money. I returned to our house with my father and a team of lawyers who were there to change the locks.
Mark was no longer allowed to enter the property without a legal escort to collect his things. His entire life was packed into black cardboard boxes as if ten years of marriage meant nothing. However, there was still one more person that I needed to confront before I could move on.
