PART 2
Mark walked into the house that night carrying a large bouquet of yellow tulips, which he knew were my favorites. He wore a smile that was so incredibly fake it made me want to scream, but I kept my face perfectly still. “I am so sorry that I am late tonight, but I have been completely swamped with work at the office,” he said.
I watched him from the dining room table where I had already set out a bowl of warm noodle soup. I had prepared his favorite meal because that is what I always did when he claimed to be stressed. I hated myself in that moment for still knowing every little detail of his preferences.
“Is everything going well with my father and the new investment?” I asked while I feigned a sense of calm. Mark sat down across from me and picked up his spoon to begin eating. “Yes, Thomas is very excited about the project and it is going to be a great opportunity for everyone involved,” he lied.
While he was eating his soup, my cell phone began to vibrate in my lap where he could not see it. It was a message from my father that I read with a sense of grim determination. “Send me the documents he asked you to sign immediately,” the first message read.
“I have already spoken with Robert, our primary lawyer, and we are preparing a strategy,” my father wrote in the second text. “Do not sign a single piece of paper that Mark gives you this weekend,” he warned. “This is much more than just a simple case of infidelity,” the final message stated.
