Unfaithful: Web Of Betrayal

He remembered the look on Olivia’s face when she found out what he had been hiding from her. That moment of realization that the past several years of her life, he … her husband … the man she had vowed to spend the rest of her life with … had been with another woman. He never thought he could hurt someone so deeply in a matter of minutes. He watched as her world shattered in front of him, falling into the abyss of his betrayal, and there was nothing he could do to undo it; he had caused it; he opened the gates of hell.

What do you say when you’re caught red-handed in a lie? She noticed that things had been different even though he tried as hard as he could to make it look like everything was the way it’s always been. He goes to work, adds a few extra hours after work twice or three times a week. He came home, showered, had dinner, and locked himself in his study to do more work. The only difference was he did only half the work that he usually does; the other half he spent with Sienna in every way he could.

He hid his phone very well. All the text, secret phone calls, pictures, he made sure Olivia would never see them. She never saw them, but she knew they were there. That was something Declan had no control of. His wife’s intuition, wits, and smarts were why he had married her.

They were colleagues. They work together daily. His infatuation with her might have led him to speak so fondly of her too often for his wife’s liking. It didn’t stop there. He was out on business trips more frequently as the affair deepened. Even then, Olivia still had faith that he would never do the unthinkable because he was a good man and husband. They’ve been trying to get pregnant for years, and it took its toll on the both of them; he was focusing on work to take a break from the pressure; that was the initial idea.

He felt something for Sienna. Of course, he did; he wouldn’t be in that much trouble if he hadn’t. But for most married people who fell for another, it was the way Sienna made him feel that really got to him. She made him feel special … again. The way Olivia had made him feel when they were first together. She made him feel important, wanted, even needed … she made him feel admired. He held on to that feeling with enough conviction that Olivia became a shadow in the background with the illusion that he didn’t need her anymore.

He was madly in love because Sienna was madly in love with him too. They were doing everything a couple should be doing in a great relationship behind their spouse’s back because they didn’t have the time and energy to go through all that trouble to leave their marriages. They wanted it right there and then, fast, no fuss. They were both still attached to their partners, but they also knew they were attached to each other in a deeper meaningful way. Or so it seems.

As their relationship grew and became more casual than secret, they got clumsy. Sienna left her lipstick marks on his shirt and his trousers, she could smell her perfume on the car seat, and she even left her eyeliner on the dashboard on more than one occasion. All of which didn’t go unnoticed by Olivia.

He denied it, of course, all of it. Olivia would never find out unless he admitted it. He didn’t realize he was driving his wife insane with all the obvious lies he was constantly feeding her. Because as the affair went on, the lies got bigger until they enveloped everyone in it in one giant bubble of lies. And that bubble burst open when Olivia presented him with a panty she found in the backseat of his car and a picture of them kissing at a resort he went to for a business conference.

Suddenly he found himself not in love with Sienna anymore. Funny how that works. The spell she had on him instantly disappeared as the reality of losing Olivia became more real than just a possibility. He never wanted to lose her; she was always the one that he loved. And the hurt in Olivia’s eyes, reducing him from being the man that she adored into a worthless liar who had destroyed everything they had built for the past seven years, had turned his love affair into the biggest regret he would have to live with for the rest of his life.

“Give me the chance to make it up to you.” That was his promise to her. The one she granted but didn’t expect him to come through. He watched the agony she endured the days after he was found out. She slept for days and could barely get out of bed. She was crying alone in the bathroom and didn’t answer his calls. She fought it alone. He became more insignificant to her. And at the end of her long struggle, he saw a different version of himself in her eyes. The man she doesn’t really need. But she stayed as if the Gods were still in his favor; she stayed with him.

He paid the ultimate price. He lost her trust and respect, and although she still told him she loved him, he knew he had also lost that.

He clutched the brown envelope in his hand. It was the fourth time he had received the package in his office. No sender’s information. His name and office address was printed on the envelope. It came exactly on the 24th of every month since July, the mark of the day he was caught in his lies.

Declan didn’t tell anyone about the package he’s been receiving. He kept it to himself. He was good at keeping secrets, but he wasn’t sure if this time he could survive it. Inside the envelopes were pictures of Sienna. Who had taken them? And why were they sent to him? He had no idea. Their intention can’t be good; that’s all he knows for sure.

Sienna had moved out from Lancaster soon after they ended the affair. He took the first necessary step to save his marriage by dismissing her from her position in the office and forcing her to resign. That was another calamity he had to go through. He had done quite some damage on Sienna too, but she was partly to blame; they both knew they were playing with fire. They just didn’t anticipate what they would do if they got caught.

That was eight years ago. Sienna and her husband moved back to Chestnut, where they originated from. The pictures in the envelopes showed Sienna in her running apparel coming out of the grocery store, in her working outfit, having coffee, and driving her car in the streets of Chestnut. He wondered what would be in the envelope he was holding, more pictures of her; she was sitting on a park bench by herself in Lancaster just a couple of weeks ago, followed by pictures of her sitting on a park bench in Lancaster … with him.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Declan closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Someone out there knows. The only person he wanted to protect was Olivia. He can’t risk breaking her into a million pieces the way he did eight years ago. Who is doing this? He was expecting this person to call him, and he would pay anything to keep this information hidden from his wife. Anything.