The chat history stretched back eight years, to just one year after Clement and I got married.
Clement, didn't you say you'd divorce that btch soon? It's been a whole year! Don't tell me you've actually fallen for her?*
Tilly and I are sick of living in this dump!
How could I ever fall for her, babe? I married her for her money and connections! Just give me a little more time. Once I've earned her complete trust and gotten my hands on her company shares, I'll file for divorce immediately. If you and our little girl don't want to live in that neighborhood anymore, I'll figure something out.
I kept scrolling. Clement had used the excuse of needing investment capital for the institute to swindle money out of me, then used it to buy Dawn and Tilly a luxury apartment. Right across the street from our home.
Honey, this place is perfect. I get to see you every single day.
Honey, I want a little thrill... I want us to do it right under that btch's nose...*
That naughty, babe?
Hmph, the more miserable she'd be if she knew, the better I feel. And the real fun hasn't even started yet!
After Dawn and Tilly moved in across the street, Clement started coming home later and later.
I felt sorry for him, thinking he was overworked. I'd cook dinner with my own hands and wait with Virginia for him to walk through the door. All the while, he was on the other side of that wall, in bed with another woman.
A wave of nausea churned up from my stomach.
No wonder Dawn and Tilly had always been so hostile toward me. Two months ago, Tilly had shoved Virginia off a second-floor balcony, fracturing her right leg. Virginia spent two weeks in the hospital.
I'd gone to their door, furious, demanding an explanation. They bolted it shut and watched me through the peephole, stone-cold.
I was about to hire a lawyer and press charges when the news came that they'd both been killed in a car accident.
The matter died with them. But Clement walked around like a man who'd lost his soul, silent and hollow for weeks.
I thought he was struggling with his research. Virginia and I did everything we could to cheer him up.
That went on for a month. Then one day he came home beaming, carrying a glass terrarium with two pythons inside, their scales an eerie, unnatural color. He claimed they were a rare species he'd rescued and that he'd turn them over to a wildlife shelter once he made contact.