Reclaim My Everything

My heart died on our tenth wedding anniversary.
It started when I half-jokingly told my husband I wanted a Herms Birkin 25.
His face went cold. A housewife like you has no use for a bag like that.
The words were a stiletto to the heart.
Ten years ago, I was by his side when we built this company from nothing. Now, on the eve of its IPO, I thought my sweat and tears counted for something.
He could buy himself a hundred-thousand-dollar Mercedes GLE to "keep up appearances." He could gift a client's wife a gray Kelly bag to close a big deal. But on our anniversary, a gift for me was a waste?
As I looked down, my spirit sinking, I saw his phone's screen, a perfect, damning reflection in the window pane. He was messaging a woman with a pink avatar.
I'm heading to the Herms store now. Pick any color you like.
So, my place had already been taken.
It was time to take back everything that was mine.

01
The clink of wine glasses was crisp and clear.
"Happy tenth anniversary." I set my glass down, forcing a smile at the man across the table.
In the dim restaurant light, my husband, Ethan, looked like a stranger. He was in an impeccably tailored suit, his hair slicked back, a new Rolexmy gift to himgleaming on his wrist. After a decade of grinding, he finally had the status symbols he'd always craved.
Just a moment before, Id made my joke. "Honey, you know what I'd love? A Birkin 25."
"A housewife like you has no use for a bag like that," he'd mumbled, his eyes never leaving his phone.
I noticed his thumb swiping furiously across a chat interface Id never seen before. A woman's intuition is a powerful thing.
I had booked this exclusive restaurant to celebrate our decade together. He had shown up empty-handed.
Thats when I saw it. The mirrored wall behind him gave me a perfect view of his phone screen. I quickly angled my own phone and snapped a picture.
I remembered the day we got married. We celebrated with a cheap plate of fish and chips at a greasy spoon diner behind the university. His eyes, back then, were only for me. Hed get annoyed if I focused more on my food than on him, refusing to let it go until I kissed him.
"Is it busy at the office?" I asked, cutting a piece of foie gras and letting it melt on my tongue.
"Yeah. New project." He finally put his phone down, but immediately started glancing at his watch. "Is Teddy okay at home by himself?"
"I asked a friend to come over and watch him," I said, meeting his eyes. "We agreed, remember? This is our anniversary date. No kids."
He froze for a second before plastering on a smile. "Of course. I was just worried about our son."
The lunch ended in a flat, sterile silence. I never got a gift.
On the way home, Ethan drove me in his new Mercedes.
"I've got to swing by the office for a bit," he said after a moment. "I won't be long. You go on home and take care of Teddy."
Suddenly, a notification pinged through the cars Bluetooth speakers.
He fumbled to switch the audio to his phone's private mode, but it was too late. I saw the notification on the dashboard screen. A pink cartoon avatar.
The message that flashed beneath it was a punch to the gut: Thanks, honey.
I quickly turned my head, pretending I hadn't seen a thing.
"Who's bugging you today?" I asked, trying to sound casual. After ten years, everyone at the company knew today was our anniversary.
"It's just Mark, from the project team," he said. The tension in his voice was so thick, not even the Bose sound system could hide it.
As I got out of the car, I leaned in, feigning to straighten his collar. A cloying perfume, not mine, hit me.
And there, just behind his ear, was the faint, unmistakable print of wine-red lipstick.
"What's this?" I asked, pointing directly at it.
He wiped at it with his hand, his face turning ghostly white. He struggled for a moment before forcing a laugh. "Oh, that. We had a department thing today, you know? The interns were fooling around, putting makeup on everyone..."
I smiled and nodded, letting it drop.
Ten years of marriage had taught me one thing: some battles require careful preparation before you declare war.

02
Back home, Teddy was taking his nap.
After my friend left, I started mechanically sorting the laundry.
A dark blue button-down shirt appeared in my hands. Almost immediately, that same sweet, nauseating perfume wafted up from the fabric.
An idea sparked. I pulled out my phone and found the picture Id taken at the restaurant.
I zoomed in. Then zoomed in again.
For a second, I couldnt believe what I was seeing.
In the photo, Ethan was chatting with the woman with the pink avatar. Her contact name was "Cora."
His last message to her read: I'm heading to the Herms store now. Pick a color you like.
The washing machine rumbled to life, but the sound was distant, muffled. All I could hear was the blood rushing in my ears.
I thought back over the past six months. The increasing number of late nights "at the office." The new gym membership. The new passcode on his phone. His recent, sudden enthusiasm for taking Teddy on solo outings.
The signs had all been there.
I had been so busy managing our home, raising our child, that Id missed the betrayal happening right beside me.
It seemed I had lost myself for a very long time.
"Mommy!" Teddy stood at the laundry room door, rubbing his sleepy eyes.
"What is it, sweetie?" I quickly wiped away the tears that had fallen without my notice.
"Daddy said he's taking me to the amusement park next Saturday!" Teddy's face was lit with pure joy.
"That's wonderful! Haven't you been wanting to spend more time with Daddy? Are you excited he's making time for you?"
"Yes! But..." My son's face clouded for a moment. "Daddy always brings that Auntie Cora with us. I don't like her, but she always brings me presents!"
The blood in my veins turned to ice. "Auntie Cora?"
"Yeah. Daddy says she's his good friend. She even told me to call her my new mommy." Teddy clamped his hand over his mouth. "Oops! Daddy said that was our secret game. I wasn't supposed to tell you!"
I swept him into my arms, burying my face in his hair to hide the trembling that had seized my body. "It's okay, baby. You can tell Mommy. What does Auntie Cora look like?"
"She's really pretty! She has long, curly hair. She said I'm way cuter than Daddy..." Teddy spilled a torrent of crucial details, including the specifics of every single one of their outings.
He finally tired himself out and drifted off to sleep in my arms.
I gently laid him back in his bed and stood in the doorway of his room, my hands clenched into tight fists.
I knew who "Auntie Cora" was.
Fifteen years ago, on our university campus, Ethan had pointed to a girl in a white dress. "That's Cora Lynn," he'd said, his voice bitter. "My first love. Dumped me for some rich kid. I swear, I'm going to make her regret that decision."
And now, she was back.
I wiped my tears. Suddenly, everything was crystal clear.
She was back to be a thief. To waltz in and harvest the fruits of my labor without lifting a finger.
But I would not let her win.

03
A few nights later, I stared at my laptop, my fingers trembling slightly on the trackpad.
On the screen was the backend of the company's financial system. Ethan's corporate expenses were laid out in stark detail. For the past three months, he'd spent a fortune at designer boutiques.
I had never seen any of these items, nor had he mentioned gifting them to any clients.
"What are you looking at?" Ethan's voice boomed from behind me.
I instantly switched screens. As I spun around, I bumped into him, knocking the coffee mug from his hand. Brown liquid spread across the white tile.
"The monthly financial report," I said, grabbing a paper towel and kneeling to clean the mess. "You're home earlier than I expected."
"Meeting was canceled." He tossed his suit jacket aside. That same dark blue shirt, still stained with her scent, was on him again. "Where's Teddy?"
"The sitter took him to his art class." I stared at the shirt, then reached out. "I haven't seen this brand before. Is it new?"
Ethan's expression flickered. Just for a second.
He quickly recovered, grabbing my hand and pulling it away. "Just something I picked up."
I recoiled. The perfume on the shirt was overpowering. "You changed your cologne recently? If I'm not mistaken, that's a woman's fragrance."
"Vivian!" His voice sharpened. "What's gotten into you lately? You're so paranoid!"
"Last Friday, you said you were with a client until two in the morning." I pulled up a screenshot of his credit card statement on my phone. "So why was there a charge at a perfume counter at midnight? What kind of client needs you to buy them cosmetics in the middle of the night?"
Ethan's face flushed a deep red, the veins in his neck bulging. "Are you spying on me?"
"Do you have something to hide? Something you're so afraid I'll find?" I shot back with a cold laugh.
He lunged, snatching the phone from my hand. "I was buying it for a client! When did you become so irrational?"
"For a client?" I turned, pulled an envelope from a drawer, and threw it at his chest. "Was this 'for a client,' too?"
Photos spilled from the envelope, scattering across the floor.
Every single one was of him and a long-haired woman, shopping at high-end boutiques, dining at fancy restaurants.
It had taken my private investigator three days and less money than I expected to get them.
Ethan stood frozen, unable to speak.
"Who is she?" My voice was terrifyingly calm.
"Let me explain..." He finally found his voice. "That's Cora. We've been working on a project together..."
"Cora?" I grabbed a picture frame from the desk and hurled it against the wall. The glass shattered over our wedding photo. "Your gold-digging first love? The one who dumped you for a trust-fund baby fifteen years ago?"
At that, Ethan exploded. "Shut up! You have no right to talk about her like that!"
"Teddy told me everything!" I screamed. "How his 'new mommy' buys him gifts! How you take them out to play! You're letting my son call that whore 'mommy'?"
"You watch your mouth!" He grabbed my wrist, his grip like iron. "Cora's having a hard time. Her husband is abusive. She just needs a friend to comfort her..."
"Comfort her? Is that what you call it? Screwing her in a hotel room?" My control finally snapped. I threw the last stack of evidence at him.
Hotel receipts. Check-in records. All from the past month.
Faced with undeniable proof, Ethan finally dropped the act. His face was a mask of pure fury. I searched it for any sign of guilt, of remorse.
There was none.
I wrenched my arm free and ran to the study, pulling a dusty box from the top of a bookshelf.
Inside, tied with a ribbon, were our college love letters. On top of the pile was a faded photo of Ethan and Cora on campus.
"Ten years!" I flung the photo in his face. "You kept this garbage for ten years! And what about me? I lived with you in a basement apartment, eating instant noodles while I helped you write business plans! When the company was about to go under, I was the one begging my family for money to keep you afloat! And now that you've made it, you go crawling back to the bitch who threw you away because you were poor?"
Ethan's face twisted into an ugly snarl. "That's right! I never forgot her! Cora is never hysterical like you! She knows how to make a man happy, instead of acting like a bitter shrew all day!"
Crack!
The sharp sound of my palm connecting with his cheek echoed in the room.
I always believe in settling debts on the spot.
But I had miscalculated.
Ethan touched his cheek, a dangerous light I had never seen before flashing in his eyes. He lunged, shoving me down onto the sofa, his knee pinning the fabric of my dress.
"Listen to me," he whispered, his hot breath on my neck. "The company is valued at over a hundred million. You'll get nothing in a divorce. For Teddy's sake, you'll learn to look the other way."
I couldn't breathe.
He wasn't even pretending anymore. After everything, he was casting me aside and using our son to threaten me. He had his success, and now he was going back to the woman he "truly" loved.
What did my years of sacrifice mean?
I struggled, but he was too strong. Just as panic began to set in, the doorbell rang.

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