Page 99 of Checkmate
Lottie wriggled her eyebrows. “Can I give it to him, Eri? Please?”
Erica nodded, her heart pounding. She wasn’t sure anything could get her out of that chair at that moment. “Sure,” she whispered.
“What a lucky man I am,” Alex said with a laugh. “I have the best wife and the absolute best sister.”
He winked at her, unaware of the growing tension around the table. Did her family sense what was coming? Could they pick up on her discomfort?
“You deserve it,” Lottie smiled, a glint in her eye that Alex either missed or chose to ignore. She handed him a thick envelope. “Don’t open it yet, though. I’ve got to give everyone else theirs.”
All eyes turned to Erica as Lottie handed out the envelopes. They held a mountain of evidence of Alex’s infidelities.
She stood suddenly under the guise of refilling everyone’s drinks.
In reality, she couldn’t stand to be near him. On the one hand, everything about him repulsed her. On the other, she wanted to cuddle up to him and beg him to tell her it would all be okay.
They had been together for so long, their love story was straight out of a fairy tale. It was instinctive to want him, to need him. He was the person she ran to when she needed support. If she had a problem, she trusted him to help her fix it.
Damn him to the deepest pits of hell for tarnishing everything that had made them, them. Now, more than ever, she wanted to expose this man for who he was.
“So you all know, I’ve made a new friend, Marcus, right?” She glanced around at her family members. Marcus is married to Alex’s secretary, Sophie. Isn’t that nice?”
“Erica…”
“He helped me put this together. A joint project, if you will. Please, open your gifts.”
Josh snatched up his envelope, tearing at the seal as Alex tore at his own.
“Amazing it took us so long to meet, actually,” she said, to cover her nerves. “Especially considering all the time Alex and Sophie spend together. But I suppose our getting together was too risky. We might compare notes, right?”
“Erica, I’m not sure what he’s told you, but…”
“Anyway!” With a firmer voice, she watched as Alex put his envelope to one side, the divorce papers poking out. He hadn’t even bothered to look.
“Marcus told me he’d stumbled on some texts between Sophie and Alex. Not unusual for co-workers, right? But then, most people can trust their spouses to behave appropriately with their co-workers.” She rolled her eyes, tutting. “What a fool I am.”
“Erica, it’s not true.”
“It looks pretty fucking true from where I’m sitting,” Josh said, his voice thunderous. “You’ve been cheating on my sister?”
“I—”
Erica glanced around the room and the fretful faces around the table. Her mother looked pale and upset, Liv on the verge of tears. Her father was staring at the letter in front of him. He was taking in every last piece of evidence. Josh was tense in his seat, barely containing his rage.
The only person who had a smile on their face was Lottie, who was watching the entire thing unfold with glee.
“I thought you might deny it, but that’s okay. You all saw Alex’s phone buzzing across the table earlier, right?” She asked, addressing her family. Pulling his phone from her pocket, she glanced at the screen. “Twenty-three missed calls. Two missed video chats. Countless voicemails, and most importantly, the texts.”
“You don’t have to tell us everything, Erica, love,” her mother said in a small voice.
“Oh, don’t worry, Mum,” Erica said with an overly cheerful smile. “This is the best part, I promise. The texts.” She cleared her throat and read from the phone. “Alex, Marcus knows! He knows about us! He’s thrown me out, Alex! Please, what do I do? I have nowhere to go.”
She met Alex’s gaze, every ounce of friendliness gone from her face. “Shall I go on?”
“You cheated on my sister?” Josh repeated, his lip curling in disgust. “Not just cheated, but a full-blown affair?”
“It’s not like that!” Alex stood, running his hand through his hair and then pulling at his tie. “I didn’t cheat on her.”
“The messages don’t lie, Alex,” Erica scoffed. “At least have the fucking decency to stop lying to my face.”
