XSTORIES4U: Tales of Love, Lies, and Betrayal - Book 1

Part 19 Love or Betrayal? My Shocking Discovery!

He told me he loved me right before I found out he was still married to his high school sweetheart. We were tangled in the sheets of my tiny apartment, the air thick with whispered promises and shared dreams, when his phone buzzed incessantly. Ignoring it at first, I brushed it off as work until he excused himself to the bathroom, where his muffled voice carried a tone of urgency. Curiosity got the better of me, so I listened through the door and heard him say, "I can't keep doing this, she can't find out." My heart sank, but I kept silent. Later, I casually mentioned his phone calls, and that's when he confessed—married for years, high school sweethearts, but claiming it was a loveless marriage kept alive for convenience. I felt a surge of rage and betrayal, but before I could react, his wife showed up at my door, eyes red from crying. She knew all along, and it was all part of a twisted game of theirs to keep their marriage thrilling. I was nothing but a pawn, and confronting her only deepened my sense of betrayal. She stood there, disheveled, a sad, broken smile playing on her lips as she let herself into my apartment like she had done this a hundred times before.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way," she said, her voice calm but dripping with exhaustion. "But you weren't the first, and you won't be the last. He loves the thrill. We both do, in our own twisted way."

I could barely breathe, my mind reeling from the revelation. "So you... you've been doing this to other women? Together?"

She nodded. "It's how we survive. We bring someone into our lives, someone new, someone unsuspecting, to keep the excitement alive. You think this is just about him? No, I wanted this too. You were perfect, so trusting."

I felt sick, but something in her tone stopped me from speaking. She wasn't here to apologize. She was here for something else, something darker.

"I always come in at the end," she continued, walking around my apartment, inspecting the life I had built. "When the relationship hits its peak, when the lies start to unravel. That's when I step in. And then, we end it together."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I had been manipulated by both of them, their sick game drawing me in like a fly into a web. I wanted to scream, to throw them both out, but her presence was unnerving. She wasn't angry or hysterical—she was cold, calculating.

"So what happens now?" I asked, my voice shaking. "You just... leave, and I'm supposed to forget this?"

Her smile grew wider, but there was no warmth in it. "Oh no, sweetheart. We don't just leave. That's not how this ends."

At that moment, he walked out of the bathroom, his face blank, as if the man I had shared dreams and secrets with had completely vanished. He stood beside her, the two of them looking at me with matching expressions of amusement.

"See," she said, her voice low and threatening, "the real fun starts now. You're part of this whether you like it or not. You think you can just move on, forget what happened? We won't let you."

I felt my heart pound in my chest. "What do you mean?"

"We make sure you remember us," he said, his voice cold and unfamiliar. "We'll be in every part of your life. Every new relationship, every friendship—you'll always be looking over your shoulder, wondering if we're there, pulling the strings. And maybe we will be."

I stood frozen, the room suddenly feeling small and suffocating. This wasn't just betrayal; this was a nightmare I couldn't wake up from. They had marked me, and there was no escaping them.

As they walked out of my apartment, hand in hand, the door closed softly behind them, leaving me alone with the crushing realization. I wasn't just a pawn in their game. I was their next target, and this twisted nightmare had only just begun.