Robert closed his eyes briefly, as if on reopening them he could see something else, or be in another moment than the one he was in. He just barely regained the sense to slam the laptop shut.
His wife's steely expression was gradually breaking. "Gavi, Robert? Gavi??" Her voice went up half an octave when she repeated his name.
Robert said nothing. There was absolutely nothing he could say.
"He's a child, Robert, an actual child! How could you take advantage of him like that?"
The rhetorical questions hung heavy in the air.
"Tell me, how long did you think this was going to continue?"
He stood up and glanced over at the wall opposite. On the side of a framed print he saw where the hidden camera was. He half-wondered if it was still working. He tried to think of what to say but came up with nothing so he just stood there, staring at the wall and too much of a coward to face his own wife. He could feel the fury and disappointment radiating off her.
"You asshole. You must take me for some kind of idiot. You really think I didn't know you were cheating on me? With the way you were acting? Do you have any idea how obvious you were?" Anna stood up from the bed and tossed the laptop to the middle of the bed like it was hazardous. She walked over to him and he turned his body to face her direction but could hardly make eye contact.
"Those physiotherapy sessions? I know it was all bullshit! I called that place a week after your first session and they said you never went back."
"Anna..." he started, unsure of what to say that could possibly calm her down.
"So yes I knew you were cheating but I just didn't know with whom. So I thought I'd give you the opportunity to show me yourself by faking Patty's early labor. But to find out it's Gavi?" She shook her head, incredulous. "That poor innocent kid. He looks up to you, Robert, and this is how you repay him? It's sick!"
"It's not..."
"In our marital bed, no less!" She indicated with a sweep of her arm behind her. "And with our daughters just down the hall? What if Klara came in to see you? What then?" She cut him off just as he tried to speak. "No, you didn't think of that, did you? Because you weren't thinking at all! You were only thinking about yourself!" She was yelling at him now. Robert never saw her look so angry. He did this to her.
"Anna, I'm sorry," Robert said, knowing it wasn't enough but he had to try somehow.
"No, Robert, I'm sorry," Anna said, turning away from him to go to the closet and retrieve his overnight bag, the same one he used for his getaway with Gavi. She tossed it forcefully onto the bed. "I'm sorry I married someone so thoughtless, so duplicitous. Robert, if this is the real you then I never knew you at all." She pointed at the empty bag now lying open on the bed. "Pack some things and get out of here."
"Anna, please. I know I fucked up. But I still love you..."
Anna placed a hand up. "I don't want to hear it." Tears started running down her face as she clutched at the sides of her head in frustration and disbelief. In a choked voice, she said, "You ruined everything, Robert. Everything."
Two weeks later
The club suspended Robert for a few weeks, citing personal reasons to the media.
He vaguely wondered who alerted the club about his relationship with Gavi. Was it Anna? Sergio? Pedri? All of them? In the end, it didn't really matter. His agent hinted that the club was trying to buy some time to look into a possible transfer. Of course, his contract was strong enough that they couldn't outright get rid of him. That was small reassurance. He was tainted in their eyes. He could only await whatever the final verdict would be.
