I hear the front door open and shut before the sound of her keys hitting the glass dish in the foyer echoes throughout the room. The click clack of her heels gets louder, but it no longer annoys me, knowing that soon I’ll never have to hear it again. As she enters the living room, scrolling on her phone, she doesn’t pay attention to the bodies slapping together on the giant TV screen. I take a sip from my tumbler of scotch, the ice clinking together and bringing her eyes to me.

That’s when Jacqueline finally looks up to find the video footage of Dr. Curtis fucking her as she’s bent over the examination table at the clinic.

Suddenly, it’s not the sound of her keys, or her heels, or the ice in my glass filling the room. It’s her phone falling out of her grasp and shattering on the hardwood floor. I smirk, my eyes going from her to the TV just as Dr. Curtis rears back and slaps her ass, causing my wife to throw her head back, her face contorting in pleasurable pain. My cock doesn’t even twitch as she begins to fuck back into him, her nostrils flaring and her lips snarling, begging for more.

But then the screen goes black and I look up to see Jacqueline holding the remote to her chest, her eyes staring but not seeing as she appears to search her mind.

“What is it, wife? Don’t want to spice up our sex life a little, watch a little porn to get our engines revving? I believe this one is titled ‘Cheating Cunt Gets Fucked Like a Whore by Her Doctor.’” I take a final sip of my scotch, emptying the glass, leaving behind only the ice.

“How…?”

“How… what? Did I get ahold of a tape of you fucking our fertility doctor? The security footage of the clinic just magically appeared. What does it even matter?” I ask, my voice eerily calm.

“Security cameras in an exam room?” she whispers, her lip trembling.

“I think the last thing you should be worried about is the how. You should be much more worried about the repercussions of your actions. We are no longer even, you bitch. We’re over, and there’s nothing you can do or say or hold over me anymore.” I smile wickedly.

“Xan—”

“Nothing!” I roar, and her hesitant step toward me halts as fear fills her eyes. My mind drifts back to the time that same look was shared in this very same room, only it was me who felt such dread.

“What are you doing here?” I bark, seeing Jacqueline sitting on the couch. We’ve been separated for months without a fucking word. Blissful silence. Yet here she sits, legs crossed, her stiletto dangling from her toes and her arms crossed beneath her breasts.

“I know about her,” she says simply, and my eyebrow quirks.

“Know about who, exactly?” I prompt, my gut sinking, but I manage to keep my voice calm.

“I know about your little whore, Xander! Don’t act fucking coy!” she screeches.

My stance widens, and I square my shoulders. “You know nothing.”

She gets to her feet, toeing her heels off as her hands ball into fists. “I may not know who she is, but I know she fucking exists! I found your little trophy collection,” she yells, throwing the wooden box of Lizith’s panties at me, but my reflexes are good with my instincts on high alert, and I catch it before it hits the ground.

“What the fuck does it even matter to you, Jacqueline? We’re separated, remember? You left me for another man,” I remind her, and then it dawns on me and I can’t help but throw my head back and laugh. When I calm, I look her dead in the eyes. “He broke it off, didn’t he? He left your skank ass high and dry. Or did he ride you hard and put you away wet?” I sneer, looking down and then up her body with disgust plain on my face.

Fire flashes in her eyes as she glares at me with pure hatred. “He couldn’t get over his stupid dead wife. Didn’t want to be in a committed relationship.”

“So now you have no one to take care of you, and you came crawling back to me?” I scoff.

“To start. But then I found that.” She gestures at the box in my hands. “And I had just enough time before you got home to do a little digging. A student, Xander? Really? Could you be any more cliché?”

“How—”

“The fucking love note she left you on the fridge, Professor Stine,” she says nasally. “Unfortunately, it’s signed with some stupid nickname. Whoever the fuck your ‘little bird’ is better be glad I don’t know who she is, or her college career would be over!” she yells, wildness entering her features.

“We’re separated, Jac. Again, what does it fucking matter?”

“About that,” she snaps. “This separation is officially over. You’re ending everything with your little whore, or I’m going to take all of this to my father.” She holds up the letter Lizith had left me a few weeks ago. “And what do you think Daddy, the dean of the university you teach at, will have to say about you fucking a student? Your life will be over. You will never be able to find work as a professor ever again. You will be blacklisted, shamed, and humiliated.”

Just then, Lizith’s perfect face flashes through my mind. She’s worth it. Having her would be worth giving up everything—my tenure, my respect, my wealth. Everything.

But what about her? She’s so young, so vibrant, only on the cusp of starting her adult life. She has so much ahead of her, and if this comes out, if all this is made public, it will ruin everything for her.

Suddenly, Jacqueline’s mood swings like a boomerang, and if I wasn’t so numb, it would’ve given me whiplash. Her voice is sugary sweet. “Xander, baby. Let’s just put the last few months behind us. We’re even now. We both got it out of our systems. Let’s be happy together, clean slate. We’ll start over. And…” She shifts her weight from one bare foot to the other but doesn’t continue.

“And?” I prompt, even as my heart is breaking.

“And… I’ll give you that baby you always begged me for.”