Chapter 17: Chapter 17

1,244 words

<html><head></head><body>In the coming days, I would be waiting for an opportunity like the last time. But Brandon seemed to have changed his personality recently, going to and from work on time and regularly, and sitting in the study as soon as he got home. Helplessly, I could only call Kathy late at night to discuss what to do. Kathy suddenly thought of something: "How about this, I find someone to pretend to cooperate with Brandon and trick him into going out of town?" I was stunned. Yeah, why didn't I think of that? The more I thought about it, the more I felt it was a good idea, and Brandon would definitely not miss such an opportunity. He would definitely go. "Good idea, let's do it!" Within a few days, I saw Brandon's expression getting happier and happier, as if something good had happened. I deliberately asked, "Brandon, why have you been so happy these days?" Brandon's face was full of pride: "A project came to me on its own, such a good thing happened to me." I immediately understood that Brandon had fallen into Kathy's trap, and quite deeply. Until one night, I suddenly heard a commotion in the living room. I went out to see Shirley packing Brandon's luggage, while Brandon was on the phone wearing a coat. "Okay, I'm coming over now. I've already asked my assistant to buy the plane ticket." After hanging up the phone, he took the luggage Shirley had packed for him and whispered a few words. I didn't need to listen to know that he must have told Shirley to keep an eye on me. When he was about to leave, he happened to meet my gaze. Maybe he was afraid of losing the project he was about to get, so he didn't act like my affectionate husband as he did before. Instead, he simply said, "I'm going to the neighboring city for a bid, I'll be back in two or three days." I nodded and told him to be careful on the way. It wasn't until I saw Brandon get in the car and drive away that I felt relieved. I was really afraid he would suddenly come back like before, so I had to be as cautious as possible. In the middle of the night, after Shirley had fallen asleep, I could finally go to Brandon's study openly this time. But as soon as I reached the hallway, I suddenly realized there were surveillance cameras Brandon had set up specifically to monitor me. I looked around, ran to the basement, and pulled the circuit breaker, plunging the entire house into darkness. I took out my phone and used it as a flashlight to go to the study. Fortunately, the study door wasn't locked, maybe Brandon thought the cameras were enough. I opened the door and the night view outside the window came in. But I suddenly realized that if I pulled the circuit breaker, the computer wouldn't start either. For a moment, I was stuck in a dead end. Suddenly, I thought of Brett, who had just returned from boarding school today and was sleeping soundly. I woke Brett up apologetically and said, "Mommy needs to do something important later, can you stay in the basement and pull the circuit breaker for me?" Brett blinked, his little face still sleepy, but he nodded. I hugged him with some heartache and led him to the basement: "Look at your watch, can you push the circuit breaker up in five minutes? Then pull it down again after thirty minutes." "You mustn't fall asleep, okay?" Brett nodded, looking serious as he started timing. I took the opportunity to sneak into the study, and sure enough, Brett pulled up the circuit breaker after five minutes. All the appliances came back to life, buzzing. I turned on the computer, and sure enough, Brandon's computer was password-protected. I decisively inserted the USB drive Simon gave me, and as the program infiltrated, it quickly cracked the password and brought me to his computer's desktop. I took a deep breath and opened the surveillance software, switching to the children's room. The kids had started distancing themselves from me in the past six months, and I didn't know why. They would cry whenever they saw me. So I was sure Shirley and Brandon had done something in the past six months. I started fast-forwarding through the past six months of surveillance, skipping when no one was there. Until one unusual day, I saw Shirley pointing at my photo on a tablet, then taking out a needle and pricking the two kids. I couldn't hold back my anger anymore, clenching my fists as I continued watching. For a long time, it was the same. Whenever they saw my photo or saw me, Shirley would reflexively prick them with a needle. Over time, the kids would start crying as soon as they saw me! I was trembling with anger. I had wondered why I heard the kids crying every day. I thought they were just young and didn't understand, but now I see it was Shirley doing it on purpose! No wonder she wouldn't let me see the kids, probably afraid I'd see the needle marks on them! I wanted to go downstairs and kill Shirley right then, but I knew it wasn't the right time. I copied the surveillance footage as evidence and was about to exit the computer when I saw a small room on the surveillance screen. I was stunned and enlarged the view of that room. I could confirm this surveillance was connected to our house, but I had never seen this small room before. I opened the surveillance for that small room and found that footage from three months ago had been deleted, definitely by Brandon. But what had happened in there? I decided to look for evidence on his computer. Brandon's computer was fairly clean, mostly company data and documents. I scanned through it quickly, finding nothing noteworthy. Could it be that there were no secrets on his computer? Then what had happened in that small room? I was about to give up when I accidentally clicked into a folder named "Employee Health Surveys." Inside were videos labeled with dates. I realized I had found the right place. I scrolled down, and the earliest date was from when Brandon and I had just gotten married. I didn't know why my heart was racing, nervously clicking on a video, and the footage made me collapse. The video quality from ten years ago wasn't great, but I saw Brandon set up a camera and then turn to a woman. And this was the surveillance footage from the deleted small room. He looked so young back then, but he turned and took a whip from the wall, striking the woman. The following footage was even more unbearable. I had thought Brandon's feelings for me had faded over the years, which was why he acted this way. But who knew, from the beginning of our marriage, he had been finding women to play these games, sometimes even one a day at the peak. And I had no idea. My husband Brandon was a gentleman in public but a beast in private! All those beautiful memories I had were fake! Brandon, you are such a good actor. You started acting ten years ago! I will make you lose everything you have now! I will! </body></html>

Chapter 17: Chapter 17

1,244 words