Nelson didn’t respond to her. After what felt like an eternity, the office was filled with the pungent smell of smoke. Callie gathered her courage and walked up to him, attempting to touch his hand. “I need to talk to you…”
“Callie.” Nelson’s voice was even more strained than hers. As soon as he finished speaking, Callie’s heart skipped a beat.
He said, “There’s a file on the desk. Go open it.”
Callie could only grip his sleeve, knowing that this was the calm before Nelson’s anger. She shook her head, looking incredibly small and submissive. “I… I don’t want to look.”
Finally, Nelson lowered his head to look at her. His face was backlit, and Callie couldn’t read his expression. His icy fingers touched her chin lightly, his tone suddenly gentle. “Be a good girl and go look.”
Gentle, yet firm.
It was a thick file bag. Callie took a deep breath and opened it. Then, she dropped the entire bag onto the floor, causing the photos to scatter once again. Callie’s heart felt like it was about to burst out of her chest. She started breathing rapidly and quickly crouched down, mimicking Nelson’s actions from earlier.
In the photos, she was holding Jaquan…
Tears welled up in her eyes without warning, splattering onto the ground. The world suddenly turned dark.
How could this be? Why did this happen? What does this mean?
Callie’s mind was in turmoil, even breathing felt like a torment, these photos made her feel utterly humiliated. Nelson’s voice was authoritative, “Yesterday, you said you would wait for me to come home and celebrate my birthday. I waited for a full twenty-four hours, only to receive these photos.” He raised his voice, “Callie, do you have anything to say?”
She lifted her head, almost in despair, “I didn’t, I was framed. Yesterday, I went to talk about work with Regan, and then…”
Then, when she was on her way home, someone knocked her out from behind…
This was the last bit of memory Callie could recall at the moment.
Nelson knew she was framed, of course. If Callie had really had an affair with someone, how could she possibly spread these photos herself? He understood and knew this, but he was also in immense pain…
He saw his own wife engaging in those intimate acts with another man, and the pain drove him to want to kill.
Callie was crying, but not with tears that screamed in agony. It was a suppressed cry. She clutched the photos tightly, biting her lower lip until it bled. She forced herself to remember this moment of shame, to endure it, to overcome it. No one could break her down, no one!
“You are my wife. Now the whole world knows about your affair with another man, and I have lost all my dignity. But Callie, have you ever thought about your reputation!”
He squatted down, cupping Callie’s face with both hands. The heavy scent of tobacco entered her nose, and his eyes were sinister and terrifying. “Now, tell me, who is that man! Did you have sex with him!”
Callie’s mind went blank. The pungent smell made her want to vomit. She tried to turn her face away to avoid showing him her vulnerability.
Her remaining rationality screamed that she couldn’t reveal Jaquan, absolutely not!
Did they have sex…
Callie broke down, but her face suddenly became calm. Her eyes were empty and weak, like those of a lost child.
“I don’t know.”
These words made her witness the collapse of a certain barrier in the man’s eyes.
No man in the world could tolerate such a thing, let alone Nelson. He was a man at the top of the world, with a strong sense of cleanliness, extreme possessiveness, and unwavering loyalty. What was his could only belong to him, and no one else could take it away!
Not only did this person slept with Nelson’s wife, but he also spread the evidence of having slept with Nelson’s wife throughout the city, slapping his face hard.