After finding her husband in a compromising position with her boss’s wife at a party, Denise’s world crumbles. Heartbroken and betrayed, she confronts her husband, only to be thrown out of her own home. The next day, her boss shows up with a shocking proposition. Will Denise take the bait?

I should have known something was wrong the moment we walked into my boss, Richard’s mansion that night. I felt out of place in my little black dress that I’d saved up for, but my husband, Eric… he seemed perfectly at ease. Too at ease, now that I think about it.

“Stick with me tonight, okay?” I’d asked him, looping my arm through his as we walked in.

He nodded, but his eyes were already wandering, searching for something — or someone — I couldn’t see.

The first hour or so passed in a blur of small talk and glasses of champagne. I lost sight of Eric at some point, assuming he was just getting another drink or chatting with someone. But when I didn’t see him for a while, a knot began to form in my stomach.

“Denise, have you seen Vanessa?” His voice was casual, but there was a tightness around his eyes. Vanessa was his wife, a woman who exuded confidence and poise.

I shook my head, that knot in my stomach twisting tighter. “No, I haven’t. Have you seen Eric?”

We exchanged a look then, one of those silent, shared understandings that something wasn’t right. Without another word, we both started searching.

Room after room, hallway after hallway, all the while my heart pounded louder and louder in my ears. When we finally reached the attic door, I think I already knew.

The door creaked open, and there they were. Eric and Vanessa, wrapped up in each other like they couldn’t get close enough. They didn’t even notice us until I gasped.

Eric’s face… God, I’ll never forget it. He looked like a deer caught in headlights, like he was about to stammer out some pathetic excuse, but no words came. And Vanessa… she just looked bored, like she’d been caught in something inconvenient rather than something devastating.

I couldn’t stay there. I couldn’t look at them, or at Richard, who stood frozen beside me.

I turned and walked away, every step heavier than the last. My whole world was crumbling, and all I could do was put one foot in front of the other, trying not to fall apart.
When I got home, I thought I would break down. But I didn’t. I was numb, hollowed out by the betrayal. Eric walked in not long after me, and I waited for him to say something, anything to make sense of what I’d seen.

“Why, Eric?” My voice was barely above a whisper, but it was all I could manage. “Why her? Why now?”

At first, he just stood there like he was the one who’d been hurt. Finally, he looked at me, and his eyes were colder than I’d ever seen them. “Does it really matter? It’s done, Denise. And you should leave.”

I blinked, trying to process his words. “Leave? This is our home, Eric.”

“No,” he said, his tone as flat as his expression. “It’s my grandmother’s house. You have no claim here. You should go. Vanessa will be here soon.”

A woman arguing with her husband | Source: Midjourney

I packed what little I could into a suitcase, and ended up staying in a dingy motel on the outskirts of town. The bed was lumpy, the walls paper-thin, and the lights flickered whenever I turned them on.

I was barely holding it together, trying to figure out what the hell to do next, when the knock came. It was past midnight, and for a second, I thought I was imagining things. But there it was again, louder this time.

“Denise, it’s me,” came a voice from the other side.

I froze. Richard? What was he doing here?

I pulled the door open, and there he stood, dressed like he’d just come from some kind of heist movie. But it wasn’t his clothes that caught my attention.

It was the look on his face, tired but with a glint of something else. Mischief, maybe. Or madness. Whatever it was, it sent a shiver down my spine.

“Richard, what the —” I started, but he cut me off, pushing past me into the room like he owned the place.

“Denise, you look like hell.” He dropped a bag on the bed, eyeing me up and down as if he expected me to start yelling or throwing things. “Which is understandable, given the circumstances.”

I sighed, closing the door behind him. “What are you doing here? It’s late, Richard. And… what’s in the bag?”

He ignored my question, his eyes scanning the dingy motel room. “This place,” he said, wrinkling his nose, “is a dump. You can’t stay here indefinitely.”

I raised an eyebrow, not sure where he was going with this. “And how exactly are you planning to do that?”

He unzipped the bag, and when I saw what was inside, I felt my stomach drop.

Rats. Dozens of them, squirming around in cages. My first reaction was to back away, but Richard grinned like this was the most normal thing in the world.

“Richard, what are you planning to do with those?”

He finally looked up at me, his eyes gleaming with that same mischievous light. “You and I both know we can’t undo what Eric and Vanessa did. But,” he paused, a sly smile playing on his lips, “we can at least have a little fun, right?”

Fun. That word sounded so foreign at that moment, so wrong. I stared at him, trying to understand what he was suggesting. When it finally clicked, I didn’t know whether to laugh or scream.

“You want revenge,” I said slowly, the words tasting bitter on my tongue.

Richard shrugged. “Revenge, justice, call it what you want. All I know is they deserve something for what they did. And you, Denise… you deserve to get some of your power back.”

I looked down at the rats, my mind spinning. I wasn’t the kind of person who did things like this. But then I thought of Eric’s cold eyes as he told me to leave, of Vanessa’s bored expression when we found them together.