A distressed man | Source: Midjourney
Advertisement
By morning, I’d made my decision. I called in sick to work. Told my boss I had a stomach bug. Then I drove to Lizzy’s school around noon. I parked across the street where I could see the entrance, but far enough back that no one would notice me. Sophia was supposed to pick her up that afternoon at three.
But when the doors opened, and the kids started streaming out, it wasn’t Sophia who walked up to Lizzy.
My knuckles went white on the steering wheel.
“What the…? Oh my God… You’ve got to be kidding me.”
The man holding my daughter’s hand was Ben, Sophia’s secretary.
He’s younger than my wife, maybe five or seven years. Fresh out of grad school, always smiling in those company photos she’d show me sometimes. I’d seen his face in the background of event videos and heard his name mentioned in passing. That’s it. That’s all I knew about him.
Until now.
Advertisement
A person holding a child’s hand | Source: Freepik
A person holding a child’s hand | Source: Freepik
I grabbed my phone and started snapping pictures. My hands were shaking. Part of me wanted to jump out of the car right then and drag him away from my daughter. But I needed proof. I needed to know exactly what was going on before I did something I couldn’t take back.
They got into his silver sedan. I followed them from a distance, staying two cars back. My heart was hammering. Every rational thought in my head was telling me there had to be an explanation, something innocent, but my gut knew better.
Advertisement
They drove straight to Sophia’s office building downtown. He parked in the underground garage, and they both got out. Ben held Lizzy’s hand as they walked toward the elevator.
I waited for five minutes. Then 10. I couldn’t just sit there anymore.
I went in through the main lobby. The building was mostly empty. End of the workday. Just a few stragglers and the cleaning crew. And there, sitting in the lobby on one of those uncomfortable modern chairs with her little teddy bear, was Lizzy.
She looked up and smiled when she saw me. “Daddy!”
A little girl holding a teddy bear | Source: Midjourney
A little girl holding a teddy bear | Source: Midjourney
Advertisement
I crouched down beside her, forcing myself to stay calm. “Hey, sweetheart. Where’s Mommy? And what about the man who picked you up?”
She pointed at the closed door near the corner of the hallway. “They’re in there. They said I should wait here and be good.”
I kissed her forehead. “Stay right here, okay? I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”
“Okay, Daddy.”
I walked up to the door, my legs feeling like lead. Part of me didn’t want to know what was behind that door. Part of me wanted to turn around, take Lizzy home, and pretend this whole day never happened.
But I couldn’t.
Close-up shot of a man walking | Source: Midjourney
Close-up shot of a man walking | Source: Midjourney
Advertisement
I took a deep breath and pushed the door open without knocking. Then I stepped inside and shut it quietly behind me. I didn’t want Lizzy to see what was about to happen.
Sophia and Ben were kissing.
For a second, nobody moved. They just stared at me like deer caught in headlights. Then I walked straight up to Ben, and my voice came out lower and colder than I’d ever heard it.
“What the hell are you doing with my wife? And what gives you the right to tell my daughter to call you her dad?”
A couple kissing each other | Source: Unsplash
Leave a Comment