POV: Ethan
I couldn’t shake the feeling anymore. That knot in my gut had turned into a fist, squeezing tighter every day. Lena had been distant since the weekend—smiling at her phone, quick to lock it when I walked in the room. Ryan’s visits felt forced, his laughs too loud, his exits too fast. I told myself it was nothing. Rules were rules. But after dinner that night, when Lena went upstairs to check on the kids and left her phone on the kitchen counter, I broke.
I grabbed it before I could talk myself out of it. Her passcode was still our anniversary. The guilt hit me first, but the insecurity won. I opened her messages.
The thread with Ryan was long. Pages of it. Good morning texts. Inside jokes. You make me feel seen. Her words. His replies pouring out years of hidden love. I’ve lo
