The Billionaire's Wicked Proposition

His choice

The call from the investigator didn't take long to arrive.

It was not long after Austin left for the office the following day.

I was standing in front of the stove, stirring a pot of porridge I had no appetite for when his name flashed on the screen.

For a moment, I simply stared at it.

I hadn't slept much that night because every time I closed my eyes, I saw that photograph.

I saw Austin and that woman.

What haunted me the most was the look in his eyes…the same look he had given me when we were young and hopelessly in love.

I wiped my hands on a kitchen towel before answering

“Mrs. Brooks, I have an update.” The man declared and my fingers tightened around the phone.

“Go ahead.” I instructed him.

There was a brief pause…then

“I managed to dig deeper into Austin Brooks' connection with the woman.” He informed me and my heart gave a painful thud.

“They've known each other for four years.”

I froze at that.

Four years? Did I hear that right?

The wooden spoon slipped from my fingers and landed against the edge of the pot with a dull clatter.

“What did you say?” I asked, unsure that I wasn't hearing my things.

“Four years ma'am. It's confirmed.”

Four years ago, my mind immediately went there.

Four years ago, Austin and I had broken up because my parents didn't approve of our relationship.

“ I don't hate the man you chose to love, I hate that his eyes seem to wander every time you are with him.

If he can't keep his eyes on you, can he keep his heart with you?”

Those were my father's exact words.

To him, Austin didn't love me enough.

Austin and I ended up having nasty fights over that.

I remember throwing him out of my dormitory. That night, Austin stayed outside my room. The rain poured heavily but he didn't move an inch.

In the end, he developed a high fever and fainted.

Moved by that level of devotion, we got back together despite my parents' obvious disapproval.

“ Mrs Brooks, are you still there?” The investigators voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

I hadn't realised that a lone tear had slipped past my eyes.

I wiped it with the back of my hand and cleared my throat.

“ Yes. Thanks for informing me.” I replied before ending the call.

I stood frozen in the kitchen, staring at the phone in my hand.

Four years would have sounded harmless in a different context.

Yet somehow, it had managed to tear open my heart.

Four years ago, I wasn't the woman standing in a kitchen wondering whether her husband had been sleeping with someone else.

I was Chelsea Hartley, the girl who had just graduated at the top of her class from one of the most prestigious fashion schools in the country.

Before then, one of my designs had taken me to a rising designer competition in France.

I had won myself several awards ranging from design competitions to student showcases and industry-sponsored challenges.

My lecturers used to tell me that I had an eye most designers spent years trying to develop.

Four years ago, I had big dreams… I wanted my own label someday… I wanted to see women wearing something I had imagined first on paper… I wanted my name stitched into the inside of clothes sold in upscale boutiques

When my parents lives ended unceremoniously, something broke…that fire burned down.

I said yes to Austin when he proposed and became a full-time housewife.

I packed every design I had sketched and stored them away, stepping away from the professional design industry.

I didn't stop designing anyway but I never published any of them.

I told myself I was simply taking a break, that Austin needed me…his wife…than I needed to build a career. I became a home maker.

Now, standing there with the information the investigator just delivered, I felt like a joke.

I had stalled my life, given three years of my life to Austin Brooks but what did I get in return? Heartbreak wrapped in infidelity.

The tears I had been fighting finally overpowered my eyelids and came crashing down. I crouched down and allowed myself to break.

When I saw those flirty messages, I had comforted myself that perhaps Austin was just bored and probably seeking marital thrills.

I never thought that his affair had lasted longer than our marriage.

Three years was what I wholeheartedly gave him yet he knew her four years ago?

Had he been cheating even before our marriage? And if he did, why would he go to such extend to prove himself to me or was that a stunt meant to win me back?

For a moment, I even wondered whether I was the reason he cheated. Was I not enough, not fun enough?

Then I shook my head to clear those thoughts.

I allowed myself to cry until there were no more tears. When I pulled myself up, I made a decision.

I wasn't going to sit around and sob and gaslight myself into thinking I was probably the problem in our relationship.

Cheating was a choice and he made it himself. This was not on me.

I grabbed my phone and transferred the payment for the latest update.

A moment later, a message chimed.

It was a refund of half the money I had paid the investigator with a message attached.

“ I'm sorry,Mrs Brooks but I can't proceed with the case. There's an obvious obstruction from Mr Wellington.”

I frowned at that.

Mr Wellington? The husband of the cheating woman?

I didn't waste time before keying in the name and running it through a search.

The information filled my screen and the more I read, the more my decision from earlier firmed.

A man of that status and power would be perfect on my side if I was to process with my plan.

Austin made his choice by choosing infidelity. He shouldn't blame me for what would come to him.