Seated on his favorite stool in his favorite bar, Edward ordered a tall glass of whiskey without ice. The place was yet to come alive. Just a few early birds like himself were in the place. The bartender was at the order end of the counter exchanging jokes with the cook. Some young guys in their early twenties were gambling at the pool table.
Edward gulped down half of his drink, set the glass down and pulled out his phone. He connected to the bar's wifi, and typed in "CEO Beau Frank cosmetics". Immediately the search engine displayed a lot of articles on Beau Frank cosmetics, one of the top leading cosmetics companies in the world.
Scanning through the articles, Edward saw the obituary announcement of the former CEO and founder of the company, the late Sir Fredrick Frank who passed away almost three months ago. Edward already knew this because Sarah had told him. There were a lot of condolence messages from friends, business associates and admirers of the late business mogul.
Tweaking the search command, Edward added "new" in front of the previously typed "CEO Beau Frank cosmetics". And voila! The pictures of Ethan Frank, the new CEO Beau Frank cosmetics were displayed on the screen of his phone. He was the same guy he had shared a cell with last night.
One of the articles containing his pictures was captioned "Playboy Ethan Frank takes over Father's Empire". Another one read "Ethan Frank, the 'Casanova' of our time becomes CEO". Another one read "Rake takes Over Father's Company: Ladies Beware!!!"
Edward's blood boiled as he read each article. "Could Ethan, the womanizer be fucking his wife?" Edward asked himself. The facts were screaming "YES!" But he didn't want to believe it. He had always known Sarah to be prude. He had been the one who popped her cherry ten years ago when she was twenty-five years old. And in their nine years of marriage, he had never had a reason to doubt Sarah's faithfulness to him, although he had cheated on her several times. He was still cheating on her right now, with at least a couple of women. He had even gone beyond cheating on her. If Sarah were to ever find out the ugliest skeleton in his cupboard, she'd kill him no doubt.
Memories of her sudden interest in fashion and the way she dresses to work these days told him Sarah has changed. Just the other day he walked into the bathroom to find her naked in the bathtub, hollering as she fingered herself to orgasm. She had claimed it was because they had not made love in recent times.
She was right, but was that the reason she decided to turn herself into an office slut?
Edward did not want to jump into conclusion. But if his suspicions were true, he would make sure Sarah regrets it, and Ethan paid through his nose for this. He told himself to stay cool and get his information right. He wants to catch Sarah red-handed.
Logging into LinkedIn, Edward searched for "Beau Frank cosmetics" and began sending friend requests to everyone that had "Beau Frank cosmetics" in their profile. He sent requests to both former and current employees of the company, including Lucy Williams, personal assistant to the CEO Beau Frank cosmetics.
He repeated the same thing on Facebook. He also ensured to follow everyone associated with the Beau Frank cosmetics company on Instagram. Putting down his phone, he waited for his friend requests to be accepted. If Sarah was sleeping with her boss, it was only a matter of time before someone leaked it online. And when that happens, he knew he was not going to miss it.
***
Edward spent Saturday night with one of his mistresses, a single mother of four named Wendy. He had met Wendy at the bar four months ago and has been sticking it to her ever since. She wasn't half as beautiful as his wife. In fact she was a junkie whose front teeth were missing a couple of siblings. But she always tried to please him and she never argued with him.
On Sunday night, Edward returned home drunk. He refused to eat the food Sarah prepared for him, and barely spoke to their daughter either. Sarah caught him several times eyeballing her while she was helping Amy with her studies.
After Sarah tucked Amy in her bed, she went downstairs to the living room where Edward was seated with a can of beer in hand, watching TV. "Can we talk?" Sarah asked, wrapping herself with her pajamas before sitting down on the couch right next to her husband. "We have nothing to talk about," Edward replied her coldly.
" Look Edward, I don't know what you're suspecting me of, but I need you to know that I'm not who you think I am". "And who do you think I think you are, a slut?" Edward asked disdainfully.
"Look Edward, I'm not a slut, and I'd appreciate it if you stopped calling me that. I just wanted to have a decent conversation with you, for our daughter's sake." Sarah said, feeling agitated that Edward was still suspicious of her.
Gulping down the remaining beer in the can, Edward rose up from the couch, turned off the television and started to walk away. When he got to the staircase, he turned around and faced a visibly shaking Sarah and said "I know what you did. I know you fucked Ethan Frank."
The words hit Sarah so hard that her face turned white with shock. If she wasn't sitting down, her knees would have given way. She opened her mouth to say something, but no word came out.
"I don't have physical evidence to prove it yet, but I promise you I will soon. And when I do, there will be hell to pay" Crushing the beer can in his hand, Edward turned and climbed up to the bedroom leaving Sarah pale and speechless.