My mind immediately went back to Spencer.

Was this happening again?

Was the man I’d finally learned to trust about to humiliate me in exactly the same way?

Mike looked at Samantha.

“So you think we both chose the wrong partners?”

She gave him a satisfied smile.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

He nodded slowly.

“Good. Then I suppose you won’t object to what happens next.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

“I think everyone deserves to see the messages you’ve been sending me.”

Samantha’s expression changed instantly.

“Mike, don’t.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Why not? You’ve spent the entire evening being very open about what you supposedly feel.”

She reached toward the phone.

He stepped away.

“Those messages were private!” she snapped.

Mike shook his head.

“They were messages I repeatedly asked you to stop sending.”

Samantha turned toward our mother.
“Mom, he’s deliberately trying to humiliate me!”

“No,” Mike replied calmly. “You’re responsible for that yourself.”

Then he turned to face me.

And I knew there was something he hadn’t told me.

“What messages?” I asked.

His expression softened.

“Sweetheart, there’s something I need to explain.”

My heart sank.

“Have you been communicating with Samantha?”

He hesitated.

“Yes.”

I stared at him.

“For how long?”

“About three months.”

The room seemed to become completely silent.

Three months.

My husband had been receiving messages from the sister who destroyed my first engagement.

And I hadn’t known anything about it.

“Three months?” I repeated.

Mike lowered his eyes.

“I should have told you.”

Samantha suddenly looked pleased.

“Well, would you look at that? Apparently, your perfect marriage has secrets too.”

Mike turned toward her.

“Enough, Samantha.”

His voice was colder than I’d ever heard it.

He pulled out the chair beside me.

“Please sit down. I want you to read the entire conversation.”

I remained standing.

“Give me your phone.”

He handed it over immediately.

The first message was dated three months earlier.

Samantha had written:

“Hi, Mike! This is Samantha, your wife’s sister. I know things have been difficult between our families, but I’d really like to repair the relationship before Mom’s birthday.”

Mike had replied the following morning.

“Hello, Samantha. I appreciate that, but I think any attempt to make peace should begin with your sister.”

I continued scrolling.

At first, Samantha’s messages sounded almost sincere.

She asked whether I was doing well.

She claimed she regretted the way things had unfolded five years earlier.

She mentioned that she wanted our baby to grow up surrounded by loving relatives.

But then her tone changed.

“I know my sister better than anyone. She’s honestly pretty dull.”

Another message followed.

“You seem like such an interesting man. Doesn’t she ever bore you?”

Mike had answered:

“My wife is intelligent, funny, caring, and one of the most interesting people I’ve ever known. I love her.”

My eyes filled with tears.

I kept reading.

Two months earlier, Samantha had sent him a photograph of herself in a fitted red dress.

“Spencer didn’t even notice what I was wearing. What do you think?”

Mike hadn’t replied.

The next day, she tried again.

“You know, there’s nothing wrong with telling a woman she looks beautiful.”

Again, he ignored her.

Then came a longer message that made my chest tighten.

“Sometimes I think my sister doesn’t realize how lucky she is. She’s never been particularly attractive, and she’s always been more concerned with her career than her relationships. You could have married someone who actually understands how to make a husband happy. Someone who would put being a wife first.”

Mike’s response was unmistakable.

“Stop speaking about my wife that way. I’m not interested in this conversation.”

I lifted my eyes.

Samantha was staring down at the table.

“Keep going,” Mike said gently.

I scrolled further.

Three weeks earlier, Samantha had written:

“I don’t think Spencer and I are going to stay together. He’s changed so much since we got married.”

Another message appeared beneath it.

“Maybe you and I have something in common. Perhaps we both chose the wrong spouses. If you ever wanted a fresh start with someone else, I would understand.”

Mike’s reply made my throat tighten.

“I’m married to your sister, and she’s exactly the person I want to be with. Do not contact me about this again.”

But Samantha hadn’t stopped.

The most recent message had arrived two days before the birthday dinner.

“I’ll see you on Saturday. Maybe once we’re together in person, you’ll finally admit there’s something between us.”

I stopped reading.

My fingers felt numb.

I looked at Mike.

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”

His expression filled with regret.

“I thought she’d eventually stop if I didn’t encourage her.”
“For three months?”

He nodded.

“I blocked her after the last message.”

“But you still kept it from me.”

“I know.”

“You let me walk into this house knowing she was planning to flirt with you right in front of me?”

He looked ashamed.

“Yes. And that was wrong.”

I wanted to shout.

I wanted to ask how he could possibly have believed that keeping such a secret would protect our marriage.

Instead, I handed back the phone.

“I can’t talk about this right now,” I whispered.

He nodded.

“Okay. I understand.”

But Samantha apparently couldn’t tolerate the attention being taken away from her.

“Oh, come on,” she said. “Nothing actually happened.”

I turned toward her.

“Are you seriously trying to defend yourself?”

She shrugged.

“People flirt sometimes. It doesn’t have to mean anything.”

“You’re married to the man who was supposed to marry me!”

“And you’re married to a man who clearly enjoyed hearing from me.”

Mike placed his phone on the dining table.

“Samantha, I never flirted with you. I repeatedly told you to stop.”

She gave a bitter laugh.

“Are you really going to pretend you didn’t enjoy the attention?”

“I didn’t.”

“Then why save the messages?”

“Because you kept ignoring my boundaries, and I suspected you might eventually lie about what happened.”

Her cheeks turned red.

“What, do you think I’m some dangerous criminal?”

“No,” he replied. “I think you’re someone who refuses to accept rejection.”

At that moment, the door leading to the garage opened.

Spencer returned carrying several drinks and a bag of ice.

He stopped when he noticed the tension in the room.

“What’s going on?”

Nobody answered immediately.

Then Samantha rushed toward him.

“Mike is making horrible accusations about me!”