Hosting dinner for my husband’s family was never particularly enjoyable, but I did it because Daniel liked it when everyone got together.
His parents were perfectly normal, but his sister Laura? She had been a real thorn in my side from the very beginning.
She always managed to make me feel worse about myself — whether it was a passive-aggressive comment or a smug look.
But last night? She crossed a line I never expected her to cross.
Dinner went relatively smoothly. I cooked, served, cleaned up while everyone talked — and pretended not to hear Laura’s snide remarks.
‘Oh, you don’t make the sauce yourself? Wow, Daniel, remember how Mum always did everything herself?’
Typical nonsense from Laura. As always, I just ignored it.
But when everyone left and I was wiping down the kitchen surfaces, I noticed something on the fridge.
A small piece of paper stuck right in the centre.
It was written in Laura’s neat, impeccable handwriting.
‘If I were you, I’d check Daniel’s phone.’
My heart skipped a beat.
For a moment, I thought I had read it wrong.
My hands were shaking as I took the note off the fridge.
I just stood there, staring at those words, my mind racing.
Was this just one of her games? A cruel attempt to provoke a scandal? Or did she really know something?
I burst into the bedroom, where Daniel was already half asleep.
I threw the note at him. ‘What the hell does this mean?’
He blinked and looked at me in confusion. ‘What?’
‘Laura left this on the fridge. Do you want to explain something to me?’
He took the note, read it, and then slowly exhaled. His whole body tensed up.
‘What is this, some kind of joke?’ he muttered.
‘I don’t know, Daniel. Is it?’
Silence.
That silence told me everything.
I felt nauseous. My throat burned.
‘Give me your phone,’ I said.
He hesitated.
That tiny moment of hesitation was enough for me to understand everything.
Before he could stop me, I grabbed his phone from the bedside table.
My heart was pounding as I unlocked it — of course I knew the code.
Messages.
One name immediately caught my eye.
Sophie.
I didn’t even need to open the chat. I already knew everything.
But when I did? I regretted looking.
‘I miss you.’
‘I wish I could see you tonight.’
‘I hate that we have to meet in secret.’
My vision blurred.
My hands turned to ice.
‘Sophie?’ My voice was barely audible. ‘Who the hell is Sophie, Daniel?’
His face paled. ‘It’s not— It’s not what it looks like—’
‘Oh, really?’ I laughed bitterly. ‘Because it looks like you’re cheating on me.’
He ran his hand through his hair and exhaled sharply. ‘Look, I— I messed up, okay? But it wasn’t—’
I raised my hand. I couldn’t stand his excuses.
Laura.
Laura knew.
She knew — and waited until dinner, while we were all smiling and playing the happy family, to drop this bomb on me.
She could have told me in private. She could have warned me.
But no — she wanted me to find out this way. She wanted to humiliate me.
I clenched my teeth and breathed heavily.
I wasn’t just angry at Daniel.
I was angry at her too.
I stormed out of the bedroom, grabbed my phone and dialled Laura’s number.
She answered on the second ring.
‘Did you finally check the fridge?’ she said, her voice dripping with satisfaction.
‘You knew,’ I hissed. ‘You knew he was cheating on me, and instead of telling me like a human being, you staged this whole charade?’
‘I thought you deserved to find out for yourself,’ she said with feigned innocence.
I clenched my teeth. ‘And you couldn’t just tell me normally?’
She laughed. “Oh, come on. If I had told you straight out, you would have made excuses for him.
This way, you had to see it for yourself.”
I wanted to scream.
She wasn’t entirely wrong — but that didn’t change the fact that she was a real witch for doing this.
‘Go to hell, Laura.’
I hung up the phone.
Then I went back to the bedroom, threw Daniel’s phone at him and said the words I never thought I’d say.
‘I’m done with you.’
And for the first time in many years, I really meant it.
