After finding her husband in a compromising position with her boss’s wife at a party, Denise’s world crumbles. Heartbroken and betrayed, she confronts her husband, only to be thrown out of her own home. The next day, her boss shows up with a shocking proposition. Will Denise take the bait?
I should have known something was wrong the moment we walked into my boss, Richard’s mansion that night. I felt out of place in my little black dress that I’d saved up for, but my husband, Eric… he seemed perfectly at ease. Too at ease, now that I think about it.
“Stick with me tonight, okay?” I’d asked him, looping my arm through his as we walked in.
He nodded, but his eyes were already wandering, searching for something — or someone — I couldn’t see.
I raised an eyebrow, not sure where he was going with this. “And how exactly are you planning to do that?”
He unzipped the bag, and when I saw what was inside, I felt my stomach drop.
Rats. Dozens of them, squirming around in cages. My first reaction was to back away, but Richard grinned like this was the most normal thing in the world.
“Richard, what are you planning to do with those?”
He finally looked up at me, his eyes gleaming with that same mischievous light. “You and I both know we can’t undo what Eric and Vanessa did. But,” he paused, a sly smile playing on his lips, “we can at least have a little fun, right?”
Fun. That word sounded so foreign at that moment, so wrong. I stared at him, trying to understand what he was suggesting. When it finally clicked, I didn’t know whether to laugh or scream.
“You want revenge,” I said slowly, the words tasting bitter on my tongue.
Richard shrugged. “Revenge, justice, call it what you want. All I know is they deserve something for what they did. And you, Denise… you deserve to get some of your power back.”
I looked down at the rats, my mind spinning. I wasn’t the kind of person who did things like this. But then I thought of Eric’s cold eyes as he told me to leave, of Vanessa’s bored expression when we found them together.
My chest tightened with a mix of anger and pain that was too much to hold onto any longer.
“You still have the key to the house?” Richard asked quietly, his voice pulling me out of my thoughts.
I nodded, my heart pounding. “Yeah. I do.”
The drive to the house was quiet. Richard sat next to me, his eyes focused on the road ahead, his expression unreadable. I kept thinking about how one night could turn my life upside down in ways I never imagined.
And now, here I was, about to break into my own home — no, not mine anymore — with a bag full of rats. It felt like some twisted nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.
When we pulled up to the house, I hesitated.
But Richard was already out of the car, waiting for me to unlock the door. My hands were shaking so badly it took me three tries to get the key into the lock.
The door creaked open, and I stepped inside, the familiar scent of the house hitting me like a wave. Memories flooded back but I squashed them down. This wasn’t the time to break down.
“Upstairs,” Richard whispered, nudging me forward. “They’ll be asleep.”
We crept up the stairs, the wood creaking under our weight. When we reached the bedroom door, I froze. I could hear them breathing inside, unaware of what was about to happen. It made my blood boil.
“Go ahead,” Richard murmured, handing me the bag. His eyes were dark, serious now. We were really going to do this.
I opened the bag, my fingers trembling, and slowly tipped it over, letting the rats spill out onto the floor. They scurried off into the shadows, disappearing into the room.
Richard grabbed my arm, and we bolted down the stairs, out the door, and back into the car. We sat there in silence, the tension between us electric. Then, faintly, we heard the first scream.
Vanessa’s voice, shrill and panicked, pierced the night air. Eric’s shouts followed, angry, confused. And then Richard started laughing. It wasn’t just a chuckle; it was full-on, uncontrollable laughter.
I couldn’t help it — I started laughing too. The sound of their fear, their panic, was like a release, breaking the tension of the horrible night.
When we finally calmed down, Richard turned to me, still grinning. “How about some breakfast? There’s a diner nearby that’s open all night.”
“Breakfast?” I echoed, still catching my breath. It sounded so normal after what we’d just done. But normal was what I needed. Something to ground me, to make this all feel less insane.
“Yeah,” I said, surprising myself with the steadiness in my voice. “And you know what, Richard? In two days, we’re going on a proper date. A real one, no rats involved.”
He raised an eyebrow, then slowly grinned. “It’s a date.”
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