“I came back early last night because I wanted to surprise you,” Austin said, and the atmosphere in the room changed instantly. The garage was open and your car was not there, but when I called you, you said you were asleep in our bed.”
Brianna’s mother paled while Brianna tried to say they should discuss this in private. “That is what you did last night,” Austin replied. “You talked privately and you lied very calmly.”
Austin pointed toward the hallway and told the guests how he stood at their bedroom door while she lied to him over the phone. Brianna’s father slowly turned toward his daughter and asked her what she had to say for herself.
“I thought about how to handle this,” Austin said as he approached the box. “I decided that since the lie was so clean, the truth deserved witnesses.”
Brianna began to tremble while her sister Vanessa asked her to say it wasn’t true. Austin opened the box and revealed the gold watch with the blue dial sitting on the dark velvet.
“That watch belongs to Julian Vance,” Austin said, and the name landed in the room like a heavy blow. Brianna took a step back toward the door and claimed it was not his, but her father’s face had already hardened.
“He was here in this house last night,” Austin said firmly. “You told me you were in bed while I was standing right there listening to you.”
Brianna started to cry messy tears while Austin asked her how long the affair had been going on. She lowered her head and whispered that it had been five months.
Her mother let out a broken sound while her sisters covered their mouths in shock. Austin felt like something inside him had just broken because five months meant hundreds of lies and shared dinners while she was hiding another life.
Brianna desperately claimed she was going to finish it because Julian never left his wife as he promised. “I was going to break up with him, I swear,” she cried.
“Before or after bringing him to our house?” Austin asked, and the question was worse than a shout because there was no escape from it.
Her father stood up abruptly and asked if she really brought that man into her husband’s home. Brianna jumped at the sound of his voice and whispered “Yes” while her father looked away in disgust.
