Insane.

That word settled inside my chest like a stone.

Not guilty.

Not sorry.

Insane.

I heard something hit the bathroom door hard enough to shake the hallway upstairs.

Then came the front door opening.

Mike.

He stepped into the kitchen wearing his work jacket and grease-stained boots, breathing hard like he drove too fast getting there.

The second he looked at my face, he stopped cold.

“Where’s Karen?”

I looked upstairs.

Mike followed my eyes slowly.

And in that moment, I watched a man realize his life was about to split in half.

“Lisa…” he whispered.

The bathroom door slammed again upstairs.

“OPEN THIS DOOR!”

Mike stared upward.

Then he looked back at me.

“You’re serious.”

I nodded once.

For a few seconds neither of us moved.

Then Karen started yelling again.

“Mike?! Mike, are you there?!”

The silence after that was unbearable.

Mike’s face changed completely when he heard her voice.

Not anger at first.

Humiliation.

Like someone had punched straight through his chest.

He walked toward the stairs slowly.

I stood up immediately.

“Don’t,” I said.

He stopped halfway up.

“Why?”

“Because right now they’re trapped,” I said quietly. “And for once, they don’t get to control the situation.”

Daniel slammed the door again.

“Mike? Jesus Christ, man, open this door!”

Mike looked like he wanted to kill him.

Honestly, part of me wanted him to.

But another part of me suddenly felt exhausted. Deeply exhausted. Like every year of my marriage had landed on my shoulders all at once.

I walked to the pantry, grabbed their phones, and placed them on the kitchen counter.

Karen had twelve missed calls from their daughter.

Daniel had messages from someone named Ava in accounting.

Not just Karen, then.

Of course not.

Mike saw my expression.

“What?”

I slid Daniel’s phone across the counter toward him.

Mike stared at the messages silently.

Then he let out one short laugh that sounded more broken than amused.

“Wow,” he muttered.

Upstairs, Karen started sobbing loudly now.

“I’m sorry! Mike, please!”

But it sounded selfish. Frightened. Not remorseful.

Daniel switched tactics next.

“Lisa, honey, let’s just talk about this.”