I Gave Her a Fortune, She Gave My Parents Lies

The line went quiet for several seconds.

When she finally answered, something in her voice sounded wrong. "From the factory, obviously. Look, I have to go. My boss is calling me. Talk later."

I stared at the bottle in my hand, the one that cost two dollars to make, and the irony made me sick. To afford decent New Year gifts for both our parents, I had worked myself to the bone for two months straight and never saw my bed before 2:00 am.

Just last week, an ambulance had rushed me to the hospital for acute stomach bleeding. Yet she had bought my parents counterfeit liquor while lying to me about working overtime.

The anger built with every thought. I opened Zoe's social media feed. It was completely blank.

Before tonight, I would have assumed she was too busy to post anything. Now, I realized she had probably hidden everything from me on purpose.

Something made me remember the spare account I had created back in college. I had followed Zoe on it years ago.

I logged into the old account and opened her profile. Her most recent post had gone up half an hour ago.

The post included nine photos arranged in a grid. The background showed her parents' living room, where their dining table was loaded with expensive dishes.

In the most prominent spot sat two unopened cases of premium aged liquor and two cartons of luxury cigarettes. Even from the photo, I could tell from the ribbon quality that these were authentic.

However, it was the center picture that got me. Zoe wore a red cashmere coat. Her face was glowing with happiness as she nestled against a man.

The man wore a designer suit and raised a wine glass to clink with my father-in-law. My in-laws were grinning so wide that their eyes crinkled shut.

The caption read, "The perfect son-in-law came to visit! We're so happy. My husband worked so hard. Love you, babe!"

I recognized that face. He was Caden Walsh, one of Zoe's middle school classmates.

Rage flooded through me and drowned out everything else. I grabbed the case of fake liquor and bolted out the door.

"Eddie, where are you going in the middle of the night?" Dad stumbled after me in his padded jacket. He must have gotten up to use the bathroom.

"Work emergency. I have to go back."

I kept my face turned away because I couldn't let him see my bloodshot eyes. The drive from my hometown to my in-laws' town took six hours. I lost count of how many red lights I ran.

The stabbing pain in my stomach nearly made me lose my grip on the wheel more than once, but I couldn't stop. I pulled up to my in-laws' house in the early morning of New Year's Day. The moment I parked, two figures emerged from the front door.

Zoe had her arm looped through Caden's while they both wore matching outfits and chatted away like they didn't have a care in the world.

Caden was carrying the two bottles of premium liquor and was clearly heading out to give them as gifts. Zoe fussed over his scarf with a tender touch while gazing up at him with open adoration.

I sat in the car and clutched the steering wheel with both hands. My nails dug so hard into the leather that they almost broke through.

Everything in me wanted to charge out there and tear them both apart. I wanted to demand whether Zoe had felt anything at all for me during the past three years. However, I held myself back.

Confronting them now would only end with a fistfight and a trip to the police station, and I would walk away with nothing. I needed them to pay a price ten times worse than what I had suffered.