My wife confessed her darkest secret in Japanese, not knowing I was fluent.

Something shifted in my chest, a confusing mix of tenderness and betrayal that made my throat tight.

This was still a person I’d shared three years of my life with. The complexity of feeling both protective and furious wore me out.

She looked vulnerable and small, and I hated that part of me still cared about her well-being despite everything she’d done.

Robert called the next afternoon to check on Iiki. I could hear real concern in his voice as he asked if she was okay.

I gave him the medical update and assured him everything was fine.

As we talked, I realized with a heavy feeling in my gut that Robert was going to be devastated when he learned the truth.

He’d been nothing but kind to me since the day we met, treating me like family and getting excited about becoming a grandfather.

The conversation I’d eventually have to have with him made me feel sick.

Three days later, I met with Wallace again to finalize the strategy for my fake work trip.

He stressed multiple times that I should not confront Ike during this period, no matter what I saw or heard.

The goal was pure documentation, letting her reveal her plans with Jason naturally.

Wallace explained that if I tried to catch her in the act, it could look like entrapment or harassment, which would weaken our case.

That evening at dinner, I told I about my work trip scheduled for the following week.

I explained it was a mandatory training session in a city three hours away.

She asked only a couple basic questions, then seemed almost relieved as she nodded and went back to her food.

That relief stung, but also confirmed everything I already knew.

She was already planning how to use those three days.

The night before my fake departure, I packed an overnight bag in our bedroom while Ikey watched TV.

I made sure to include enough clothes to make the trip look real, even though I’d only be twenty minutes away at a hotel.

The next morning, I kissed her goodbye with the same distant affection I’d been showing for weeks.

She told me to drive safely and text her when I arrived. Her voice was cheerful in a way that made my stomach turn.

I drove to a hotel on the other side of town, checked in under my own name, and set up my laptop.

Within three hours of my departure, I watched through the camera feed as Ike pulled out her phone and called her mother.

They spoke in rapid Japanese, and I turned up the volume on my laptop to catch every word.

Ike told her mother that Jason was coming over tomorrow night and that everything was set up perfectly.

Her mother’s voice came through with a note of caution, saying something felt off about my recent behavior.

I laughed and dismissed the concern completely. She said I was too stupid to figure anything out.

I was probably just stressed about becoming a father and had no idea what was really going on.

I closed my laptop and stared at the bland hotel wall, letting her words wash over me one more time.

I documented everything and sent the file to Wallace.

The next morning, I opened my work laptop and logged into the remote system. I set up spreadsheets on one monitor while the security camera feeds played on the other.

Every hour, I switched to the camera app and watched Ike move through our house like she was performing a play.

At 3:00, she had a video call on her laptop, and I zoomed in to see her smiling and laughing with someone whose face I couldn’t quite make out.

The whole day was so normal and boring that it made my stomach hurt.

This was my wife doing regular wife things in our house, except she was planning to bring another man over tomorrow.

I felt like I was looking at someone wearing Ikey’s face, but I didn’t know who was actually inside.

Around 6:00, I closed the work files and got ready for my therapy appointment.

I told D’vorah about the surveillance system and how I was spending my days watching Ike through cameras.

D’vorah listened without interrupting, then asked me what I would do if the evidence wasn’t as dramatic as I was expecting.

Her question made me pause because I hadn’t really thought about it.

I’d been so focused on catching Aki in the worst possible moment that I hadn’t considered what would happen if Jason just came over for dinner.

D’vorah leaned forward and suggested I was framing this as a revenge mission when really I was trying to protect myself.

She said gathering evidence wasn’t about punishment; it was about establishing truth so I could make informed decisions.

The way she explained it made me feel less like some creepy guy spying on his wife.

I wasn’t trying to destroy Ike; I was trying to avoid being destroyed by her lies.

When I left her office that night, I felt more grounded than I had in weeks.

A Future Built on Truth

The second day of my fake work trip started with more remote work and camera monitoring.

Ike seemed more energetic that day, cleaning the kitchen and doing laundry.

At 7:00 exactly, the doorbell camera showed Jason walking up to our front door carrying paper bags and a bottle of wine.

I watched Ike open the door and Jason kissed her right there in the doorway.

His hand went to her pregnant belly and rested there like he had every right to touch her.

They walked into the living room, and I switched camera views to follow them.

They settled on the couch and unpacked some kind of Chinese food. Their body language was so comfortable and familiar.

They were playing house in my actual house, sitting on my couch and eating at my coffee table.

I watched them eat and talk for about an hour, seeing how relaxed they both looked.

Then I had to close the laptop because my chest felt tight and my hands were shaking.

The intimate domesticity of watching them together was worse than I’d imagined.

I grabbed my jacket and went outside, walking circles around the hotel parking lot.

I focused on breathing slowly, reminding myself over and over that this evidence was necessary.

After about twenty minutes, I went back inside and checked my phone. Maria had finished her background research on Ikey’s family finances.

Akiy’s mother had filed for bankruptcy seven years ago and still carried significant credit card debt.

This helped explain some of the pressure Ike might feel to secure financial stability through me.

On the third day, I packed up my hotel room and drove home.

I pulled into the driveway around 4:00 and walked in with my overnight bag.

Ike came out of the kitchen and hugged me, asking how the training went.