Suspicious

My name is Mrs. Ayomide, and for a long time, I had been suspecting that my husband was cheating on me.
Every time I visited his office, I always had the strong feeling that he was involved with one or two of the ladies there. The feeling just refused to go away, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it.
To make matters worse, women were always around him. There were more women than men in his office. Even in church, he served as the coordinator of the drama unit, and the members met regularly to attend rehearsals, with the overwhelming majority being ladies. Week after week, I watched women gather around him to ask questions, seek advice, discuss church activities, and laugh at his jokes. Sometimes I would arrive early for a church program and find him surrounded by a group of women discussing costumes, scripts, or upcoming events. Even though everything appeared innocent, my mind always found a way to turn those interactions into something suspicious.

It wasn’t only the church that made me uncomfortable. At his workplace, many of the senior staff members were women. Women also managed several of the departments he supervised. Whenever I visited him unexpectedly, I would often see female employees coming and going from his office. Some of them seemed very familiar with him. They would greet him warmly, smile freely, and occasionally stay longer than I felt was necessary.

As if that wasn’t enough, most of his business partners were women too. He worked in a field where many successful entrepreneurs were female, so he spent a lot of time communicating with them. His phone would ring at odd hours, and sometimes I would hear female voices on the other end discussing contracts, meetings, or projects.
Every time it happened, my imagination would begin creating stories.
Honestly, I don’t know what it was about him, but women seemed very comfortable around him, even though they knew he was married. Because of that, I couldn’t help thinking that he was cheating on me with some of them.
The frustrating part was that I never found any evidence.
Whenever I confronted him, he would laugh in that annoying way that made me feel foolish. Then he would tell me that nothing was going on.
What troubled me the most was that his two closest friends were also women. Anytime one of them called him, I felt jealous immediately.

Then one day, I got a two-week visa to attend a business conference in Paris.
At first, I almost rejected it because I couldn’t stop thinking that my husband would use the opportunity to bring women into our house while I was away.
The more he encouraged me to go, the more suspicious I became.
After thinking it over, I finally decided to travel. But before leaving, I did something I considered smart.
When my husband wasn’t around, I secretly installed hidden cameras in different parts of the house.
The next day, knowing he had a staff meeting, I bought his favorite lunch and took it to his office. I deliberately arrived close to the meeting time.
“Sweetheart, I’m going to the meeting now. Hope you’ll wait till I return?” he asked.
“I’ll probably be gone before then. I’m going to the market,” I replied.
He kissed me and left.

Immediately, he walked away, and I took the opportunity to install hidden cameras in various parts of his office as well.
Satisfied with what I had done, I traveled to Paris.
The conference lasted two weeks, and I enjoyed myself so much that I almost forgot about the cameras.
Two days after I returned home, while I was relaxing in the sitting room, somebody knocked on the door.
I opened it and was surprised to see my husband’s secretary, Marian.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you be at the office?”
Before she could answer, I asked another question.
“Did my husband send you?”
“No, ma,” she replied.
“Is he okay?”
“Yes, ma.”
Then she said, “Please, can I come in? I need to talk to you.”
I allowed her in, and we sat down.
She looked nervous.
“Ma, I’m very sorry,” she began. “My mind has not been at peace.”
I became curious.
“Just tell me what’s wrong.”
She took a deep breath.
“Ma… I slept with your husband.”
I was shocked.
At the same time, a part of me felt satisfied because I believed I had finally gotten the evidence I had been looking for.
Still, I remained calm.
“I’ve been suspecting something like that,” I said.
Then I asked, “Why are you telling me this?”
She started crying.
“Because it wasn’t my fault. He forced me,” she said. You seem like a nice person, and I wanted to confide in you before taking legal action against him.

My heart softened immediately. “When did this happen?” I asked.

“Last week.”

“How did it happen?”

Marian explained that she had been crying in her office because her boyfriend had recently broken up with her. According to her, my husband noticed and invited her into his office to comfort her. She claimed that while he was consoling her, he began complimenting her and touching her. She said she tried to resist, but he kept going. Eventually, she said, they ended up having sex.

When she finished speaking, I was furious. I didn’t know whether to feel sorry for her or throw her out of my house. For some reason, I believed her. At the same time, my mind was already planning what to do about my husband.
Then Marian said she wanted to sue him.
I begged her not to go public with the matter yet and promised to handle everything.
Eventually, she left.
I wanted to confront my husband immediately, but I wasn’t the type to accuse someone without proof.
That’s when I remembered the hidden cameras.
I quickly checked the footage from the house’s cameras.
Nothing.
No women.
No suspicious activities.
Everything looked normal.
That convinced me that if he was cheating, it had to be happening outside the house or in the office.
That night, my husband came home, and I pretended everything was fine.
The next morning, I told him I was going to the office with him.
He looked surprised.
After asking me several times why I suddenly wanted to come, I asked him directly,
“Why are you worried? Do you have something to hide?”
He said no.
“Good. Then let’s go.”
When we got to the office, I brought out my laptop and started removing hidden cameras from different corners.
My husband was shocked.
“What are you doing? How did those cameras get there?” he asked.
I ignored him and started downloading the footage.
He became very angry.
In fact, I had never seen him that angry before.
He walked over, closed my laptop, and demanded an explanation.
I fired back immediately.
“Oh, so you’re angry because I’ve finally caught you and your secretary?”
He stared at me in disbelief.
“My secretary?”
“Yes, Marian,” I replied.
He became even more confused.
Then he shouted and called the security to bring Marian.
A few minutes later, Marian was brought into the office.
When she entered, she seemed pleased to see us arguing.
My husband looked at her and asked,
“I heard you told my wife we’re sleeping together. Is that true?”
Marian started crying again and said, “Why won’t I?”
My husband looked completely speechless.
“Marian, why are you doing this? You know that’s not true.”
While they were arguing, I continued reviewing the footage.
Then I interrupted them.
“Marian, you said this happened while I was away, right?”
“Yes.”
“In this office?”
“Yes.”
“Which exact date?”
She confidently mentioned the date.
I immediately searched for the footage from that day.
Meanwhile, Marian continued threatening legal action while my husband defended himself. And didn’t know I had hidden cameras installed, which I am reviewing at the moment, so a few minutes later, I stood up.
I walked over to my husband, hugged him tightly, and whispered,
“I’m sorry, babe. Please forgive me.”
Everyone froze.
My husband looked completely confused.
Then I turned to Marian, and I ordered the security that brought her to hold her.
The security officers grabbed her immediately.
She started shouting.
I pointed at my laptop.
“There are hidden cameras all over this office. I checked the footage for the exact day you mentioned.”
The entire office became silent.
“There was no affair.”
Marian’s face turned pale.
“The only thing recorded that day was you stealing from the office.”
Everybody gasped.
I continued,
“You are a liar and a thief. Everything is on camera.”
My husband suddenly remembered something.
“The missing wristwatch… You took it?”
I nodded.
“Yes. She did.”
Marian fell to her knees and burst into tears.
She admitted that she was in desperate need of money and had intended to blackmail my husband. She firmly believed that I would believe her and support her because she had noticed that whenever I came to the office, I acted out of jealousy, as if I suspected my husband of something.

The police were called, and she was arrested.
That evening, my husband returned home.
I expected him to be relieved that the truth had come out.
Instead, he was angry with me.
Very angry.
He hardly spoke to me.
He would come home, eat, and remain silent.
No conversations.
No jokes.
Nothing.
Now, more than a month has passed since the incident.
My husband is still not talking to me.
And honestly, I don’t know how to fix the damage my suspicion has caused to our marriage.