Chapter 80 Your Little Affair

Chapter 80 Your Little Affair
Benjamin's POV

I studied Winnie's face for a moment, watching the desperation there, the way she stood waiting for an answer she wasn't going to like. The morning had already been long enough without adding her hysteria into the mix.

I knew she wouldn't leave until I gave her something believable. So instead of answering her question, I decided to turn the conversation around entirely, the way I always did whenever someone tried to corner me.

"Where were you last night?" I asked, my voice hardening with sudden anger. "While our family's reputation was nearly destroyed in front of half the city's elite, where exactly were you, Winnie?"

She blinked, caught off guard by the sudden shift.

"I had an important social engagement," she said, frowning at me. "I couldn't miss it. You know how these things work, Benjamin."

I laughed.

It wasn't a genuine laugh, more of a sharp, mocking sound that echoed through the study, bouncing off the bookshelves lining the walls. I clapped my hands together slowly, deliberately, watching her expression shift from confusion into something closer to unease.

"Please," I said, still smiling coldly. "Continue putting on that act. Keep going until I get bored enough to put a bullet through your head."

The room went completely still, the air itself seeming to grow heavier.

Winnie froze completely, her entire body locking up instantly. I watched the color drain from her face as the weight of my words settled over her. She had been married to me long enough to know when I was bluffing and when I wasn't. This wasn't a bluff, and she knew it instantly.

"What do you mean?" she stammered, her voice barely holding together now. Her hands trembled visibly at her sides, all traces of her earlier fury over Haley completely forgotten now, replaced entirely by fear for herself.

I leaned back in my chair, taking my time before responding, savoring the way her composure crumbled right in front of me, piece by piece.

"Did you really think," I said slowly, "that I would never find out about your little affair? With your bodyguard, no less. How disappointing, Winnie. I expected better discretion from you, at the very least."

Her lips parted slightly, but no sound came out, her mouth opening and closing like she was searching desperately for words that wouldn't come.

"Tell me," I continued, my voice dropping into something colder, "how does it feel, misbehaving in our matrimonial bed every single time I wasn't around? Did you think I wouldn't notice the pattern? The convenient timing of his shifts whenever I traveled for business?"

Winnie's legs gave out beneath her completely.

She dropped hard onto the floor, her knees buckling completely, her dress pooling around her as she sat there stunned, her hands pressed flat against the marble like she needed something solid to keep herself grounded. I watched her carefully, cataloging every flicker of panic crossing her face.

She knew I had evidence. She knew exactly how deep the trouble she was in ran.

"Benjamin," she started, her voice cracking, "I…."

"Save it," I said, cutting her off before she could finish.

But she didn't stop. Tears began streaming down her face again, this time for an entirely different reason than when she first stormed in here demanding answers about Haley, all that earlier fury completely replaced by raw terror.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice shaking violently now. "I'm so sorry… I don't know what came over me. It was a moment of weakness, that's all it was. It meant nothing, I swear it meant absolutely nothing to me."

I watched her beg, feeling nothing but a distant sort of amusement at the sight of her crumbling so completely, this woman who had spent years playing the perfect politician's wife now reduced to a sobbing mess on my study floor.

"A moment of weakness," I repeated, my tone dripping with disdain. "How many months has this moment of weakness been going on, Winnie? Because my sources tell me it started well over a year ago. Correct me if the information is wrong."

Her sobbing intensified, her hands covering her face now as her shoulders shook uncontrollably, her entire body trembling with each ragged breath she took.

"Please," she whispered through her fingers. "Please, Benjamin…I'll end it. I'll never see him again, I promise you. Just please, don't do anything drastic."

I studied her for a long moment, letting the silence stretch, letting her sit in her own fear without offering any comfort.

"You came in here screaming at me about Haley," I said quietly. "Demanding answers, accusing me of hiding something from you. And this whole time, you've been hiding something far worse from me, something that could have consequences far beyond just our marriage…Something that could send you to hell."

"It's not the same," she said weakly, though she didn't even sound convinced by her own words.

"Isn't it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She didn't have an answer for that.

I stood up slowly from my chair, walking around the desk until I stood directly in front of her, looking down at her crumpled form on the floor, taking in the sight of my wife completely undone.

"Get up," I said, my voice flat.

She scrambled to her feet unsteadily, using the edge of the desk to pull herself upright, her legs still shaking beneath her, mascara smeared across her cheeks now.

"I want to know everything," I said. "How it started and how long it's been going on. And most importantly, I want to know if he knows anything about our family's business. Anything at all, no matter how small it might seem to you."

"He doesn't know anything," she said quickly, desperately, her words tumbling out in a rush. "I swear it, Benjamin, I never told him a single thing about you or your work. I would never risk that, not with everything you've built."

"You'd better hope that's true," I said, my voice quiet and even, which seemed to frighten her more than shouting ever could. "For his sake, and for yours."

Her eyes widened with fresh terror at the implication, the color draining even further from her already pale face.

"Please don't hurt him," she whispered, her hands clasped together now like she was praying. "Whatever you're planning, please, just leave him out of it. He didn't know what he was getting into with me."

I said nothing, letting her sit with the uncertainty of my silence instead, watching her unravel a little further with every second that passed without an answer.