​​Love’s Exile​

Summary

In five years of marriage, my wife, Vivian, had cheated on me fifty-two times.

I had endured it all in silence.

Until the day I was laid up with an acute stomach ulcer. Vivian’s young assistant, Leo, had managed to piss off a major client, and to salvage the deal, she told me to go apologize, to smooth things over with drinks.

I couldn’t believe it. “I’m sick, Viv,” I pleaded. “The doctor said I can’t drink. If I have even one…”

She cut me off, her voice laced with impatience. “It’s just a few drinks, Ethan. It’s not going to kill you.”