The Secret Door in the Study

After hanging up the phone, I had a good sense of the situation. They wouldn't be back for a while, though I wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or worried.

I sat for a moment longer before gritting my teeth and standing up. I couldn't let my son's illness be in vain; I needed to use this time to find more clues.

My eyes scanned every inch of the room again. I checked every possible place where a liquid could be hidden, but still found nothing.

Breathless, I leaned against the side of the wardrobe, only to be startled when it moved slightly.

The movement intrigued me. How could such a heavy wardrobe move so easily? I reached out and pushed gently, and to my shock, the wardrobe slid open, revealing a hidden door.

I was stunned. How did I not know there was a secret door here? What had happened in this house? My mind raced as I realized that this maid's room was adjacent to... the study.

The secret door was a sliding door wide enough for a person to pass through. I pulled it open and saw another wall. It looked like a bookcase.

Summoning my courage, I pushed it, and the bookcase turned like a revolving door, revealing the space beyond. I stepped inside... and sure enough, it was the study. The door was right behind Sean's chair. Once closed, it was completely unnoticeable.

I stood in front of the bookcase, dumbfounded, piecing together the mystery that had been plaguing me.

No wonder that night, when I saw Sean go into Anna's room, he suddenly appeared in the study.

And why the study was locked—it all made sense now.

Apparently, Sean locked all the drawers to keep Anna out.

But why did he install such a door? And how did he know I would go to the study? These questions made my head spin.

But reason told me there was no time to dwell on this.

I eagerly sat at the desk, opened Sean's computer, and entered the password Inara had sent me. The screen flickered, and the desktop appeared.

I was overjoyed, my hands trembling. I opened his documents and clicked on the folder.

Perhaps due to my ten years of unresolved feelings for Sean, the first thing I wanted to see was the home surveillance footage.

I could never have imagined that what I saw would shatter my perception of reality.

Not only did I see myself lying on the bed like a corpse, but also Anna standing with my three children in front of my bed. She was pointing at my motionless body, saying something to them. Initially, the children listened attentively, but soon they started backing away in horror, their faces filled with disgust, and then they all ran out.

Seeing the children's reactions, Anna's face twisted into a sinister smile.

No wonder I hadn't seen my older two children in so long. They must have been avoiding coming home to see me. Even when they did come home, they clung to Anna, ignoring me.

That vicious woman! She wanted to uproot me completely.

And Sean, upon returning, didn't even glance at me. He went straight to Anna's room, staying there until dawn.

There were even more shocking scenes of him and Anna engaging in sordid acts in the living room. Sean lounged naked on the sofa, while Anna knelt between his legs, her head bobbing up and down… I felt my stomach churn and grabbed the trash can under the desk, vomiting violently.

In that moment, I noticed a used condom partially covered by my vomit in the trash can. Just a glimpse made me even more nauseated, and I vomited until I was exhausted and collapsed to the floor.

My parents had been right about Sean. His true self was indeed as depraved as they said. I pictured Sean's lecherous expression in the surveillance footage—shameless, depraved, and greedy.

I vomited again, bile the only thing left in my stomach.

My rational mind reminded me that I had more important things to do. I forced myself to ignore my discomfort, shakily closed the surveillance files, and started going through other folders. There were some simple company files, and others were encrypted, still inaccessible to me.

I clicked on the photo folder in the documents. To my surprise, it contained a massive collection of images. These images opened my eyes further—all of them were explicit photos of various women with him, taken during intimate moments, the boldness of which was shocking.

Many of these were from his early years at the modeling agency, showing his youthful appearance.

If the videos with Anna had shattered my worldview, these photos obliterated it, making me question my entire perception of life.

Was this the Sean I knew? I had been completely wrong from the start, losing everything.

He truly was an actor, performing flawlessly in front of me for ten years.

He was never the gentleman he pretended to be but a vile, debauched monster.

I raised my hand and slapped myself hard, the force making my head ring and my vision blur.

I had been too willful, throwing away my life and losing everything, nearly sacrificing my own life.

Furious, I wanted to kill this disgusting man immediately.

No, I needed to keep this evidence. Despite its nauseating nature, I believed it might be useful someday.

I found a large-capacity USB drive, plugged it into the computer, and started copying all the images, videos, and accessible documents.

As the files were transferring, I thought I heard the faint sound of a car approaching. Panicking, I ran out of the study, back to my room, and looked out the window.