The Landlord

Chapter 52

Chapter 52

By now, we were sitting on the floor with our backs against the couch. My tears didn't stop and my shame kept my eyes down. Reliving and voicing everything crushed my lungs – and I was hardly done! I could barely handle it as I continued.

"Once an investigation was done, it was deemed that the staircase was unsafe. Matt was furious. Furious. So, we... we sued him." Cupping my face, I let out a sob. "I didn't want to! I didn't want to, but to keep with my story, it made sense to sue. It was such a low-life and shitty thing to do and I finally started to feel guilty. I mean the poor guy would be in court, telling the truth of what really happened that night in his restaurant, while his wife and daughter were in tears behind him. It was just awful and it just got worse. I made it so much worse!"

Taking a minute, I let it out while enduring the massive stress-headache. Keep going, suck it up. Forcing my sob down, I crossed my arms and dug my fingers into them. "About... about half way through the lawsuit, Matt started to get suspicious of me. When we would be in court, August would relentless say I was a liar. Over and over. Every time, he ranted about how I drank, got injured because of it, and that I tried to cover it up by falling down the stairs. It did look suspicious, especially since the cameras were shut off ironically before the incident. As my lawyer, Matt defended me, but as my husband, he couldn't ignore the red flags. So one night, Matt confronted me on it."

I remember the guilt, the shame, and the weight of framing and suing an innocent man. I remember that there was no other option in mind though. I could not come clean because I could not lose Matt. My fear was more important than my guilt – and what I did that night after Matt got home from work proved it.

It was late, I just put the kids to bed, and the TV across from me could not hold my attention. Curled against the arm of the couch, I was mindlessly staring out over the city through the transparent wall of our condo – until the large curtain started to close. Broken from my daze, I glanced over to Matt.

He stepped into the living room, tossed aside the remote that closed the curtain, and scowled down to me. "You want to tell me what really fucking happened, Ruth? Because I'm starting to think you are full of shit."

I was completely caught off guard. "What?"

"Every time I face August Winston in court, he is relentlessly recounting that night with a passion you don't ever see from liars. He defies his lawyer, stands up, and says you are lying to hide that you were drinking. How ironic that his 'lie' makes sense considering you were an alcoholic. And the cameras? Which were shut off and erased the entire night's footage? I'm not an idiot. I know you and know you are impulsive and would hope you would never stoop to a level like this, but it really really makes me wonder."

Shifting to the edge of the couch, I felt complete panic. "I-I don't know what to say."

"Tell me the truth," he said, this time more desperately. "Because this doesn't add up. Why would the cameras go out? Your friends even said you were in his office."

Jesus, what do I say? What could I say? My story had holes in it. He mentioned it before, but now he couldn't ignore it – and I had no idea how to patch those holes! Tears clouded my vision. I'm fucked, I'm screwed, he called me out. Instinct told me to get him back on my side, so I did just that regardless of the price. I needed to be more convincing and get him to believe me. "I-I... I'm sorry, there is more to it and I was just... scared to tell you everything." Ugh, what would make sense? What could I add? "Listen, the thing is... I— There is a lot I don't want to tell you because... because August threatened me."

The tension in Matt's shoulders disappeared, guard dropping. "What?"

I winged my next words. "He... he took me into his office because he was trying to sleep with me. My friends were all drunk, so I guess he figured he could get away with taking advantage of me."