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And why was he always on the go when he knew he had a young wife that needed him too?

She wasn’t settled at all. She was as torn as she had been in that club.

But before the tears could begin to stream, and she would forgive him anything, she needed more reassurance from him. “Show me the video,” she said to him. “I couldn’t find it online.”

William hated the very thought of her seeing that awful video. “Joy, that’s not necessary.”

“William don’t.”

“I would rather you not see that.”

“Show me the video.”

“I said I would rather you not see that video.”

“I don’t care what you would rather I not see! Everybody else has seen it. I’ve got to see it too.” Then her look was as stern as he’d ever seen it. “Show me that gotdamn video.”

William felt as if his world was caving in. And he had to make her understand what she was getting herself into. “You seeing that video isn’t going to help our situation one bit, Joynetta. It’s going to make it worse. You need to understand that.”

But Joy would not be deterred. Every man she’d ever been with always tried to gaslight her. They’d do all the shit they wanted to do, while she remained in the dark, and then they always claimed being in the dark was in her best interest. That was always their claim.

She begged to differ.

“Show me that video,” she said to William.

William was pissed with her, she could tell, and irritated no end. But he finally pulled his phone out of his pocket, pulled up the video, and then handed his phone to her.

William stood there staring at Joy’s expression as she watched him make love to the beautiful Diana Davenport. He could see the tears pool into her soft eyes as she watched it. He could see her small body clenched up as their moans and groans tore into her. He wasn’t as animated with Diana as he was whenever he made love to Joy, but Diana was a close second. To his shame. And he was talking sensually to Diana the way he talked to Joy.

But what he didn’t know was that Joy had stopped looking at the act of their lovemaking within seconds of her pressing the play arrow. She knew how William made love. She didn’t need to see that. She didn’t want to see that! She was staring at the date stamp. She was fixated on that date stamp.

William didn’t realize what she was doing until the short sex tape was over, but Joy was still staring at the screen.

Which baffled him. “Joy, the video isn’t playing anymore,” he said to her. “Joy? Joy?”

When he realized those tears that sat dormant in her eyes were now sliding down her face, he frowned. Her reaction wasn’t about that video, and he didn’t understand why. “Joy, what is it?”

She finally looked away from his phone and looked at him. “You didn’t make love to her two weeks ago.”

“I told you I didn’t! Whatever news report you saw online had it wrong.”

“You made love to her four months ago,” Joy said with a voice filled with shock.

William didn’t understand. “What?”

“We were planning our wedding four months ago. We were completely committed.”

William had a fixed frown on his face. “What are you talking about?” He grabbed his phone from her and looked at the video. He had been so focused on the actual video itself when he first saw it that he never bothered to look at the date stamp. He already knew when it happened.

But when he saw that it was indeed dated four months ago, his heart dropped. What the fuck? “That’s not right.” He looked at Joy with all sincerity in his eyes. “This date is not correct.”

Joy was staring at his sincere eyes. But she was so torn. It was as if the world was all wrong and only he was right. Just like all the other men she’d been with. Don’t believe your lying eyes! Believe me. She was always expected to believe them. William expected her to believe him. Not her own eyes. Him.

He was expecting too much.

And that was devastation for her.

The tears came. She could no longer control them. She turned to leave again. She had to get away from this man, this pain, and what it all meant for their future. She had to leave!