Catching My Wife Cheating While Washing Windows, I Unclipped

Two years married to the day, and I was hanging a hundred meters up, wiping down glass, when the guy dangling beside me started snickering.

Ollie, get a load of this!

You gotta hand it to the office crowd, they know how to have fun!

I followed his finger.

Across the way, behind the window, a man and a woman were wrapped around each other, kissing like they couldn't stand to come up for air.

My hand paused on the squeegee. "Yeah, people get up to all kinds of things these days."

"Still better off with my wife. Honest, and good to me!"

"All right, enough with the wife worship, twenty-four seven."

He dug his phone out of his pocket.

"Free show. I'm recording it, gonna savor it tonight."

I laughed and shook my head, ready to get back to work.

But when the woman lifted her face, I froze.

The next second, I clamped down on his hand and forced the words out.

"Man, stop filming..."

"...that's my wife."

...

"Ollie, quit messing around..." His hand stalled in midair.

He looked down at his phone, then back up at the glass, his mouth working but nothing coming out.

"Ollie, that... that's really your wife?"

My throat went tight. I nodded.

"Ollie, I didn't know..."

His face was all awkwardness and pity. He jammed the phone back into his pocket and scrambled his platform sideways like he was fleeing.

"II didn't mean anything by it, I'll go clean over there."

I let him go. I just stared at that glass, wiped so clean it shone.

Behind it, the two of them were still pressed together.

The woman who'd sworn over and over she'd love me forever was cooing sweet things at a balding man.

He gave her a light pat, and Kathryn Dotson turned her head and kissed him back like she couldn't get enough.

I looked down at the wretched reflection of myself in the glass.

The hard hat had flattened my hair, my sweat-soaked work uniform stuck to me, filthy and reeking of cheap sweat.

There was a fire jammed in my throat, and my temples throbbed, over and over.

Once, I'd walked tall too, the youngest boxing champion ever to stand on top of the world.

And now?

A dead ringer for a bottom-rung laborer.

Three years ago, I fell for Kathryn at first sight.

I asked her what kind of man she liked, and her eyes curved up when she smiled.

"Me? I like a man who's got that manly edge."

All for that one worthless line.

Like an idiot, I threw away a fortune worth billions and fought with my family until they cut me off.

Just to prove my laughable love mattered more than anything.

Just for that damn "manly edge" she talked about.

I started from nothing. Broke my nose, cracked my ribs, stood in the ring covered in blood, bet my life on it, and finally clawed my way to the top of the world.

I thought I'd won the world, and won her too.

But less than a year after I retired, this woman burned through my two hundred million in prize money and endorsements down to nothing.

And saddled me with hundreds of millions in debt on top of it.

To pay it off, I comforted my wife with one hand and secretly took up high-rise window cleaning with the other.

Now here I was, breaking my back a hundred meters up for five hundred bucks a day, while she was in there kissing some balding man like she couldn't get enough.

My stomach heaved, and I slammed the squeegee against the glass in a fury.

"Kathryn, how could you do this to me?"

But no matter how hard I banged, the people inside didn't react at all.

The other guy panicked and fumbled to grab my arm.

"Ollie! Stop it! We're up high here!"

"Get off me!"

I shook him off and drove my palm hard against the glass.

Inside the office, Rufus Rodriguez suddenly looked up, glanced out through the glass, and his eyes locked straight onto my face.

He faltered for a second, then narrowed his eyes and stared at me for a few beats.

Then he reached out, pulled Kathryn in tighter, and deliberately tugged her right up to the glass.

The next second, Rufus slid the window open, pointed at me outside, and gave a mocking smile.

"Baby, look..."

"Guess who's here?"

Kathryn followed the direction of his finger, and the instant she saw it was me, a flash of panic crossed her face.

But that panic lasted less than three seconds before it turned into cold disgust and rage.

"Oliver? You lowlife! Are you stalking me?"

I was shaking all over, my chest heaving.

"Stalking you?"

"I'm out here breaking my back to make money, to fill the hole of the couple hundred million you sank us into!"

"Ha."

Kathryn scoffed, contempt all over her eyes.

"And whose fault is that but yours? You're useless."

"All muscle, no brain. Besides throwing punches, what else can you do?"

My blood shot straight to my head, my temples pounding.

"Weren't you the one who said you liked a man with some grit to him?"

"I gave up my whole family for you, fought my way to a world championship, and now you go and find something like this?"

I pointed at Rufus's greasy, gleaming bald head, practically roaring it.

Kathryn acted like she'd heard the funniest thing in the world.

She turned, and right in front of me, rose up on her toes and planted a hard kiss on Rufus's bald crown.

"Oliver, are you stupid?"

"Grit? A man's man? That's the kind of thing little girls go for."

Kathryn looped her arm through Rufus's and looked at me with pure scorn.

"We're all adults here, so let me be honest with you!"

"Right now, the only thing I like is money."

"Look at yourself, this pathetic broke mess. Retired, gambled all the money away, buried in debt!"

"What are you going to support me with from now on? Dangling outside windows wiping glass?"

"Kathryn, don't say it like that."

Rufus, who had been wearing the smile of a man enjoying a show, chuckled and slid his hand around Kathryn's waist.

"Business is a battlefield. You win some, you lose some. It happens."

He put on a show of thinking it over, then let his gaze settle on me, full of condescension.

"Tell you what, Champ James. You're not going to earn much doing this."

"I happen to need someone to fetch tea and water. I'll pay you two hundred grand a month."

He paused, his smile turning more amused.

"I'll even set you up with staff housing, so you and Kathryn can live close to me. Easier to look after you both."

Kathryn's eyes lit up. Instead of a shred of guilt, she started pushing him.

"You hear that, Oliver?"

"You stubborn idiot, no wonder you'll be broke your whole life. Hurry up and thank Mr. Rodriguez!"

The more she talked, the bolder she got. "Mr. Rodriguez is bending the rules to give you a chance, and you're still not satisfied?"

"Bending the rules, my ass!"

I listened until my eyes nearly split open, wanting nothing more than to charge in there and rip the smug faces off the two of them.

The smile vanished from Rufus's face in an instant, replaced by a cold, sneering mockery.

"Quite the temper on you, Champ James."

He pulled out his phone and waved it in front of me.

"What good are hard fists? You're still just a lowlife wiping my windows."

Rufus casually dialed a number and put it on speaker.

"Hello, is this the foreman running the high-rise work on our building's exterior today?"

"You've got a guy named Oliver, right? He gets on my nerves!"

"Get him off there right now. I don't want to see him for another minute, or you can forget about ever getting another job here!"

The foreman's groveling voice came through the other end.

"Yes, yes, Mr. Rodriguez, I'll get him down right away!"

Staring at the disgust on Kathryn's face, the fury in my chest was about to blow.

"Kathryn, do you really think I'm just a boxer?"

Rufus and Kathryn traded a glance, then burst out laughing.

"What else would you be? Don't tell me you're some war god? A dragon king?"

"Or the heir to some corporation? Hahaha."

Curled against him, Kathryn joined in the mockery: "Oliver, have you watched too many of those short dramas and started dreaming with your eyes open?"

"Hurry up and get lost. Don't fall to your death and blame us for it later!"

I drew in a deep breath and unclipped the safety line straight off my body.

My coworker jumped, scrambling to ask:

"Ollie, what are you doing?! Don't do anything crazy!"

I didn't look back. I hauled myself up hard.

"It's fine. I'm just going to go pay them"

"A little visit!"

Wind screamed past my ears, the city below blurring the higher I climbed.

The second my feet hit the ledge, the foreman's call came chasing after me.

"Oliver, are you out of your goddamn mind!"

"You crossed Mr. Rodriguez! Forget your pay for today. Get lost, now!"

"Get lost yourself. I quit!"

I killed the call.

Choking down the fury boiling in me, I threw myself into the fire stairwell.

Ten-some floors. It took me under two minutes.

The moment I reached the doors of Rufus's company, the front desk stopped me cold.

"Sir, this is a legitimate business. Outsiders can't come in."

The receptionist looked me up and down, taking in the filthy work coveralls, contempt all over her face.

I was still breathing hard, and forced the words out through my teeth.

"Hi. I'm here for Kathryn Dotson."

She frowned and covered her nose. "You're here for Secretary Dotson? Do you have an appointment?"

Looking at that sneer, I couldn't hold the fire down another second. "What appointment! I'm her husband!"

"Husband?"

She stared for a beat, then burst out laughing. "Where'd this bottom-feeder crawl in from?"

"Miss Dotson's husband is our Mr. Rodriguez. He drives a Range Rover."

"I've seen plenty of losers like you. You don't leave, I'm calling security!"

I didn't waste another word on her. I just shoved straight past and made for the inside.

"Hey! Security! Security!"

"We've got a troublemaker!"

The guard down the hall came running, baton already up, swinging it at me.

"You? A stinking laborer, and you say you're Secretary Dotson's husband?"

"Take one look at yourself and know your place. Get out!"

"Out of my way!"

I knocked the guard aside and headed straight for Rufus's office.

I kicked the door open with a bang.

And what was inside nearly split my eyes open.

Kathryn stood with her back to me, straightening the rumpled hem of her dress.

Rufus, unhurried, was buckling his own belt.

The instant she saw me barge in, her face flooded with shame and rage. She shrieked and jabbed a finger at me.

"Security! Where the hell is security!"

"Get this lunatic out of here!"

"Easy, baby, no rush."

Rufus, in no hurry at all, pinched her cheek, then gave me a taunting little smile.

"Champ James, what's with all the temper?"

He crossed to me, looked me over, eyes full of scorn.

"You can throw hands in the ring, sure. Shame that in real life you're a limp little nobody."

"Can't even keep hold of your own wife. What's the matter, can't get it up?"

Employees from the surrounding offices poked their heads out to watch, pointing, whispering.

"That, that's Oliver James, isn't it? The youngest boxing champ ever?"

"Some champ. Can't even keep his own wife. Champ of getting cheated on, maybe?"

Rufus was clearly pleased with the show. He picked up a cup of coffee off the desk and flung it right in my face.

The scalding liquid ran down my cheeks. I couldn't tell what was coffee and what wasn't.

"Look at you, broke and pathetic. Bet it's been a long time since you had coffee this good."

"On me."

He leaned in close and dropped his voice. "Look at yourself. As sorry as a beaten dog."

Then he straightened, wearing that same look-down-on-you mockery.

"If I were you, I couldn't stand to stay."

"Champ James, is your face as tough as your fists?"

The employees around us howled with laughter, their contempt boring into me.

"Right, no money and he still wants to keep a wife?"

"Has he got no shame? Can't give her a good life, so step aside already!"

I clenched my jaw, fists tight, and looked past him, fixed on Kathryn where she stood off in the distance, disgust plain on her face.

She stood at Rufus's side, clinging to his arm, and from start to finish never said one word for me.

"Why?"

"Kathryn, why are you doing this to me?"

"What did I ever do wrong? Where was I ever not good enough to you?"

Something flickered in her eyes, but it turned quickly to impatience. She gave a contemptuous little laugh. "Why what?"

"Look at what you are now. Haven't I made myself clear enough?"

"You retired! You lost every cent! The bank's about to take the house!"

"Besides some manual labor, what else can you even do?"

"What are you going to support me on? Washing windows? There's not a shred of hope with you."

"That's crap!"

I couldn't take it anymore. "My money, it was you who invested it and lost it all!"

"So what?"

Kathryn threw all pretense out and shouted back.

"A grown man, useless as you are, and now you want to put it on me?"

My fault?

My fist clenched until the knuckles cracked, and all the blood in me seemed to rush up into my skull.

For her, I'd given up a ten-billion-dollar inheritance, cut ties with my family, carried every ounce of pressure and every swallowed grievance.

And in the end she'd used me up and thrown me out, left me standing here like a worthless nobody.

I stared her down and asked, one word at a time, Kathryn, that two hundred million of mine did the investment really fail

Or did you just hand it straight to Rufus?

The air went dead still.

Kathryn's face drained white, but she recovered fast, chin high, all defiance.

And what if I did?

You've got nothing left now. You'll be dead weight for the rest of your life!

I'm begging you, stop embarrassing yourself here and get out!

Baby, look at you, getting worked up again.

Rufus just laughed and slung an arm around Kathryn's shoulder.

Champ James, this is a country of laws now. You'd better have proof before you talk.

Kathryn's investments all went through proper channels, proper paperwork, everything legal and above board, in black and white.

Say the wrong thing and I'll sue you for defamation.

With his arm around her, he kissed her right in front of me, then swept a contemptuous look my way.

Besides, the money you earned in the ring wasn't that always meant to be spent on a woman?

Kathryn's suffered enough, stuck with you.

Tell you what.

Rufus pulled a bank card out of his suit pocket and flicked it carelessly at my chest.

Don't say I never looked out for you. There's a hundred grand on that card. Take it.

He looked down his nose at me. Hurry up and divorce Kathryn. Stop dragging a good woman like her through misery with you.

Kathryn looked at me too, all expectation on her face. Oliver, Rufus is right.

Since we've both come to this, let's stop torturing each other.

Here's the deal. In a bit we'll go file for divorce, give each other a little dignity.

The laughter all around drove into my heart like so many knives.

Every bit of love, of resentment, of rage, all of it burned down to ash.

I looked at that glaring bank card on the floor, then raised my eyes to the man and woman clinging to each other.

And suddenly all the years I'd given, all the effort, felt like one enormous joke.

I walked up to Kathryn and looked at the diamond ring on her hand, the one we'd bought when we married.

Give me back the ring.

You don't deserve to wear it.

I'd bought it with my first fight purse, and once she'd treasured it like nothing else.

Kathryn froze for a second, then looked at me with disgust all over her face.

Oliver, you gave it away, and now you want it back?

Poverty really has ground you down. You've got no shame at all!

She dragged the ring off her finger without a moment's hesitation and, without even a glance, tossed it to the floor.

Like anyone wants it! Come file the divorce with me, now!

You're not good enough for me. You weren't before, and you're even less now!

And to prove how done she was, she kissed Rufus again, right there in front of everyone.

The jeering around me got louder.

Slowly, carefully, I picked up that dust-covered ring and closed it in my palm.

I'm not good enough for you?

I stood up and looked at her, calm.

Kathryn, do you have any idea what you just threw away?

Threw away what?

Rufus had his arm around Kathryn, doubled over laughing.

A window cleaner a few hundred million in debt? Hahahaha!

The whole office was thick with glee, every one of them looking at me like I was the clown.

Watching those smug, gloating faces, something in me went cold.

The old man was right. A true dragon doesn't measure itself against worms.

I was the one who'd lost sight of that.

I took out my phone, dug a number out of the blacklist that had sat untouched for three years, and dialed.

It was answered almost the instant it rang.

You little punk?

I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, all the humiliation and defiance had settled into a cold calm.

Dad. I'm done boxing.