Cracks in the Façade – Suspicion Began Brewing 

Like I stressed in Part 2 of this series, (If you missed it, read it here)Anderson had always been the type to take people at their word. He trusted me completely, and my sneaky self  perfected the art of playing on that trust over the years. I had become an expert extraordinaire at hiding my real life of secret investments, a hidden bank account, and ubiquitous extramarital affairs. But a time came when something in Anderson’s well of trust for me began shifting. For reasons I couldn’t quite understand then, Anderson had begun paying closer attention to the small details. Was I uneasy? That’s an understatement! I had always been able to manipulate situations in my favor, reassuring him in a way that made his concerns seem like mere paranoia. But this time, something felt different. I sensed I needed to be more careful. Goodness, how could I not see that God was seeing me? 

Anderson’s Trust Begins to Waver

It all started with a seemingly innocent conversation about our finances. One evening after dinner, Anderson brought up the bank accounts. He casually mentioned noticing that our lifestyle didn’t quite match the income the church provided us on a monthly basis. I pretended to be confused, even a little amused by his utterance.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said, swirling his cup of tea thoughtfully, “about our finances. It just doesn’t add up sometimes. You’re great at budgeting, Vic, but it feels like we have more than we should. Where’s the extra money coming from?”

A chill shot down my spine. Anderson had never questioned me like this before. Panic flooded my mind: Had he found out about the secret account? Did he know about the condo? Had I left something behind that tipped him off? I forced a wry smile and made my voice sound as casual as I could. “Oh, Anderson, you worry too much. I’ve just been clever with our savings, stretching what we have. You know how I am” I said with a bold face and a trembling heart.

Confrontation and Denial

He nodded, but I could see a flicker of doubt in his eyes I had never seen in our entire relationship. It wasn’t like him to question me, and the fact that he was now digging into the finances was a red flag. I knew I had to act quickly before he found out about the separate account or the rental income from the condos. If he uncovered the truth, everything I had worked so hard to build and all the lies I had meticulously hidden, would come crashing down.

The next day, I went straight to the bank, opened a new account and transferred a large sum of money from the secret one into into a second secret one in case Anderson decided to dig deeper. There was no way I was going to let him unravel everything I had created for myself. Not now.

A Web of Lies Unraveling

But money wasn’t the only thing on his mind. His suspicions weren’t just limited to our finances. It caught me off guard a month later when he casually mentioned how different our son Joshua and daughter Abigail looked from him. “It’s funny,” he said with a slight laugh, “Joshua and Abigail look so much like you, but I don’t any of myself in them. I cannot believe none of them inherited my very strong genes” he said with a coy smile, shrugged his shoulder and walked away. 

I pretended to be puzzled and offended at his remark and replied he was trying to call what was not as though it were. How deceitful! But deep down, my heart began racing out of control as though it wanted to burst out of my chest. The truth seemed to be creeping closer to the surface, and I knew I had to stay one step ahead. My complicated web of lies was beginning to tear before my eyes and for the first time, I wasn’t no longer sure of myself. Things were obviously beginning to fall apart.

Stay tuned for what happened next in Part 4 of my story next week.  You won’t want to miss what comes next!