Free Deceitful Vows by A. Mackin

to your wife.
    Her: You know I’m serious, so don’t try to play games with me.
     
    Mark couldn’t help but to shake his head and let out an exasperating sigh after reading the messages. Not only was “she” still trying to be with him, but now she was blackmailing him. Of course, he had to go meet her. He couldn’t let his precious Kayla see those photos. Of course, she knew about the affair, and it was old news, but if Kayla found out who she was he would never get his wife back, and his marriage would officially be over. He didn’t know how, but he had to find a way to make her leave him and Kayla alone for good.
     

***
    She felt confident after sending the messages. Of course he would come; he didn’t want his precious Kayla to find out who she was. The shock would be if he found out the photos weren’t of them two together, but instead of him with Monica. Her true intentions for meeting him today were to seduce him. They were supposed to talk about the past and how they once felt about each other. She would bring up old places and things they did before he would have her for lunch on his desk. Meanwhile, she would have her phone recording everything from the minute she got off the elevator. She would then have the recording for the future in case she needed it to get him to leave Kayla once and for all. To her surprise and benefit, Monica was already having lunch with him, and her recording cell phone got an eye full. Seeing Mark with another woman hurt her to the core, but in her mind she thought he was lonely since they hadn’t interacted in a few months. Undoubtedly he had been with Monica was before she had to “leave.” Her mom had taken it upon herself, once again, to contact her doctor to find out how she’d being doing. Once she’d found out that “she” was off her meds again, the doctor insisted that she go back to that God awful “resort” to help make her better. When were they going to realize that she didn’t need that resort or those meds? After all, she’d been doing just fine without them. Thanks to her mother and Shady Pine Mental Resort, she had missed the last four months of being with her man, and now he was finding comfort with another someone else.
     

***
    Kayla headed to the office to meet with two patients before her doctor’s appointment later that afternoon. She had forgotten to tell Mark about this one and accepted that she would have to go alone. Going into her office, she thought it would be a good idea to see if maybe he would come with her on his lunch break. Reflecting back on the perfume incident, she’d decided she would play her cards and see what proof she could get before confronting him again. Either way, if he told the truth and confirmed her suspicions, she knew her marriage would really be over this time. So instead of going off on a whim, she decided to get concrete proof before she tore her marriage apart.
    Before she could get into the building good, Melissa called. She was calling to talk about the baby shower again. Kayla asked her several times to just call her mom since Vivian would know exactly what Kayla liked and didn’t like, but Melissa insisted on calling her every other day. The shower was in two weeks, and Kayla couldn’t wait for it to be over. The event was now up to one hundred guests and was at a banquet hall more suited for a wedding reception than a baby shower. Melissa even took the liberty of setting up registries at almost every store imaginable. The baby shower was way too much for Kayla’s taste, but no matter what, she knew that Melissa always had an excuse as to why the event had to be so fabulous. Kayla just hoped that when she and Mark had more children, they didn’t have to go through this every time.
    With all of her morning patients seen and all notes finalized, Kayla headed out to get to Mark’s office to see if he could go to the doctor with her. She already made up her mind that if he couldn’t, it would be okay