I Can Smell Every Lie, and My Husband Reeked of Betrayal Chapter 15

I Can Smell Every Lie, and My Husband Reeked of Betrayal Chapter 15

“Shannon, what am I supposed to do?”

Finn sat on the couch, elbows propped on his knees, his head hanging down.

Chloe was gone.

Mallory had marched her out the door.

Before leaving, Chloe tried one more speech. Mallory told her bluntly, “The show’s over. You can

stop acting.”

Once the door clicked shut, the gardenia scent slowly faded.

The air finally felt clean.

“Everything you told me that you can smell people’s true nature-it’s real?”

I sat across from him.

“You always thought I was making that up.”

He lifted his head.

“The day my mom left home, I smelled putrid rotting-flesh stench. When my sister ran away, I

smelled bitter, burnt odor. Every guy I dated before you, I used my nose to know when to walk

away.”

“Until I met you.”

“Back then you smelled like rose scent mixed with lily scent. Years went by, and it never changed.”

I looked him straight in the eyes.

“You have no idea how scared I was once your scent started changing.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed.

“The night you came home after your birthday party, I first picked up that acrid vinegar smell. Every day after that it got worse. The floral smells faded, the sour grew stronger, and the rot deepened.”

“It was watching a bouquet wilt, and there was nothing I could do to save it.”

His eyes turned red. “Shannon, I-”

“Today I finally got the full smell off Chloe-lies, betrayal, and that cold metallic smell of dried Mood.”

“I don’t know exactly what it means, but no normal person should smell like that.”

Finn dragged both hands roughly over his face.

“Did she really-”

“Think about it for yourself. Every time she reached out to you. How much money you spent helping her. When Wren started calling you uncle. When she got a key to our house.”

“Go through every incident one by one. Then ask yourself. Didn’t she start every single one? You

thought you were helping her, but you’ve been manipulated from day one.”

He leaned against the wall.

His legs gave out. He slid down to sit on the floor and buried his face in his hands.

“Shannon, I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t fix any of this.”

“Then what do you want me to do?”

“My lawyer already finished the divorce papers. Assets get split by the law. The baby stays with me.

All you have to do is sign.”

He snapped his head up.

“No.”

“If you refuse to sign, I’m going to court.”

“Shannon! Nothing physical ever happened between Chloe and me, I swear!”

“Finn, whether it happened or not doesn’t matter anymore.”

“The rose scent that stood for your love for me is almost gone.”

“Chloe didn’t steal it. You threw it away yourself.”

He opened his mouth but couldn’t find words.

“You promised you’d come to my prenatal appointment, but you stayed with her kid instead. You

took her to meet your mom and never told me a word. When she moved into our home, you camexp with ten excuses for her.”

You claim you two are innocent, yet you saved her number under Wren’s name with a sun emoji.”

“What am I saved as in your contacts? Just Shannon Reed. Not even one punctuation mark.”

With every sentence his face paled.

Fianlly, he huddled on the floor, shoulders shaking.

Once, seeing him cry would’ve broken my heart.

But not now.

It wasn’t that I didn’t love him anymore. It just hurt too much to feel anything.

Mallory stepped out of the kitchen. She glanced at him, then at me. She didn’t say anything, and quietly went back inside.

After a long time, he lifted his head again.

“Give me one more spot. Please.”

I breathed in.

Right then the rose scent on him flared a bit stronger. But acrid vinegar smell and putrid rotting-flesh stench were still there-only partially covered by that thin thread of rose.

I closed my eyes for two seconds and opened them again.

“No.”

“Shannon-”

“Once a bloom fades, it never blooms again.”

I grabbed the printed papers from the coffee table and pushed it toward him.

He stared at the words, fingers trembling nonstop.

After a very long while, he picked up the pen and signed his name.

When he set the pen down, it slipped out of his hand and rolled across the floor.

He didn’t pick it up.

“Shannon… what if one day my floral scent comes back?”

I slipped the signed papers into my bag and walked for the door.

I glanced back. He looked so small curled up there on the floor.

Once, when he was full of rose scent and lily scent, standing text to him felt like the safest place on

earth.

Yet those smells would never come back.

“Then let it bloom for someone else.”

“My season with you is already over.”