After watching his wife cheat through his phone’s security app, Jacob plans to serve an act of revenge so cruel they would never recover. He never imagined how his plan would affect the entire family, and it only got worse when his brother called unexpectedly.
“No! Uncle J! Barbie is married to Ken!” his niece, Mia, laughed, and it was good to hear that sound after everything that happened. Jacob smiled brightly and almost got emotional, but he was trying to contain his emotions for his nieces.
Mia and her younger sister, Ella, played with him on his brother Liam’s living room floor. Jacob had started visiting them every Thursday when he got off work after Mia’s diagnosis. Her liver was failing, and she was currently on the transplant list.
No one in the family was a proper match, and they had to be put on the official waiting list. Luckily, she was allowed to be home for a while as long as everyone let her rest. Her disease had progressed so much that her coloring was always off, and she was usually too weak to play.
However, his visits every Thursday gave her energy. Hence, his big brother, Liam, and his wife, Emma, encouraged him to keep coming over. Jacob’s own wife, Melissa, also loved what he was doing for the family but couldn’t join them because of her work schedule.
Liam had already taken too much time off his job, so he had to work when things were relatively calm. Therefore, most Thursdays, it was just Jacob, Emma, and the girls in Liam’s home. But it was lovely. Jacob adored every moment because no one knew how long they had been with Mia.
“Well, Mia. Barbie could have a girlfriend, right? It’s the 21st century, girl,” Jacob teased, grinning and poking her stomach gently.
Ella laughed. “Yeah, a girlfriend!” she agreed with her uncle, and they all continued playing for a while, trying to decide who Barbie was dating. Jacob made special voices for other characters, and the girls ate it up.
Emma came over and smiled at the scene, grateful to have such a caring brother-in-law for her daughters. She made sugar-free lemonade and healthy cookies for everyone because Mia had to eat healthily. But no one minded, not even Ella. She was only four but understood how her sister needed to improve and tried to help.
“Hey, everyone. Let’s put the Barbies down for a while and eat some treats,” Emma said, putting the tray with glasses and cookies on the coffee table. The girls went for it, and Emma reminded Mia to eat slowly and carefully.
Jacob wished he could take them out for real ice cream, but it wouldn’t be possible until they found a match for Mia. For now, they had to find happiness in these quiet, joyful moments where she was having fun surrounded by family.
He could watch those girls for hours, but a particular phone notification went off on his phone. It was his security system. His entire home was smart, and he could control almost everything remotely. He was also alerted to almost everything happening when no one was home.
Jacob looked at the time, and his wife, Melissa, wouldn’t be home from work yet, so he frowned as he opened the app. However, something told him to step away from his nieces and Emma.
“Can you excuse me for a second, Em?” he said, and she nodded, crinkling her eyes. Jacob walked to the kitchen, pulled his AirPods out, and opened the live stream to his security camera. At first, he had no idea what he was watching, not because it was blurry. But because it was impossible.
He saw his living room, which was similar to his brother’s house, as they had gotten a deal on some furniture, but something insane was going on. Jacob saw Melissa, who should’ve been at work still, taking her tight skirt off and jumping on the lap of his brother Liam.
Jacob’s brain commanded his hands to stop the live stream and demanded to look away. But his body wasn’t listening. He was glued to the stream and the sounds of his brother cheating with his wife, and by the looks of it, they were having a fantastic time.
Finally, he was able to look away and stared at Emma and Liam’s fridge. It was covered almost completely with magnets from their travels. They had been high school sweethearts. In the center, they had Mia’s medication schedule and a calendar of future doctor visits.
Jacob hoped that looking away would help him calm down his heavy breathing, but it only got worse. He felt destroyed, He and Emma tried to cheer the girls up during the worst time of their lives while their spouses were having an affair.
The worst part is that he didn’t know how long they had been doing it. Was it the first time? His phone had never notified him like this before, even though the cameras had been installed for months after a series of burglaries around their neighborhood.
But how could they do this? How could they betray the family like this? They were all close, but Jacob would never have suspected any attraction between his wife and big brother. His thumb began to hurt, snapping him out of his thoughts.
He realized he had been holding the phone too firmly and looked back at the stream. It was still going on, and he finally closed it. The app would record it automatically. He didn’t want to wait until they finished their activities.
“Jacob, are you alright? Do you want something to eat?” Emma asked, scaring him.
“Jesus,” he said, holding his chest but putting the phone quickly in his pocket.
“I’m sorry,” she smiled.
“No, I just was distracted. No, I’m not hungry. I got an email from work,” he shook his head and grinned slightly to assure her. “Let’s get back to the girls.”
They returned to the living room, where the girls had started playing with the dolls again. They called their uncle over, and Jacob mustered his best poker face to sit with them and continue their afternoon. Mia suddenly got tired and asked about taking a nap, so he helped Emma as best he could and bid her goodbye.
Jacob pulled out of Emma’s driveway but couldn’t go further without checking his phone. He clicked on the app, and luckily, the events had ended. But Melissa and Liam were now in his kitchen, talking and… laughing.
That was almost worse than the cheating. He had spent his afternoon worried about cheering up his niece while those two acted like a happy new couple. That broke something in him, and Jacob knew there was no turning back.
Liam had been his role model for his entire life. Their father and grandfather were fantastic, but Liam was good at sports and at getting girls, and Jacob had wanted to emulate him forever. He usually failed as he was better at academics, but his big brother never let him feel bad about it.
He told Jacob that it was better to be smart than good at sports, and Jacob knew he was right. Liam encouraged him to get into tech; now, Jacob earned much more than him. However, they were family. They supported each other.
Jacob would readily offer if Liam needed something for Mia’s medical bills. Their family was there for everyone. That’s how they were raised. Never in a million years would he have predicted such actions from his big brother.
And it killed Jacob. It destroyed his undying admiration and his love for Melissa as well. He wanted a divorce, and he wanted his brother to suffer. But he had to play his cards right. He couldn’t barge into his own house and accuse them of anything.
“Revenge is a dish best served cold,” he muttered, quoting the famous “Star Trek” line and shrugging. It was right, and he had to think. Jacob started the car and drove around, stopping to check his phone every once in a while.
Finally, Liam left, and he saw Melissa picking up everything in the living room. A quick look at his car clock told him it was his usual time to be home for dinner, so he steered his car toward his house. He parked in the garage and got out.
“Play it cool,” he told himself, nodding, and went inside.
***
“Hey, darling. How was your day? Is Mia doing better?” Melissa grinned widely at him from the kitchen. The garage doorway led to the kitchen, and he saw her cutting some onions for dinner. Jacob had to contain himself and forced a smile. How could she act concerned about Mia when she was having an affair with her father?
“She was fine. Nothing new, anyway. So, that’s good, all things considered. How about you? How’s work?” Jacob asked, trying to be discreet.
“It was fine, too. I got home a few minutes ago, so dinner will take a while. Sorry,” she added and looked at him with the most guileless expression in the world. He used to love that look, but now, it was tainted as he had no idea how often she had lied and looked as innocent as she did.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be in my office. I have to check a few things,” he replied, snapping his lips and walking away. He entered his office, doing his best not to close it forcefully, and locked it.
He had tried to come up with a plan in the car, but all his ideas seemed stupid and insufficient punishment. But his mind cleared as he walked to his desk with his incredible computer setup. He sat in his expensive gamer chair and finally relaxed since his phone had shown him the terrible scene.
Jacob knew what he could do now, as he turned his system to life and started typing. As the tech-savvy person in the family, he had installed everything Liam owned. He had done it gladly and without ill intentions, but things had changed.
He clicked on his mouse and found what he needed, developing his plan further as he got access to his brother’s home computer remotely. It was easy. Liam didn’t know the difference between a free antivirus and real computer protection, so Jacob got in there quickly and began to exact his revenge.
He accessed Liam’s work files immediately, checking a few things out, and deleted all the most recent ones, knowing that his brother had a big project coming up. However, it was not enough punishment, so Jacob deleted everything work-related he could find, hoping that Liam was stupid enough not to have any backups at his office.
“It’s not enough!” he said, clenching his teeth and hitting the table with his fist. He muttered a few expletives and went through more folders, deleting, deleting, deleting. Nothing he removed from that computer satisfied him fully.
So, he went even further, hacking into Liam’s saved passwords and accessing his files. The software would alert the bank and get his accounts frozen, which was illegal. But somehow, he felt much better.
Jacob nodded at his computer. “Yes, let’s keep going.”
He had erased everything and removed his password history, so Liam would have difficulty accessing everything he needed. Jacob also decided to delete everything and installed a virus that could corrupt any USB or external hard drive. The only solution would be to wipe the computer and install the operating system again completely.
The process only took an hour, and he heard when Melissa called him for dinner. He felt much better, so it was easier to sit with her and eat like it was just another night. He kept the conversation on Mia and how worried he was about her. But his wife also reminded him of something.
“Your parents are hosting a dinner at their house tomorrow. You didn’t forget, right?” Melissa said.
“Right,” Jacob mumbled. “Sorry, I did forget.”
“That’s fine, but I was thinking of doing something nice for Liam,” his wife continued, making Jacob hold his fork tightly. “And Emma, of course. I don’t know. What do you think?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. We could offer them some money.”
“Yeah,” Melissa nodded and sighed. “I wish there was more. I see how worried Liam is, and it’s not like him. Oh, careful.”
“Sorry,” Jacob apologized because his fork had flown away as Melissa kept talking about his brother. He stood up and picked up the cutlery. “I’m done eating. You can plan something special for them on Sunday. But don’t get Emma.”
“Of course,” Melissa smiled while shaking her head quickly. “I wouldn’t forget Emma.”
“I’m going to shower,” he shook his head and walked away from her. He thought the computer hacking had been enough, but hearing his wife’s words only drove the blade deeper. As the water cascaded down his back, Jacob knew he wouldn’t be satisfied until Melissa and Liam were exposed.
But how should I ruin both their lives? Jacob wondered.
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