My husband decided I was dead long before anyone else did.
All of a sudden, I found myself being forced to sign some documents that seemed legal but would in fact put me into mortal danger during my next deployment overseas.
From a very early age, I joined the Army as a career choice. Everything involving survival skills, operations in extreme weather conditions, and other emergencies became automatic for me. The one thing that was certainly beyond my knowledge and experience was coming home from a mission to find my own husband trying to betray me.
One week before the explosion of events, I returned home from a training camp much earlier than expected. When I entered the house from the backyard, I heard my husband Gavin talking to someone in the kitchen. He stopped the moment he realized I was home.
“All we need is one final confirmation,” I could heard him saying. “Once she’s gone for the Montana trip, everything becomes a lot easier.”
Another man laughed, and I knew it was my step-brother Clint, the very same Clint who, for years, had criticized each one of my career moves while still being unable to hold onto a job.
As soon as I stepped into the room, they both seemed thoroughly surprised. However, Gavin was the first to recover, putting a ridiculously fake smile on his face. “There you are! We were just discussing your financial paperwork.”
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That explanation was far too fast and too well thought-out. Nothing seemed quite right. He then offered me a folder. “Here you’ll find an updated power of attorney to sign before leaving for another trip next week.”
I took the folder and examined it. On the outside of the envelope, there was no sign of anything wrong; only when I flipped it over did I notice a lipstick stain on its back flap. The color was bright red and couldn’t be mine for the world, Alyssa Miller, one of Gavin’s wealthiest clients, was the owner of that particular shade. An uncomfortable sense of dread filled me to the brim; though I had no evidence whatsoever, I suddenly started questioning my marriage.
For the next couple of days, however, Gavin seemed to have become oddly affectionate. He would bring me flowers, cook me dinner, and continue proposing spending more time with him. Any other person would take such behavior as a sign of love, but to me, that just seemed like pre-planning.
He then proposed us taking an escape weekend trip together, claiming that it was our anniversary and we needed some time to catch up. Against all my better judgment, I had agreed. The destination was an old wooden cabin secluded in Montana’s wilderness.
It seemed surreal to me, the way we traveled there. The moment we arrived, it was starting to snow. The cabin was surrounded by large pines; in fact, it was isolated and silent.
The moment I entered, the door closed firmly behind me. As I turned around, trying to open it, I realized the lock clicked into place. I could hear the loud clinking sound of the padlock fastening itself from the outside.
My heartbeat stopped for a moment. “Gavin!”
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I moved to the window, where I saw him standing on the porch. He was not alone. Alyssa stood right next to him.
They stayed still for a minute or two, then Gavin raised my satellite phone in one hand, while holding my winter jacket in another. The truth struck me with a blow: it was planned.
“It was never really about us,” Gavin said. “But about what comes after you are gone.”
I looked at him in utter disbelief. The man who had been by my side all my life, was staring at me like I was just a memory. He spoke about all of it in this cold, calculated manner. Insurance policies, pensions, property investments – apparently, I was much better dead than alive. Once they finished explaining everything to me, Alyssa chuckled, looped her arm around him, and the two of them walked away, leaving me alone, trapped in a freezing cabin with a blizzard heading in my direction.
For a moment, the feeling of sheer panic overwhelmed me. Not because of fear of death; because I couldn’t seem to comprehend how someone close to me could have pulled a stunt like this off on me. And then everything changed. Panic faded away and I got myself into the mode of mind which allowed me to survive. Reality is the first thing you need to face when you are trying to survive. And mine was bleak – there was no way anyone would come to rescue me.
