My Bodycam Caught My Wife Cheating , Now She Wants Me Back

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My wife had been trying to get her driver's license for two years and still hadn't passed.

I was afraid she'd feel discouraged, so I loved her twice as hard.

Then one day, ten minutes before my shift started, my clingy little wife sent me a message saying she was heading to driving school to practice and would need to focusno phone for two hours.

I never expected that while out on patrol, I'd come across an illegally parked car. I switched on my body camera and approached to investigate.

Just as I was about to knock on the window, the car began to rock. A woman's hand pressed flat against the glass.

I recognized the engraving on that ring instantly. I'd designed it myselfher name, in a custom script made just for her.

In that moment, my brain stopped working. I pulled out my phone and called her.

It rang and rang. She didn't pick up.

My eyes never left that shuddering car. When I saw the tangled silhouettes of a man and woman inside, my hand clenched into a fist before I even realized it.

The woman in that car was wearing an expression I'd never seen on herseductive, uninhibitedthe polar opposite of the sweet, innocent wife I thought I knew.

Eventually, the endless ringing must have killed the mood. The driving instructor reached for her phone to turn it off, but Carmen Harding snatched it away.

"Don't! I can't ignore my husband's calls. He'll worry something happened to me."

"Just stay quiet. I'll say a few words and hang up."

The instructor cursed under his breath, face twisted with irritation. "Goddamn pushover, always killing the vibe."

Carmen clamped a hand over his mouth and answered the call.

"Hello! Babe, we've only been apart two hours and you miss me already?"

Her familiar voice drifted through the half-open window. My breathing turned ragged. Every muscle in my body strained to keep me in check.

I steadied myself, then spoke.

"Honey, why'd it take you so long to pick up?"

"Because I was practicing driving! I couldn't answer!"

"Okay, babe, I gotta goif I stay on the phone any longer, the instructor's going to yell at me again. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

Before I could say a word, she chirped, "Love you, babe!" and hung up.

I didn't know what emotion could possibly describe what I was feeling.

I didn't have the courage to walk up and catch them in the act. Carmen and Iour journey together hadn't been easy.

And I couldn't bear to watch the girl I'd kept sacred in my heart shatter that image with my own eyes.

My eyes were burning, nearly rimmed red, when my partner arrived.

"Clarence, you okay?"

Clarence Dickerson forced a bitter smile and shook his head. "I'm fine. Just got some sand in my eye."

"If you say so. Come on, let's go."

Sebastian Fox nodded toward the road ahead. "That car up there is parked illegally. Rocking like thatwhoever's inside is definitely up to no good."

"But duty calls. We've got to cite the violation."

Sebastian finished speaking, then cracked a grin, eyes gleaming with amusement.

"Let's see who's bold enough to pull this in broad daylight."

He was already walking over. I followed close behind.

As we neared the car, that familiar coquettish whine slipped through the cracked window again.

My fists clenched so hard my knuckles went white. I was a heartbeat from losing it when Sebastian rapped on the window.

"Ahh!"

"Who the hell! Have some goddamn manners!"

The couple inside scrambled apart. The instructor cursed as he grabbed his jacket and threw it over Carmen's body.

The second they saw traffic police uniforms through the glass, they fumbled the door open, and the profanity died on the instructor's lips.

Carmen didn't dare look up. She stayed hidden behind the instructor's back.

"Sir, your vehicle is parked illegally," Sebastian said, all business.

"You're within fifty meters of an intersectionno stopping allowed. On top of the points on your license, you're looking at a fine..."

Before Sebastian could finish speaking, the smell of alcohol hit him.

"Have you two been drinking?"

He knew exactly what it meant for a driving instructor to get behind the wheel after drinking.

Carmen quickly looked up, rushing to the man's defense. "We weren't drunk driving. We just had a couple drinks for fun."

"Exactly!" the instructor chimed in. "It's one of those guy thingsyou're a man, you should understand."

Sebastian's expression was stone-cold. "Since you've both been drinking, you're not fit to drive. Step out. We're towing the vehicle."

Carmen didn't want to comply, but regulations were regulations.

The moment she stepped out of the car, she nearly screamed.

Because she was staring at my backand it was unmistakably familiar.

Her breathing turned ragged. She stood there like a cornered animal, unable to keep still.

Just as she was about to call out my name, the instructor swept her up in his arms.

"Come on, babe, let's go!"

"There's a hotel right nearby. We didn't get to finish what we startedgotta give the story a proper ending, right?"

Carmen wriggled free in a panic and jumped down, her face drained of all color. Her eyes were locked on my back, unblinking.

The instructor followed her gaze, froze for a second, then let out an easy laugh.

"Relax. It's not him. If it were, he'd have come over to catch us in the act already."

That was enough to put Carmen's fears to rest.

"You're right. There's no way that's my husband."

"He's probably home resting by now."

"Send him a messagetell him you're not coming home tonight, that you're staying at Olivia's."

Carmen nodded, her cheeks flushed, and sent me a text.

After Sebastian finished writing the citation, he handed it to the instructor.

"Fine by me. A ticket's a small price when you've got a beauty to keep you company tonight."

Sebastian watched the two of them walk off together and let out a heavy sigh.

"Whose wife is that? Shamelesssneaking around behind her husband's back."

What he didn't know was that the man standing right in front of himmewas that woman's husband.

A humiliation like this, I swallowed in silence.

Thank God Sebastian didn't recognize Carmen. Otherwise, by tomorrow, the whole department would know I'd been made a cuckold.

When I got home, the first thing I saw was the wedding photo that once made me feel like the luckiest man alive.

I walked over, lifted it off the wall, and smashed it to pieces.

Shards of glass bit into my flesh, but I didn't feel any pain.

Because the ache in my chest was a thousand times worse.

That was when my father called.

I picked up the phone with a bloodied hand. After I answered, the words wouldn't come. He didn't seem to notice anything off. Instead, his usual commanding tone softened into something almost gentle.

"Son, do you really love her that much? I've looked into her familythey've never thought you were good enough. They think a traffic cop is an embarrassment. I've also found out they're all the sameshallow, money-hungry, every last one of them. That's exactly why I never approved of the marriage, and why I had you hide your identity. It was a testyears of itto see what she was really made of."

"Someone like Eleanor Hensonshe's the one you were always meant to be with."

"Dad, I agree to marry her."

My words sent a beat of stunned silence through the other end of the line. I could hear his breathing grow heavier.

"Give me three days. Once I've settled everything here, I'll come home for the arrangement."

After I hung up, a message from Carmen came througha photo of her and Olivia together.

Proof that she wasn't lying. Proof I could trust her.

Except now I knew the truth: she had been lying all along.

Those photos were staged in advance.

And it hit me all at onceevery night she hadn't come home, had she already been with the instructor?

No wonder... No wonder two full years of driving lessons hadn't produced a license.

It wasn't that she couldn't pass. She'd been dragging it outusing every lesson as an excuse to cheat.

I stood on the rooftop and smoked through the night. The smoke stung my eyes raw.

The darkness pressed in from all sides, threatening to swallow me whole, leaving me nowhere to hide from the emptiness.

It was time. Our marriage needed to end.

Carmen didn't come home until the following afternoon, dragging herself through the door like she was half-dead with exhaustion.

The moment she saw me, her face lit up the way it always did. She transformed into that clingy little kitten act of herslaunching herself into my arms, wrapping her legs around my waist, refusing to let go.

"Babe, did you miss me?"

"Blame Mei Meishe was so devastated after her breakup that she couldn't sleep without me there. I was afraid she'd do something stupid, so I had to stay."

"But I felt so bad about leaving my baby all alone."

"Kiss!"

Her lipsthe same lips that instructor had been all overwere inches from my face when my stomach lurched. I shoved her off on pure instinct.

Carmen flinched hard. The color drained from her face, slow as a retreating tide.

"H-Honey, what's wrong?"

Her eyes were rimming red, tears threatening to spill, and I forced myself to take a deep breath.

"It's nothing. I'm coming down with a cold. Didn't want to give it to you."

The word cold hit her like a five-alarm fire.

Guilt flooded her face. She rushed forward and threw her arms around me again.

"Honey, I'm so sorry. This is all my faultI should've been here taking care of you."

"My own husband was sick, and I was off looking after a friend."

"I'm not going anywhere today. I'm staying right here with you."

And she meant it. For the rest of the day, Carmen became the picture-perfect wifeattentive to my every need.

She hand-fed me dinner. Told jokes to make me laugh. If I so much as sneezed, she nearly had a panic attack.

I watched her silhouette in the kitchen as she mixed cold medicine, late afternoon light spilling across her shoulders like liquid gold, and my mind drifted.

If only she hadn't lied. If only she hadn't cheated. We could have gone on like this forever.

But behind the love, there was nothing left but scars.

Even as she stood there stirring my medicine, she was sneaking texts to her instructor. Flirty messages, one after another. Whatever he wrote back made something shift behind her eyesa restless hunger she couldn't quite mask.

After she tucked me into bed, she slipped out the door.

I grabbed my jacket and followed.

From a distance, I watched her throw herself into the instructor's arms. They kissed like they'd die without each other, then tumbled into the tall grass together, letting the darkness cover them.

What she didn't know was that I'd already documented everything.

I turned and walked away, loneliness settling into my bones like winter. And finallyfinallyI made up my mind to leave her.

The third day was her mother's birthday. Carmen wanted me to come along to celebrate.

The moment I stepped through the door, my mother-in-law's expression said it allpure, undisguised contempt.

It didn't matter that I was carrying expensive gifts. Nothing could change how she felt about me.

"Mom!" Carmen called out in that sweet, honeyed voice of hers.

Mrs. Harding's face softenedbut only slightly.

That's when Dylan Harding walked in, and he wasn't alone. He had Carmen's driving instructor with him.

"Sis, lookI brought your instructor! You're so hopeless behind the wheel, you should really butter him up more. He'll have you passing in no time."

The instant Carmen laid eyes on the instructor, something sparked behind her gaze. That restless hunger stirred again, clawing its way to the surface.

The instructor stared right back at her, heat written all over his face.

Dylan grinned and steered the instructor toward their mother.

"Mom, don't let the job title fool you. This guy's loaded. He owns dozens of properties, and his bank account has eight figures. Teaching driving is just a hobby."

The words barely left Dylan's mouth before Mrs. Harding's face broke into the warmest smile I'd ever seen.

"Who would've thoughtyoung as you are, you've already made something of yourself!"

"Not like some people, scraping by as a traffic cop. No ambition whatsoever. How's a man like that supposed to provide for a family?"

"Mom, don't talk about Clarence like that."

Whenever Carmen heard someone putting me down in public, she'd always step in to defend me.

"People have different aspirations. What's wrong with being a traffic cop?"

"If he hadn't saved my life on that highway, I'd be dead right now."

My mother-in-law was gearing up to say more, but Kerry stepped in to play peacemaker.

"Ma'am, I can't believe how young and gorgeous you lookthere's no way you've had kids. You could pass for Carmen's older sister, easy."

That was all it took. My mother-in-law lit up like a Christmas tree, piling food onto his plate, toasting him glass after glass, and nudging Carmen closer to him every chance she got.

There was a time this would have gutted me.

Not anymore. I didn't care.

After dinner, my brother-in-law grabbed my arm and insisted we go for a walk. He'd always been the type to take shots at me, so this sudden friendliness wasn't what it seemed.

I ducked into a nearby restroom. When I came back and was about to call out to him, I heard his voice on the phone: "Sis, just relax and have your fun with Kerry!"

"You're hooked on his wild side, and Mom? Hehshe's been dying to kick that loser to the curb!"

The smile drained from my face. I turned on my heel and headed straight back.

Outside the bedroom door, I heard Carmen and Kerry inside. My mother-in-law had conveniently stepped out, leaving them their space.

I staggered backward. I pulled off my wedding ringthe one-of-a-kind band I'd never once taken offand dropped it on the floor.

Then I left.

Carmen didn't call. Not once. She was too lost in her own world to notice I was gone.

The whole family had been in on it. Every single one of them, conspiring to make a fool of me.

I couldn't swallow it.

I called my father on the spot and told him to cut off all support for my brother-in-law. Without someone propping him up, that deadbeat couldn't survive a week on his own.

Dawn came. Carmen still hadn't called.

Today was the day we'd part for good. I signed the divorce papers and left them on the bed.

I'd barely stepped out the front door when Carmen came rushing back, breathless.

"Honey! Why'd you come home without telling me?"

"Did my mom say something again? Don't take it to heart. We just need to focus on living our own life."

She walked up as she spoke, wrapping her arms around me.

All I wanted to tell her was that there would be no more "our life." Not anymore.

I was about to lay it all out when her phone rang, cutting me off.

Carmen took the call, then smiled and tugged me toward the door.

"Come on, babe. My friends invited me to a get-together."

At the restaurant, Carmen's close friend Olivia Swanson sauntered over.

"Well, well, Carmen Harding. Some man's been keeping you very well taken care of lately. Too good for me now, is that it?"

The whole table erupted in laughter.

Their eyes drifted to mesome pitying, some mocking.

My fists clenched under the table. A voice inside my head whispered: You're leaving anyway. Give her one last day. End it clean.

But the moment I sat down, they switched to a dialectright in front of meassuming I couldn't understand. And they started talking about Carmen's affair.

"Holy shit, that's wild. I thought you were just bad at driving. Turns out you were failing on purpose."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. He never suspected a thing?"

"Carmen, be honestdoing it in the car is what keeps you coming back, isn't it?"

"Ha ha Haha! "

Carmen laughed without a shred of shame. "Obviously. It was Kerry's idea, actually. He said since my husband's a traffic cop, we should park illegally on purpose and see if he'd show up. The thrill of it? You guys couldn't even imagine."

"My husband never caught menot once. It's that annoying cop with the last name who kept catching us."

"And don't you all act so innocent. You're no saints either."

I shot to my feet. I couldn't listen to another word of this filth.

The sudden movement startled them. They all assumed I couldn't understand their dialect.

But I'd learned ittaught myself, just to get closer to Carmen.

I wasn't about to reveal that now. I made up an excuse and left.

Carmen hadn't even given us the dignity of a clean ending.

I walked straight out of the restaurant. A Rolls-Royce was waiting for me at the curb.

Before leaving, I called Sebastian and told him to bring the gift I'd prepared for Carmen and come to my place tonight.

The moment Sebastian heard I was finally willing to let him come over and meet my wife, he laughed and agreed.

He was still saying how glad he was that I'd stopped hiding her away when I had the driver pull off. I took out my bank card, tossed it out the window, and severed every last tie to the past.

When night fell, Sebastian arrived at the door carrying a gift box.

"Honey, where did you run off to? I couldn't get through on the phonedo you know how scared I was?"

Carmen swung the door openand locked eyes with Sebastian's grinning face.

Both of them turned to stone.