Of course, she didn’t even look at him. She thought Brandon was deaf. But he wasn’t. It was all a ploy. It might seem devious, but Zoe had been acting strange since their wedding.

Brandon lost his entire family years ago. He’d had three lonely Christmases with his dog, Pancho, since then. But he met Zoe on a flight to New York. She was fascinating and loved dogs just like him. The flight went by in no time, and he wanted to see her again. At JFK, they shared their contact information, and he called her that same day.

Their relationship was excellent, and Brandon didn’t want to be alone anymore, so he proposed after only six months of dating. They got married quickly, too, much to the concern of his business partners, who were his close friends. They tried to get him to slow down, but he didn’t listen. In retrospect, he should have.

Regardless, they started their lives together in his five-million-dollar mansion. Zoe appeared to love his dog too and would talk about all the kids they would have in the future.

But one day, she hired a gardener, who was apparently a friend of her cousin. She started talking to him often during the workday. At first, Brandon thought it was normal because she had specific ideas for their house. But eventually, he grew suspicious. They laughed, and Zoe would often touch the man’s shoulders in the oddest way.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was when he caught her kicking Pancho and yelling at him to go away. She had never acted like that around the dog, and Pancho’s cries broke Brandon’s heart. Something weird was going on. He tried to ask her about her conversations with the gardener, but she would dismiss him quickly and talk about their future family.

So Brandon came up with a plan, and his doctor friend, Dr. Johansson, helped. He pretended to get into an accident and lose his hearing. Zoe appeared distraught in the hospital room when Dr. Johansson told her that the damage might be permanent.

A few days later, Zoe stopped pretending. She smiled at him but would say awful things to his face as if people with his supposed disability couldn’t read lips or sense vibes. But that was the whole point of his scheme. She let her guard down, and soon enough, Brandon discovered something awful. Something he thought only happened in movies.

“It’s going to be so much easier now that he doesn’t hear anything,” Brandon caught Zoe saying to the gardener one day. He was sitting by the pool with his laptop, eavesdropping on them. They both turned and smiled at him. The man pretended to be sweeping the fallen leaves on the ground. Brandon returned the smile and acted like he was focused on reading.

“It’s ok. I know he isn’t. I said some weird things the other day, and he didn’t react at all. This will work, and it’s so much quicker than we planned. In fact, you can do it. You can cut his car brakes, and tomorrow, he’ll get into an accident on his way to work,” Zoe insisted.

Brandon’s heart broke. His suspicions were even worse than he ever imagined.

“Shush, Zoe. Come on. Let’s buy some time. I think after Christmas or before New Year’s Eve when we can blame it on alcohol or something. Be patient, my love. We’ll get everything we ever dreamed of soon,” the man answered and walked off.

Suddenly, she pulled Brandon out of his musings, offering a plate of cut turkey. He was right back at their dinner table, and everyone was smiling. He grabbed a few pieces, and Zoe turned to pass the plate around.

For the past couple of weeks, he had taken his car out carefully and driven directly to the mechanic to check the brakes. He hired a private investigator to delve into Zoe’s life and keep an eye on her movements.

He also checked his bank movements, and apparently, nothing had been taken yet, so they were planning to inherit all the money since Brandon didn’t have any other family left. But he was about to foil their carefully planned murder.

“Before we eat, I would like to raise a glass to my wife,” Brandon began, getting out of his chair. Everyone turned around with wide eyes because he had not spoken that much or that well since the accident. He couldn’t tell his business partners the truth just in case one of them was also in cahoots with Zoe.

“Zoe has been such a GREAT wife over the past months, as I’ve dealt with the consequences of my accidents. But I’m here to inform everyone that my hearing was never in question. There was no accident at all. Our dear friend, Dr. Johansson, helped me out with something. Turns out, my GREAT wife has been planning my death with the gardener,” Brandon revealed with a huge smile and a voice dripping with sarcasm.

Everyone at the table stared at Zoe, frozen with her mouth gaping in shock.

“Don’t bother denying it, my love. My private eye already went to your lover’s house and went through your phone to get all the evidence we needed. But I must say, you two should’ve been smarter because I also had CCTV around the house. You weren’t exactly discreet, especially after ‘I lost my hearing,’” Brandon continued, using his fingers to air-quote that last part.

“Brandon, let’s go talk somewhere—”

“NO! Brandon, darling! This is a misunderstanding! You can’t!” Zoe began shouting as the cops forcefully pulled her out of the chair, handcuffed her, and started dragging her out.

“They already have a warrant for your arrest. Ah, and the gardener was arrested a few hours ago. I’m surprised he didn’t call you so you could run. Guess he’s not the brightest partner in crime, huh?” Brandon called out at her as she was pushed out of his house.

After closing the door, Brandon sat back down at the table and explained everything to his business partners, apologizing for the drama. Everyone was still shocked, but they were glad that Brandon was healthy and didn’t fall prey to what Zoe had planned.

Regardless, Brandon sold his mansion and changed all his bank information. He was much more careful about dating afterward.

What can we learn from this story?

• Don’t trust so easily. There are evil people worldwide, and some of them are even more motivated when it comes to money.
• Follow your instincts. Something about Zoe raised Brandon’s suspicions, so he came up with a plan to discover the truth. You don’t have to be that dramatic in real life, but your gut will usually reveal if something is off.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a woman who lost her son and discovered her daughter-in-law’s grave a year later.