As I walked toward my car in the underground parking garage of the building where I worked, a bloodcurdling scream shattered the silence. I turned around, startled, and saw a homeless boy, thin, with dirty clothes and wide eyes, running straight toward me. Lucas, my bodyguard, reacted immediately and grabbed him by the arms. But the boy, trembling as if he were about to collapse, screamed again with such real panic that it chilled me to the bone:

— Don’t drive! Your wife… cut the brakes!

I froze. I’m David Mercer, a tech entrepreneur, and I’d been waging a silent war with my wife, Helena, for months. Our marriage had deteriorated beyond recognition. Constant arguments, cold stares, accusations. But… her? Pulling the brakes? It was too absurd, even for our worst moment.

“Sir, he’s just a kid looking for attention,” Lucas said, trying to shoo him away.

But the boy continued to struggle, with tears sliding down his dirty cheeks.

—I saw her! I saw the blonde woman in the beige coat! She had a tool and she was under your car! Please don’t get in!

My heart skipped a beat. Helena was wearing a beige coat. One she usually wore for “going for a walk and clearing her head.”

I took a deep breath, trying to regain my composure. Maybe it was a coincidence. Maybe the boy had mistaken someone for someone else. Maybe… maybe he was just after money.

But something in his eyes—a fear so pure—prevented me from ignoring it. I approached, looked at his face, his trembling hands, and felt a twinge of doubt. What if he wasn’t lying?

Lucas shook his head, clearly annoyed.

—Sir, let me take him outside. He’s making things up.

But when I looked at my car, parked just a few meters away, my adrenaline surged like a jolt. If what she said was true… one more step could be fatal.

And then, suddenly, the boy screamed again, this time with a desperation that echoed throughout the parking lot:

— She wants you to die today!

The phrase pierced my chest. Her voice broke. Her tears. And the possibility—however small—that Helena had truly crossed an irreparable line…

I took the first step towards the car… with my heart hammering as if it wanted to escape from my body.

And at that moment, something metallic flashed under the bumper.

I ducked cautiously, ignoring Lucas’s insistent “Sir, don’t come any closer.” I grabbed my phone, turned on the flashlight, and shone it under the car. My hands started sweating when I saw traces of fresh grease on the ground. My breathing became heavy. I knew nothing about mechanics, but this… this wasn’t normal.

“Check the brakes,” I ordered Lucas, who seemed more irritated than worried.

—Sir, this doesn’t make sense. This is absurd. Let me call building security. You don’t have to—

“Check them!” I shouted, louder than I intended.

Lucas cursed under his breath, but obeyed. He searched for the car’s emergency kit and began to inspect it. The boy, still nervous, stood against the wall, breathing heavily.

Barely thirty seconds had passed when Lucas, the most skeptical man I knew, stepped back as if he had seen a ghost.

“Mr. Mercer…” he swallowed. “The brakes are… tampered with. Precisely cut.”

The feeling of emptiness that washed over me was brutal. I leaned against the car as my mind filled with images of Helena: her cold stare in recent weeks, her sudden obsession with “dividing assets,” the arguments about the family business, the money… her growing resentment.

The boy took a step forward, his voice trembling:

—I… I just wanted to help. I saw everything. She arrived in a black car, looked around, bent down, cut something… and drove off quickly. I followed her because I thought… I thought something bad was going to happen.

My throat closed up. Had Helena gone this far?

But he needed proof. And he needed to confront her.

I went up to my office, leaving the car untouched, with Lucas and the boy keeping watch. The parking garage cameras recorded everything. If Helena had been there, it would be on record. I took control of the system, advanced to the time the boy had indicated… and there she was. Impossible to deny the silhouette. The beige coat. The blonde hair pulled back. The hands manipulating the underside of my car with a silver tool.

I felt the betrayal pierce me like a slow stab.

That woman… the one who once swore to love me… had condemned me to death as if I were a burden.

I didn’t wait any longer. I rushed downstairs. I had to talk to her. I had to understand what drove her to such extremes. Money? Envy? Revenge? Madness?

But when I returned to the parking lot, Helena was already there. She had arrived before I knew it. She was standing by the car, looking at the child… as if she knew perfectly well who had betrayed her.

Her gaze rose towards me. Cold. Empty.

—David— she said. We need to talk.

The silence became unbearable. The boy instinctively backed away, hiding behind Lucas. Without thinking, I stepped between Helena and them. She looked at me as if she didn’t understand why I was doing it.

“So… talk?” I said, my voice tense. “Before or after you kill me?”

His expression didn’t change. Not a hint of guilt.

—It’s not what you think.

“No?” I took a step forward. “The cameras recorded you. You cut my car’s brakes. I was going to get in. I was going to die, Helena.”

She took a deep breath and looked away for the first time.

—It wasn’t for you.

The answer left me speechless.

—What the hell does that mean?

“David, you use that car… but your brother uses it too when he comes to visit you. He took millions from the company. He lied to me. He betrayed me. He destroyed people who trusted him…” Her voice cracked slightly. “I just wanted him to pay.”

I was speechless. It was true that my brother had committed fraud. I was investigating it myself. But killing someone… my own wife justifying murder as if it were a routine matter?

“What if I had gotten in the car?” I asked, already exhausted.

Helena looked me in the eyes, and for the first time I noticed something akin to fear.

—I knew it wasn’t your turn to drive today. You had a driver assigned to you.

” I FIRED THE DRIVER YESTERDAY!” I exploded. “You didn’t know! Your plan could have killed me!”

She opened her lips, but no words came out. It was clear she hadn’t considered that possibility. Or perhaps she didn’t care.

The police arrived within minutes, alerted by building security after reviewing the cameras. When Helena saw the officers approaching, she knew it was all over. She didn’t try to escape. She didn’t cry. She just looked at me with a sickening calm as they handcuffed her.

“I did it for us,” he whispered.

But I no longer saw the woman I married. I only saw someone capable of destroying a life… even my own.

The shy boy approached and tugged at my jacket.

—Sir… will he be alright?

I bent down and put a hand on his shoulder.

—Thanks to you… I’m alive.

The police took her away. Lucas called the press and lawyers. And I stayed there, in the middle of the parking lot, trying to process how my life had changed in a single afternoon.

Sometimes, betrayal doesn’t come from an enemy. It comes from home.

And now that you’ve reached the end…
what would you have done in my place? Would you have believed the child from the start?
Tell me, I want to read your opinion.