Shards Of A Broken Mind
an excerpt

I left in a hurry and took every cell phone in the house with me. As of that point, Jess had zero tools to contact the outside world, which is how I wanted it. I jumped into the car and drove out to the hotel where Jess and her lover had met so many times before. When I finally got to the address of the place in question, I was a bit disappointed. I was expecting some sleazy, pay by the hour joint that prostitutes use for their clientele. It was a fancy place and while not a five star it was something that I am sure cost a few pennies to book since it didn’t clock by the hour. Working with the intel I got from previous messages they passed around, I went up the stairs to the third floor and walked up to room five. I strolled up to the door and casually knocked. There was no answer, I knocked again but this time harder. There still wasn’t any answer so I took out a few tools and picked the lock open. It worked well enough as I was able to open the door, thankful the hotel wasn’t fancy enough to have those rooms that use a key card to open them. After I was inside, I realized that the room was spotless which meant I was the first to get there. The other man hadn’t arrived yet, but I was willing to wait for him. There was a good strategic blind spot that I moved a chair over to and I proceeded to sit down and wait, watching the door for signs of life. While I was waiting, one of the cell phones in my pocket buzzed, and I checked to see the message. It was Jess’ phone and the message was from tonight’s boy toy, Simon:

"On my way, can’t wait to see you."

If I didn’t have the inspiration I needed to go through with it, that text message was all I needed to reaffirm myself and keep waiting. I waited for what seemed like endless hours but turned out to only be twenty-three minutes before something happened. The door started to rattle, and eventually opened. I stood up but was shielded by the doors blind spot as the man took a few steps in and tossed his coat on the bed. He was carrying a bottle of wine and some flowers, but they were wasted because I knew Jess wasn’t going to be there today. Simon didn’t, and he had another surprise waiting for him. Since I didn’t do as much gambling as I thought I would in Vegas, I found a better way to spend that extra ten grand while I still had time left to do so. I went out and bought an illegal handgun from the back of some homey’s truck and even tossed in an extra grand for home made silencer. I pulled the firearm out of my trench coat and kicked the door shut. Before the man could react or say a single word, I raised the gun to eye level to give him the real impression of what kind of shit he was knee deep in. I raised my other hand, and made that shush gesture a librarian would make and then motioned for him to take a seat in the chair on the other end of the room. The man was literally scared shitless at the sight of a silenced automatic hand cannon pointing at his head, so he quietly did as he was told and took a seat.

Once seated, I took out two pairs of handcuffs and tossed the first one over to him, “Cuff yourself to the chair, one on your wrist and the other end on the arm of the chair.” the man didn’t hesitate to do it and I walked over to tighten the cuff to make sure both ends were secure. Then I took the second pair and cuffed his other arm down as well. After that I walked over to the trench coat and searched it. First thing I found was the man’s wallet, and I spent the first few minutes looking for verification. That came with the discovery of his driver’s license, which said his name was Simon Neegle. I dropped the wallet and then looked through his coat again, and pulled out his cell phone. With that I looked up his messages and found the ones from Jess, which confirmed beyond a reasonable doubt that I had the right man. This indeed was the home wrecker that was having an affair with my wife. I tossed the cell back onto the bed and then walked back to the door, and locked it. After that I took a seat on the chair located on the other side of the room and stared back at him, with the gun lying on my lap, “Do you know who I am?” I casually asked, wondering if he had any idea what was going on.

“I have no fucking idea.” Simon managed to spit out, obviously afraid for his very life. I could only imagine how he felt, strapped to a chair and being held captive, “Who are you?”

“I’m Hardy Smyth.” I replied with not a care in the world about what he knew, “I’m Jess’ husband.”

“Does she know you’re here waiting for us?” Simon quickly asked.

“No, she doesn’t.” I quietly answered, “Your messages were falling on deaf ears. Jess will not be joining us tonight.” I raised my hand to reveal her cell phone. He quickly realized that no one else was coming and hung his head down, defeated and not looking forward to what could be coming next, “Tell me Mr. Neegle.” I said to him trying my best not to sound like a villain from a spy movie, “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t gun you down right here and now for sticking your nose where it didn’t belong?” To emphasize the point I raised the barrel of the hand cannon to point at him or at least look like it was pointing at him.

Simon seemed to be cracking early under the pressure and started to tear up, “I have a family of my own. I have kids.”

“So do I!” I roared at Simon as I kicked over my chair and this time pointed the gun at him from less than two feet away, “What gives you the right to fuck around with that kid’s life as well as your own kids’ lives by going out here every now and then trying to hook up with an extra piece of ass? Didn’t you ever think there might be consequences for your actions?” Simon tried to say something but I wouldn’t let him as I used my free hand to send a hard left hook that cracked him on the side of the head. I gave him a few more punches just to get it out of my system, and tossed in a swift open hand on his cheek just for a little added humiliation. I walked over to the night table beside him and took the phone off the hook, making sure we were going to have complete privacy. I wasn’t expected back anytime soon, so I had all the time to get the satisfaction I required from confronting the man who was ruining my marriage and my life, “What do you have to say for yourself?” it was a rhetorical question, but I was curious to see what kind of excuses this man was going to try to make for what was clearly inexcusable.

Instead of bumbling for the excuses, he looked back up with a sincere look on his face, “I’m sorry.”

I believed him. He seemed genuinely sorry for what he did, especially since it was the reason why he was strapped to a chair and not sure whether he was going to make it out of this room alive. I knew that he was thinking about his own family and what they might think if they knew were he was right about now. There were so many things going through my mind over what I should do with the poor bloke. I could leave him gagged and tied up for the whole night. I doubt he was going to be here very long with Jess and his people back home would be furious if he didn’t return tonight. Then the other option was to kick his ass to the point where he needed to be hospitalized, but that wasn’t any good either. He would just give the police my name and I’d spend what little time I had left rooting in a small cell. If I was going to risk incarceration, I was going to go all out since I really didn’t have anyone to answer to. Not like any society could try to stick a needle in my arm for this, I was already on death’s door and on my way out. The thought of this bed being used time in and time out behind my back was the image the kept flashing through my mind, fueling the anger I needed to do what I had come here to do. I stood up, turned off the safety and pointed the hand cannon in Simon’s direction for the last time, “Good bye Simon.” he tried to scream but it was too late. I pulled the trigger and as I did I could feel the vibration of the pistol as its metal projectile fired from the barrel and tore into Simon’s chest. I fired four more times, each shot hitting around the same area the first bullet hit. I stood there and watched as Simon took his last breath and was gone as his very existence was snuffed out in a matter of seconds. This was the closest he would ever get to my wife again and it served him right for making a mockery of my marriage...