My husband went on a business trip to another city for a month

Beneath the soil and broken shards of the pot, something metallic caught the light.

I froze.

It wasn’t part of the cactus. It wasn’t even dirty. I crouched down, heart pounding, and brushed aside the soil. A small, black velvet pouch lay hidden beneath the cactus roots—tightly wrapped and sealed.

With trembling fingers, I picked it up and opened it.

Inside were several gold rings, a few rolled-up bills—foreign currency—and a tiny USB drive.

What in God’s name was this?

I sat on the floor, stunned. My mind raced. Why would John hide something like this inside a cactus? And why this cactus—his favorite, his “General”?

The USB drive was clean. Too clean. I rushed to my laptop and plugged it in. No password. Just one single folder.

Inside, dozens of scanned documents. Bank transfers, receipts, messages in different languages. And then… photos. Dozens of photos of John—taken in different countries, with different names. In some, he was clean-shaven. In others, he wore glasses or a beard. But it was him.

And in one, he was holding hands with a woman I had never seen before. Smiling.

My entire body went cold.

Was he… a criminal? A spy? Was our marriage even real?

I sat back, my breathing shallow, my head spinning.

I had no idea who the man I had married truly was.

But one thing was now certain:

He had secrets.

And somehow, I had just stumbled into the middle of something far bigger than a broken cactus.