Umoja estate had always viewed Esther as a model wife. She sang in the choir every Sunday. She organized women’s fellowship meetings. She and her husband, Peter, were considered stable and prayerful. Outwardly, their marriage looked peaceful. Privately, it was slowly drying out.
Peter had become distant over the past two years. Work consumed him. Conversations at home became short and functional. Romance disappeared. Esther felt unseen, unheard, and unappreciated. Instead of addressing the emotional gap directly, she buried her loneliness under church activities.
That is where she grew close to Pastor Daniel. He was charismatic. Soft-spoken. Always available to listen. At first, their interactions were innocent—late phone calls about ministry planning, long messages about spiritual growth, private check-ins after choir practice.
But emotional vulnerability slowly blurred boundaries. The conversations shifted. Compliments became personal.
Encouragement turned into flirtation.
Biblical discussions mixed with private confessions.
Esther convinced herself it was harmless. She told herself it was spiritual mentorship. Yet she began deleting chats immediately after reading them. She adjusted phone notifications. She placed passwords where none had existed before.
Peter noticed. Not because of suspicion at first, but because of distance. Esther smiled at her phone more than at him. She guarded it carefully. She stepped outside to answer certain calls. The breaking point came unexpectedly during a church fundraiser planning meeting hosted at their home.
