I was cleaning the den when an email caught my attention. It was addressed to my husband, Adam, from an apartment complex, and it mentioned shutting off the hot water for repairs. I was puzzled because we own our home and haven’t rented in over a decade. The email seemed out of place, and I couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was off.
When I confronted Adam about the email, he brushed it off as a mistake. But I wasn’t convinced. The email had his full name spelled correctly, and there was no unit number mentioned. The complex was only a short drive from our home, and my curiosity was piqued.
I confided in my best friend, Stacy, and she agreed to help me get to the bottom of things. We came up with a plan to call the apartment complex, posing as a delivery driver, to get the apartment number. When we arrived at the complex, we knocked on the door, and a young woman answered. She looked frightened and quickly closed the door when we asked about Adam.
We were shocked and upset, and I couldn’t hold back tears. Stacy was equally stunned, and we both struggled to process what we had just seen. We noticed three more women and children inside the apartment, and the woman who answered the door looked terrified.
As we left the complex, Stacy suggested that I contact a lawyer, but I wasn’t ready to jump to conclusions. I wanted to talk to Adam and get some answers. Stacy offered to drive with me to confront him, and I accepted.
When we arrived, Adam was visibly worried. He asked if I had gone to the apartment, and I confronted him about what I had seen. He took a deep breath and began to explain that he had always dreamed of having a large family with multiple wives. He admitted that he had been living a double life and that the women and children I saw were part of that life.
I was devastated. I felt like my world had been turned upside down. Adam’s admission that he had been using company money to fund his secret life only added to my anger and hurt. I realized that I had been living a lie, and I knew that I couldn’t stay in the marriage.
As I packed up our son and left, I felt a mix of sadness and relief. The man I thought I knew was gone, replaced by a stranger with secrets too deep to forgive. I contacted a lawyer and filed for divorce and full custody of our children, determined to protect them from the pain and confusion that Adam’s actions had caused.
