I found hotel receipts in my husband’s car, which told me a painful truth, but Karma was very mean to him.
It feels like I’ve lived with my husband Derek for a very long time. We’ve built a house together, raised two kids, and woven our lives together so tightly that we share everything, even our bank accounts and daily plans. We even made a prenuptial agreement to avoid any nasty fights if we decide to break up, which is very rare. We didn’t do it because we don’t trust each other. I thought that I would never need it.
Derek has always been dedicated to his family. He balances his duties at home with his job as a well-liked sales representative at a big company. Up until lately, he has always put our family first, even though his job requires him to travel a lot and meet new people.
After about a month, I began to notice that he was taking more and more unpleasant work trips. He seemed to be leaving town almost every week. Sometimes he would leave town twice in one week. Even with all of these trips, Derek never said that he was missing a lot of work because he had taken on new clients or there were big changes at work.
This change in his habits interested and worried me. Derek usually cleaned his own car, but I did it for him one weekend while he went to see a friend.
As I vacuumed the inside and cleaned the dashboard, I found a stack of receipts tucked away in the glove box. My hands shook a little when I opened them and saw how much a hotel room in our town cost. The dates on these receipts exactly matched the days he said he was on work trips.
The first thing that came to mind was how to make sense of these results. There could have been a good reason, like an error with the bills, or he could have been helping a friend who was having problems. Even though I wanted to ignore my growing questions, they were already taking root in my mind.
I paid more attention to Derek’s movements because I was determined to figure out what was going on. I began to keep track of when he left the house and where he said he was going for work.
I looked very carefully and picked up any receipts I could find, whether they were strewn around in his pockets or left behind in his car. Most of them were normal, daily activities, but every once in a while, there would be one more hotel bill. Each one made my heart race a little.
This trend kept happening, and with each receipt, my nerves got worse. The more I learned, the better the pieces fit together to make a picture that scared me.
In spite of all the proof, I still hadn’t told Derek about my worries. It was hard for me to ignore the thought that my partner might be lying to me, but I knew I had to find a way to deal with these questions.
Over the next few days, the heavy dread that seemed to fill our home persisted. Derek’s coming and going was much less reliable, and the reasons he gave got worse every day. When he said, “I need to leave right away,” I would nod and act like I didn’t hear him. But deep down, I was getting more and more sceptical and angry.
I chose to follow him one night because I was sick of hearing lies. As he ran out of the house, he barely had time to say goodbye. As soon as I felt safe enough, I carefully got into my car and followed him from a safe distance.
It made my heart beat faster every time he made a turn, which made me more scared. He didn’t go to the office or any other business area; instead, he drove into the hotel parking lot and found the papers there.
A little ways away, I parked and went to the entrance to blend in with the crowd. I was able to stay out of sight by hiding in a quiet area near the lifts.
It didn’t take long for me to see Derek, my husband and the father of my children, walking with a woman. As they laughed and caressed each other’s arms, they gave me a long, intense hug. It broke my heart.
Being so close to them and seeing them together was almost too much to handle at first. My hands were shaking from sadness, shock, and anger. I came out from cover and faced them because I felt a rush of adrenaline. Their faces showed a lot of different feelings, like fear, guilt, and shock. Even though Derek stumbled and tried to explain, I wasn’t interested in hearing him.
Over the next few days, there were a lot of fights, sobs, and admissions. Derek thought that they were really together, but it turned out that the woman was more than just a fling.
But the worst betrayal was when a friend we both had told me that she had lied to him soon after we broke up. She faked that they were starting a new life together by getting Derek to open a shared account. Out of the blue, she took all of his money and ran away, leaving him broke and sad.
This discovery did not make me happy. Instead, there was a fake sense of relief mixed with a deep sadness over the chaos that had surrounded what used to be a single family. Derek was a broken man who had been lied to by someone he trusted, just like he had been to me.
As soon as we broke up, I realised I needed to think again about everything that had happened. As I thought about how Derek’s actions had hurt our marriage and our family’s finances, our home felt different and empty. Before, the prenup seemed like a simple safety measure. Now, it seemed like a planned safety net that would protect what little of me was left for our kids’ future.
We lost our marriage because of Derek’s cheating and the scam that followed. It also broke him totally. It was very ironic that he was tricked in the same way that he had tricked me. In spite of everything, I couldn’t help but feel bad for him because he was the man I used to love very much.
As I stand in the empty living room where we used to share it, I can see how bad the betrayal was and how it has changed my life forever. It won’t be easy, but going forward is necessary. Derek, our kids, and I will all need a long time to get better, but I can start by coming out of the shadow of lying and taking back my life day by day.
What would you have done if your partner had been cheating on you?
Here’s another story about a woman who was having doubts about her marriage and found out something shocking.
I didn’t like cooking, but my husband started taking classes in it, and when I found out why in secret, my heart stopped.
Daniel and I have been married for about two years, and our sweet little girl has just started chewing. Things were going well until Daniel started acting differently, which made me question that he would stay with our family.
Daniel usually stays out of the kitchen, but one night he shocked me by bringing home freshly baked cornbread. He claimed that he made it himself and kept bringing more home during the week, which made him always late for home. His being late and his obvious interest in baking made me suspicious.
I chose to follow him when he quickly left the house one day, saying he was going to his cooking class. Instead of driving off, he walked straight to our neighbour Alice’s house, where she gave him a friendly hug. It made me wonder if the cornbread was really just a cover for something less honest.
Daniel later said that I had told him on our fourth date that cornbread could help kids who are chewing. The note that he made and kept for nine years was proof of this. He admitted that Alice had taught him how to make cornbread to help our daughter while she was growing. He made it clear that Alice was only helping him improve the recipe and that they had become close.
The cornbread helped our daughter sleep better and eased the pain of her chewing. To me, what seemed like treason at first was actually Daniel’s thoughtful way of raising our daughter by remembering something from the start of our relationship. This new understanding improved the close bond our family has built on love and good deeds, and it made me value him more.
