Cheating. Infidelity. We see it so much in movies and even played out in the real lives of celebrities. Worse, we see it played out in the lives of regular people we know and love. There’s even a good chance that someone reading this right now has been in this horrible situation. The fact is, it happens in relationships and in marriage. Some people make mistakes and cheat, hurting the people they love the most. Oftentimes, the cheater ends up losing everything. Was it worth it? Rarely. Yet it still happens, so much so that it sometimes makes me wonder if monogamy is even truly possible. But then I see a real-life love story and I know that it is. In the story below, I start by feeling sorry for the man. I don’t blame him for being angry, and I don’t blame him for being vengeful. However, he goes beyond that. The way it all plays out is something I hope to never see in person. This is a must-read.
It Started Off Nearly Perfect
Every relationship has their hiccups, mistakes will be made, they could be big or small but hopefully, we can just get past them
That’s not always the case though. A few years ago a man went through quite the family drama. He, we’ll call him Jake, shared his story on Reddit.
Jake thought he and his wife were the perfect couple. They lived out in the suburbs, they were financially secure, nice and healthy, had great chemistry, with two amazing kids who were 9 and 14 years old.
The two had a good social life and Jake genuinely thought they were a happy couple. That was until they started going through some rough patches in their marriage.
But they were the perfect couple and this was just some typical married people problems, so they’d get through it, right?
That’s exactly what Jake was thinking…until he eventually caught on to something that seemed a bit strange.
His wife was spending a little more time than usual texting her “girlfriends.”
He Looked Into It And Found Nothing Good
At first, Jake didn’t think much of it. He thought they were stronger than the small bickering but even so, he started making an effort to be better.
He did everything he could to improve their relationship status by getting out of work when he could, helping around the house, being more emotionally available, and much more.
But nothing seemed to work for him. Jake thought he was taking the right steps but he realized the gulf between them just kept getting wider and wider and there was seemingly nothing he could do about it.
Then one day, while Jake was recharging an old iPad for his son to use, he stumbled across something not meant for his eyes.
The iPad was still logged into his wife’s Facebook account and the Messenger app was blowing up. He looked into it, and thought some of the messages were highly questionable.
The messages were between her and a guy from her hometown who Jake “fondly” refers to as “JimBobCooter” or “JBC” for short.
Jake analyzed the messages between his wife and JBC and, although some messages had clearly been deleted, he figured that even though the messages weren’t completely innocent, they weren’t enough to get too worked up about.
Jake made a mental note to keep an eye on it, but overall focus on his marriage and fixing what was broken.
The next day, Jake was doing all he could to find new ways to make his wife happy by doing some projects around the house and writing her sweet love notes to remind her how much he appreciated her and respected her.
All the while, instead of being impressed with Jake’s efforts, she was just sitting in the living room, texting her “girlfriends.”
Being naturally curious, Jake took his son’s iPad into his office to take a peek at what he’d seen earlier that week.
He opened up the Facebook messenger app, and sure enough, he started seeing some suspicious activity.
The Betrayal Was Heartbreaking
Jake watched, in real-time, as his wife betrayed him in multiple ways. She and this man he didn’t even know talked about Jake as if he was the scum of the earth.
They were making fun of him, pointing out his flaws. His wife was even exploiting his insecurities and his deepest secrets that were told in total confidentiality to this mystery man.
She continued digging even deeper and just when he thought it couldn’t get any worse, they started incorporating a provocative undertone to their messages.
It got even worse when his wife and JBC started talking about Jake’s bedroom performance and they were definitely not the kindest of reviews.
This was devastating for Jake to read, to say the least, but Jake had to think of a plan, something to help his situation.
He couldn’t do much so he started taking some screenshots here and there. He couldn’t get the entire conversation because his wife was deleting them as soon as she sent them.
Jake knew he couldn’t confront his wife, not yet.
The wound was fresh and it was too much to handle, so he stayed in a separate room until his wife fell asleep, had a couple of drinks, and started thinking of a plan.
He Had To Face The Music
Jake decided to take off work the next day. He spent it doing some soul searching, drinking, and figuring out what his next move should be.
When his wife came home, she started asking what was wrong and if everything was ok. Jake simply said he had a bad day and she left it at that.
Unconcerned with her husband, she went straight to her phone and started talking to JBC again. As it happened, Jake recalled, “[I] began a couple of solid weeks of taking screenshots, drinking and detaching myself from the relationship.
I knew there was no going back from this. The messages were now overtly flirtatious with my wife completely into it, and JBC was sprinkling in ‘I love you’s.'”
That was it for Jake, no more waiting around for a plan, he had to take some action.
He contacted his lawyer and decided to start making moves with this issue. That’s where things started to get surreal for Jake.
He Knew Their Plans, So He Needed His Own
As Jake watched the messages, he found out that JBC was coming in town with the intention of spending some quality time with Jake’s wife.
They had a beautifully elaborate plan, they were going to stay in a nice hotel and have a wonderful weekend filled with infidelity.
Through the messenger, he was able to figure just exactly where and when his wife and this man would be meeting up.
The very next day, Jake’s wife started telling him about her plans for the weekend.
Except she was saying she needed a spa weekend with the girls, she said she needed to relax and have some time to herself.
Jake went along with it. He said it was a great idea and that she deserved this time. They agreed that after her spa weekend, they would work on their marriage.
Knowing that this was all a bunch of bull, Jake agreed with it and said he’d do whatever was necessary to get their marriage back on track.
Jake’s wife was clueless about his awareness and was happy as can be thinking she had just about pulled it off.
Little did she know, right after their talk, Jake went off to meet with the lawyers.
He spoke with the lawyers to draft the perfect separation agreement.
It said she’d move out, only get weekend visitation, and no child support in the interim until the divorce was finalized.
After meeting with the lawyers, all of his feelings toward his wife had vanished, he was officially over the emotions of betrayal.
Instead, he just saw red. His anger grew into something he’d never felt before. The weeks leading up to his wife’s weekend getaway were a blur of seething anger, but he tried to keep it cool to prepare for what was coming next.
He Started Taking Care Of Business
The day finally arrived. Jake decided not to go into work so he could focus on what was at hand. He withdrew half of the money from all their joint accounts, he left her half alone, and redirected his paycheck to a new bank.
He closed their money market account and got a cashiers check for her half and deposited his into his new account.
He stopped by a printing shop and printed off around 75 pages of the Facebook messenger chats. He ran around finalizing the details, avoiding being at home where she was.
Eventually, she left. She told him she loves him and he told her to enjoy the weekend and to have fun.
Jake waited around and by 8:30 pm, he decided it was time to go to the hotel and confront the issue head-on.
That’s When It All Went Down
He got to the hotel and called his wife’s phone from the lobby. It went straight to voicemail. Jake’s mind started racing, he thought she and JBC are already going at it.
He tried to forget all of that as he went up to the front desk and asked to use the phone and for it to be it connected to JBC’s room.
After it rings three times, JBC finally picked up.
JBC: “Hello?”
Jake: “JBC, can you send my wife down to the lobby please?”
JBC: “I don’t know what you’re talking about, bro.”
Jake: “Ok then. I guess I’ll have to call Mrs. JBC and get her down here.
(Totally a bluff. I knew he was married, and I knew her first name but that was it.)”
JBC: (Inaudible, shuffling, panic)
Jake: “You got five minutes.” Click.
After this call, his wife came down the elevator, confused and concerned about what’s awaiting her.
Jake sat her down in the corner of the lobby and his wife started trying to make excuses. He wanted nothing to do with that.
He started explaining how things were going to be, “I’m not here to argue.
The things that are said in this pile of papers are what’s going on. The only way I’m not giving a copy of this to our daughter, your parents and emailing it to everyone we know is if you move out immediately.”
His wife was very prideful, their daughter was going through a rebellious teen phase and if she knew what her mom did, it would’ve forever killed their relationship.
His wife was also her parents’ golden child and she always worried about what they thought of her and her professional life depended completely on her reputation.
Jake knew the only leverage he had was to pull this shame card, so that’s exactly what he did.
She started crying and saying things that made no sense.
Jake kept on going, though. He gave her a check for half of the money in their accounts, told her that he already split up everything for them, and explained that she would have enough money to get her own place away from him and the kids.
She started crying even more, but Jake wasn’t having any of it.
She Tried To Fix Her Faults, But It Was Too Late
He gave her the separation agreement, and he stated that it was more than fair considering her infidelity.
He demanded that she sign it and move out of the house as soon as her weekend was over. Before she could argue, he brought up the screenshots again so he could play the guilt card one more time.
He left it at that. He simply told her to enjoy the weekend and walked out, and heard her breakdown in the background.
Jake made it out the door and into his car before he had a breakdown of his own.
Throughout the weekend, she kept trying to call him, asked him to talk, but he wanted nothing to do with her.
Eventually, the weekend ended. She signed the agreement and started moving out of the house. She explained to the kids that Mom and Dad just needed some time apart, that they still loved them, and all other aspects of a “standard divorce talk.”
After about a week, she wanted to have a real talk.
Jake had figured out what he wanted and agreed to speak with her. Except Jake had some ulterior motives to this meeting that his wife didn’t know about in the slightest.
He’d Get Even If It Was The Last Thing He’d Do
She said she was sorry, she wanted another chance to be with Jake and her family and how she’d do anything.
Jake had zero intentions of ever taking her back, but he decided this was where his revenge would come into play.
He said she should set up marriage counseling that worked with his schedule.
Jake explained he couldn’t live with her but she should be around to keep the relationship going with the kids.
So she came by to the house to cook and clean and take care of the kids and normal house chores, but then would go back to her place at the end of the day.
He was completely using her in her vulnerable state. They continued to go to therapy but Jake was determined to stay the victim and he intentionally blamed all problems on her.
He wasn’t ever going to give her a chance, all he wanted was to kill time, to establish himself as the primary caregiver to the kids and he made sure she didn’t have residency in the house.
After six months of couple therapy, personal therapy, and many conversations, Jake finally broke it to her that for once and for all, he needed a divorce.
But to keep her still a bit interested, he said she was still the love of his life and that someday he might give it another try.
She was heartbroken but agreed thinking that they still had a chance in the future. But that wasn’t enough for Jake.
He needed the kids to be on his side as well and he had quite the plan to ensure that would happen.
He Just Had To Get The Kids Involved
Jake started leaving his computer open with a Google search with articles up titled, “How To Survive Your Wife’s Infidelity.”
He even began to print some out and leave them on the kitchen counter only slightly hidden in a fairly obvious attempt for the kids to see it.
Eventually, his daughter found it, was clearly distraught, and came crying to her father. Jake told her she “wasn’t supposed to see that,” explained that her mother made a mistake, and even though all this had happened, he’d still be there for her.
He was playing the nice dad card, so that she would chose her dad’s side over her mom’s. Jake’s daughter couldn’t look at her mother the same way ever again.
She would scream any time they talked and ended up despising her mother. Eventually, his son felt the same way, and when the court date came around, the kids said they wanted to stay with their father.
Things were going exactly how Jake planned.
He Got Exactly What He Wanted, And No One Knew
Eventually, the divorce was finalized. Jake got the house, the kids, and generous child support since he switched to part-time during this experience.
For two years now, Jake has been able to live in his house with his kids, work part-time, have his ex subsidize his income, and whenever she has the kids for the weekend, he has some women come over for some pleasurable evenings.
To his kids, he’s the perfect dad who was kind and always took the high road.
To his ex-wife, he was the one that got away. She even tries to get back together with him every once and a while, and he pretends to indulge that request just so she’ll come over for an evening every once and a while for a little nookie.
But Jake knows that they will never reconcile.
Jake figured out how get exactly what he wanted out of a terrible situation by manipulating his wife, his kids, and anyone else along the way.
She did hurt him and betrayed his trust, but were his actions truly justified? We’re not so sure if he deserved that nice guy reputation after knowing the true intentions behind his actions.
What do you think? Was he in the right for reacting how he did? Should he have given her another chance or at the very least left the kids out of it?
