My husband brought his “work wife” on our anniversary trip to Hawaii.

I grabbed my phone and started recording video of him from where I sat, capturing his voice and his presence at the door.

I didn’t respond or move toward the door at all; I just kept filming while he knocked and called out for another five minutes.

After he finally left, I immediately texted Josephine and sent her the video file, explaining what happened and what time it occurred.

She responded within ten minutes, saying this was a clear violation and she would add it to our documentation for the court.

Late that night, after my friend went to bed, I opened a blank document on my laptop and started writing about everything that happened.

I wasn’t planning to share it with anyone or post it online; I just needed to get my thoughts organized and clear in my own mind.

I wrote about the airport, the hotel room, waking up at 2:00 in the morning, and serving the divorce papers in the conference room.

I wrote down a new rule for myself in bold letters at the bottom of the page: no defending my choices to people who weren’t there.

No explaining what I saw or felt to anyone except through proper legal channels. Just facts and evidence and letting the documentation speak for itself.

Thursday morning, I drove to the office building where Jerry worked and met Ronan in a windowless conference room on the third floor.

A compliance officer sat next to him with a laptop open and ready to take notes on everything I said.

They asked me to walk through the entire Hawaii trip from the beginning, and I stuck to specific facts and timeline details without adding emotional commentary or crying, even though my throat felt tight the whole time.

Ronan asked detailed questions about when Jerry first mentioned having a work wife.

He asked when I noticed the restaurant reservation had been changed to three people and the exact wording Jerry used when booking the couple’s massage for himself and Sasha.

I answered each question directly and watched the compliance officer type everything into her laptop.

They asked about every single charge on the company card, and I provided the dates, amounts, and the descriptions Jerry had entered for each one.

The interview lasted almost two hours, and by the end, my hands were cramped from gripping the edge of my chair.

That afternoon, Ronan sent me an email asking me to provide the original photo files with full metadata intact and copies of the credit card statements showing each charge.

I logged into my cloud storage and downloaded everything to a folder, then uploaded the files to the secure portal link he provided.

The progress bar moved slowly as the photos and documents transferred, and I sat there watching it climb to 100% while feeling completely exposed but also determined to see this through the right way.

Friday morning, Josephine called to tell me that Sebastian Paige, Jerry’s attorney, had filed a motion claiming I was causing reputational harm by making private marital issues public in his workplace.

She said not to worry because she was already preparing a detailed response explaining that company card fraud and workplace boundary violations were legitimate compliance concerns, not private marital disputes.

She told me the motion was a standard defensive tactic and the judge would see right through it.

Tuesday afternoon, I drove to Janelle’s office for my first therapy session and sat in a chair across from her while she asked me about what brought me in.

I told her about Hawaii and the conference room and everything that happened since, and she listened without interrupting or looking shocked.

She taught me some grounding techniques for when I felt my anxiety spike, like focusing on five things I could see and four things I could touch.

We talked about the gaslighting patterns in Jerry’s behavior over the past year—how he’d been slowly convincing me that my reactions were crazy when they were actually normal responses to real violations.

She said my reaction wasn’t excessive or unreasonable, that anyone would find what happened devastating, and my choice to leave was completely valid.

I left her office feeling raw but also lighter, like someone had finally confirmed that I wasn’t making this bigger than it needed to be.

That evening, while going through old message threads for the legal file, I found texts from late at night where Sasha mocked me to Jerry.

She called me uptight and boring, said I didn’t understand modern workplace culture, and that successful people had different relationship rules.

She joked about me being jealous and said Jerry deserved someone who appreciated him properly.

I read through the messages twice to make sure I understood them correctly, then forwarded the entire thread to both Josephine and Ronan with a brief note explaining when these were sent.

This wasn’t just about the company card anymore; this was evidence that both of them knew exactly what they were doing and thought it was funny that I didn’t catch on sooner.

Thursday morning, my phone rang with Ronan’s number, and I picked up immediately.

He told me that Sasha filed a formal counter-complaint claiming I created a hostile work environment by publicly exposing her relationship with Jerry in front of senior leadership.

I felt my gut twist but stayed quiet while he explained the process.

He said this was a standard defensive move that HR sees all the time when someone gets caught violating policy.

Josephine called me back within twenty minutes after I texted her about the counter-complaint, and she sounded completely calm.

She explained that Sasha’s complaint wouldn’t hold up because my actions were reporting legitimate financial misconduct, not targeting her personally.

The company card misuse was real, documented, and my business to report since Jerry used marital assets and company resources.

She told me not to worry—that this was exactly the kind of predictable response she expected from someone trying to shift blame.

Over the next week, Josephine worked on crafting detailed responses that clearly separated my personal divorce issues from the workplace policy violations Jerry committed.

She showed me drafts where she outlined how the company card fraud was a compliance matter, not a marital dispute, and how my report to HR followed proper channels for financial misconduct.

She explained that keeping these two lanes completely separate protected me from looking vindictive while still holding the company accountable for real violations.

I read through her responses three times, noting how carefully she worded everything to focus on facts and policy rather than emotions or revenge.

The following Tuesday, we went to court for the temporary orders hearing.

I sat in the hallway outside the courtroom for forty minutes watching other cases get called while my hands shook in my lap.

When our turn came, I followed Josephine into the courtroom and sat at the table while she presented our requests for mutual restraining orders and temporary spousal support.

Jerry’s attorney argued that I was being unreasonable and vindictive—that Jerry needed access to marital funds for his own legal fees and living expenses.

The judge listened to both sides without much expression, then granted mutual restraining orders prohibiting either of us from contacting each other except through attorneys.

She set temporary spousal support at $800 a month, which was way less than I’d hoped for but enough to help with basic expenses.

Josephine whispered that this was actually pretty standard for temporary orders and we could push for more in the final settlement.

I left the courthouse feeling like I had some protection and breathing room, even if it wasn’t everything I wanted.