My Husband Left Me With His Dying Mother For A “business Trip,” But I Found Photos Of Him In Miami With Another Woman. He Thinks He’s Inheriting Everything, But My Mother-in-law Left It All To Me. How Do I Break The News?

The Mistress’s Offer

Two days later, after the divorce was finalized, I received a call from an unknown number. On the other end, a shaky, hesitant female voice, very different from the arrogant tone in the photos I had seen. It was Natalie, Michael’s mistress.

She wanted to meet me in a discrete coffee shop in a quiet alley. She said she had something life-or-death to discuss with me about Michael.

When I arrived, Natalie was already there. She was hunched inside an oversized coat, her subtle makeup failing to hide her haggard look and the deep dark circles under her eyes. When she saw me, she looked down, wringing her hands nervously.

She looked like a drowned, helpless kitten, not the queen who had stolen another woman’s husband. I sat down across from her and got straight to the point. “What do you want? If you have come to show off your trophy, you are too late. I have already gifted him to you.”

Natalie looked up, her eyes red and filled with tears. She shook her head. “No, it is not that, Sophia. I want to tell you the truth. I am not pregnant. It was a lie. It was all a charade to force Michael to marry me and get money out of him.”

Although I had suspected it, hearing it from her own lips sent a chill down my spine at the terrifying calculus of human beings. I smiled bitterly. “Oh really? And now that he is broke and drowning in debt, since there is nothing left to get, you are trying to back out?”

“No!” Natalie nodded frantically, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I know I was wrong. I thought he was rich, but he turned out to be just a fraud living off the money he got from you and your family. Now some loan sharks are after him for gambling debts. I am afraid it will splash onto me. I want to leave him, but he will not let me go. He is threatening to post intimate photos of me if I leave.”

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, and lowered her voice, looking around cautiously. “Sophia, I know Michael is planning to hurt you. He is working with a sleazy lawyer to sue you for fraud and for abusing his mother. He has faked messages and manipulated photos to discredit you so he can claim the inheritance and force you to share his debts.”

I gripped the handle of my purse tightly. Rage consumed me. Michael had truly lost all humanity. After deceiving me for years, he now wanted to corner me with the vilest tactics.

Natalie slid a piece of paper across the table with a bank account number on it. “I have proof. I have secretly recorded his calls with the lawyer, and I know the password to his computer where he keeps all his dirty laundry. I will sell you all the evidence for $3,000. I need the money to pay off a debt and start over somewhere else. With this, he will not be able to do anything to you.”

I looked at the young woman before me with a mixture of bitterness and pity. She was also a victim of her own pragmatism and superficiality, trapped in a spiral of money, and now she had to betray her lover to escape. $3,000 was not a small amount, but compared to my safety and honor, it was worth it.

“All right,” I replied dryly, “but first I need to see the merchandise. If the information is valid, the money will be in your account instantly.”

Trembling, Natalie connected a small black flash drive to my laptop. She moved quickly, as if trying to get rid of the burden as soon as possible. On the screen, several folders with strange names appeared. Natalie opened them one by one.

Irrefutable Evidence

First, the call recordings. Michael’s voice, clear and full of resentment: “My wife is an idiot. A couple of threats and she will get scared. Prepare the lawsuit for abusing my mother to death. Add the photos I doctored the other day. I have to get that house back one way or another, or the loan sharks will skin me alive.”

My blood boiled. I had shared my life, sacrificed everything for this man, and to him I was just a pawn, a fool to be used and trampled on.

Then came the files of sick chats with other women—not just Natalie. But what shocked me the most was the last folder. It contained screenshots and an Excel file detailing his online gambling activities: transfers of thousands of dollars every night, bets on international sites.

Natalie pointed to a picture of a company seal. “This is the most important thing. He created a shell company and used this seal to forge contracts and embezzle funds from the company where he works. He laundered the money through virtual casinos. I heard him say he has already stolen over $100,000.”

A shiver ran down my spine. Michael was not just a bad husband and an ungrateful son; he was a full-blown white-collar criminal. He had sunk so deep into the mire that now he wanted to drag me down with him.

I closed the laptop, took out the flash drive, and clutched it in my hand. It was small, but it felt as heavy as a ton. It contained the entire, sordid truth of Michael’s life. It was the sword of justice I needed to put an end to his plans.

I took out my phone and transferred the $3,000 to Natalie. Seeing the confirmation message, her face relaxed slightly, but her eyes were still filled with fear. “Thank you. I am leaving. Be careful; he is like a cornered rabid dog now. He is capable of anything.”

Natalie grabbed her bag, pulled her hood over her head, and quickly disappeared into the crowd. I was left alone, drinking a bitter, cold coffee, feeling a mix of disgust and compassion for myself, for my late mother-in-law, and even for Michael. He had destroyed his own life with his greed and desires. Now, with this flash drive in my possession, I was no longer the passive victim.