My Husband Told Me His “Work Wife” Was An Upgrade. Then I Found Out He Was Paying Her Rent While Telling Me To Budget. How Should I Handle This Dinner Invite?
Financial Reality
The next morning Ambrosia called again to schedule a meeting about the financial details of the divorce and I took a personal day from the school to meet her at her office downtown. She spread papers across her desk showing our joint accounts, the house value, retirement funds and everything else we’d built together over eight years.
Half of everything sounded fair and reasonable when she first explained it weeks ago but seeing the actual numbers made my stomach drop. Selling the house meant losing the place where I’d thought I’d raise kids someday, where I’d painted the walls and planted flowers and built a life. Splitting the retirement accounts meant starting over financially at 35, rebuilding savings and security from scratch.
Ambrosia walked me through each line item with professional efficiency explaining timelines and tax implications and legal requirements but my mind kept wandering to the bigger picture. I’d be living in a smaller apartment, watching my budget carefully, maybe working summer school to make ends meet.
The panic started in my chest and spread outward making my hands shake and my breathing shallow and I had to ask Ambrosia to stop talking for a minute while I pulled myself together. She got me a glass of water and waited patiently while I drank it and tried to calm down.
The panic wanted to turn into regret, wanted me to wonder if I was making a huge mistake by ending my marriage over hurt feelings and wounded pride. Then I remembered Craig drunk at the Christmas party saying Jessica was an upgrade, calling her superior to me in every way that mattered to him, and the panic shifted back to determination. I told Ambrosia to proceed with everything as planned, that I wanted the 50/50 split and I wasn’t interested in any more of Craig’s negotiations.
The Investigation Deepens
The following week Fisel from HR called and asked if I could come in for a follow-up interview about the investigation. I met him at a coffee shop near his office since I didn’t want to go to Craig’s workplace and he had a folder full of notes and printed emails when I sat down across from him.
He asked detailed questions about the timeline of Craig and Jessica’s relationship, when I first noticed the financial arrangements, and what Craig’s exact position was in the company hierarchy. I answered everything as clearly as I could, providing dates and examples and showing him more screenshots from Craig’s credit card statements.
Fisel made notes while I talked, his expression neutral and professional. Then he told me something that surprised me. Jessica had tried to claim Craig forced the financial arrangements on her, that she’d felt pressured to accept his help because he was senior to her even though he wasn’t her direct supervisor.
But text messages between them showed a different story with Jessica actively requesting his help with the lease and asking him to cover lunches she promised to pay back later. Fisel said the investigation was revealing a pattern of inappropriate boundary violations on both sides, not coercion from Craig alone.
I felt a weird mix of vindication and discomfort hearing that, glad the truth was coming out but also aware that I’d set this whole process in motion. Fisel thanked me for my time and cooperation then mentioned that the investigation would conclude within the next week with formal findings and recommendations.
