 I gave my wife 23 years of my life, yet she stepped out with a young punk, who gave her the tingles. Her cheating and lies, garnered my unfiltered fury. So I did not just want to divorce her, I wanted to leave her life in shambles and total destruction. And I'll make sure to deviously contemplate and scheme, till Merry Christmas. If you like true revenge stories, you found the best place for your vengeful needs. I create them with fleaky visuals, dipped in artificial love. This nuclear revenge episode, features a Christmas special on cheating, that has it all. From betrayal to double crossing, from Machiavellian schemes, to an extreme level of ghosting. Spoil yourself, and stick till the end, because the conclusion is intense and unexpected, resulting in total heartbreak from all angles. I'm curious, to what your stance will be, after hearing the conclusion. After you subscribe for new uploads, you should make sure to give the like button, 20 random gift cards for Christmas, from the local steak restaurant, apple store, foot locker and more. But make sure, only one has actual credits left. Let's dive in. Warning, if you feel empathy towards cheaters, you shouldn't watch this episode. I hope you've got some time in a snack, because this one is going to be deep, as the events that follow span from late 2019 to last week. My wife was my high school sweetheart. We started dating in 1992 when we were both 17, we're both 45 now, and have been together ever since. She's the only woman I've ever been with my entire life. We married five years later at 22, fresh out of college. A year later, we had our first of two children, both boys, 22 and 17. 23 years I gave to her. Built her a house. Worked my ass off, to give her the life she wanted. Sure, we had rough patches, but what marriage doesn't? Even in the worst of times, we found a way to pull through, and come out the other side better. Which made the discovery of her affair that much more jarring. Flashback to March 2020, when I first got the feeling something was, off. For a good two months prior, we were in a funk. I was on the mend from reconstructive knee surgery, blew up my ACL fall 2019, but still lacking in movement. At the time I only had about 55% range of motion on my knee. This took a toll on quite a lot in the house. I was out on workers comp, as I had been injured on the job, and I was unable to do my usual household duties, so a lot got backed up. My sons would do what they could, but tasks only I was capable of doing had to be put on the back burner, or my wife had to do, which she wasn't pleased with. Things also crawled to a standstill in the bedroom between us. It had already slowed down prior to my injury, but in the state I was in at the time, it completely stopped. During these months, she, we'll call her Sue, was spending more time hanging with coworkers after work. Between November 2019 to March 2020 it was a regular occurrence for her. Naturally, I thought nothing of it. I've never in the 23 years I'd been with her had any reason to worry or not trust her. She has her friends, I have mine, and we have mutual ones. I'd go hang out with my friends all the time and there was no issue. It was all above board. It was around January of this year that I noticed something odd. Sue started getting noticeably distant with me. Sure, we were in a funk, but she'd never deny me affection to that point. The usual hugs and kisses she'd give me came to a halt. Her phone was attached to her hand long before my suspicion grew, but she'd always share and show me things she'd discovered on the web. Do-it-yourself ideas and recipes on Pinterest, memes, all kinds of stuff. But she was now being guarded about her phone. Even her interactions with me became more snippy, as if she couldn't be bothered. So we're now in March. COVID has arrived and New York City is locked down. Our chosen careers fall under the essential designation, so neither of us have to work from home. I'd just been recently cleared to return to work after five months on the shelf, and I was eager to get back after it, as five months on my ass rehabbing my knee and not being able to do physical stuff drove me nuts. For context, I enjoy physical activities. I'm an avid martial artist and I'm typically in the gym four days a week, on top of all of the home projects I did. Within a week or two of the lockdown, my wife alerts me that she's going to have to start putting in extra hours. Again, I think nothing of this because of her field. Of course, I was under the assumption it'd be every other day, but no. It was every day. And not just an hour or two. She'd come home three or more hours later, and go straight to the shower, spend a little time with me. A little time with our 17-year-old. 22-year-old lives with his girlfriend crosstown, and then go to bed. As I'm able to support myself on my knee better, we started getting intimate again, but as you'd probably guess she wasn't mentally or emotionally present for it, which I noticed quickly. So by early April, the picture started getting clearer to me. All of the signs were pointing to the idea that she was having an affair. That's when I decided I needed to find answers. So I scoured the internet on things I should be looking for. Signs of infidelity in one's partner, and sure enough she was pretty much ticking all of the boxes on such behavior. So then my search inquiry advanced too. How to find proof? I started with her social media. Looking at her Facebook entries from months prior, it's pretty much the usual. Picks of us and our sons, picks with her and her friends, and more than a few picks of her nights out with coworkers. In these picks, it's a mixed bag of her closest friends from work, and a couple folk I've never met from her work. But I see one recurring thing in a number of these picks, one guy. In every picture he's in, he's rather uncomfortably close to her. His arm is around her shoulder, or his hand on her lower back. Way to close for a guy I've never personally met. Needless to say, that put a sour taste in my mouth. But that wasn't the worst of it. No no, no. The worst was the fact that apparently, this dude is a friend of hers on Facebook and follows her on Instagram. So I gotta look up his Facebook account and wouldn't you know it, I'm blocked. Why the hell am I blocked from seeing this guy's Facebook account, but he's friends with her on Facebook? Yep. Now I'm in Batman Detective mode. At that point, I wasn't even trying to deny it. I knew she was cheating on me with this guy. My mission was to find out for how long. And over the course of April and May, that's what I did. You know I never had any clue the depth of info you could secure from phone, text and email records up until then. We have a family plan cell phone package, and I was able to pull up quite a bit of data. My wife's data history was telling. The two most frequent numbers she had interacted with from October 2019 to April 2020 was my own, and a number I'd never seen before. Take a wild guess whose number it was. A quick check on Google and I confirmed it was the dude from the photos who blocked me on FB. We'll call him Pencilneck, cause that's what he is. Again, the picture becomes even clearer at this point. But a lot of their messages and texts were disjointed, which meant she was deleting a lot of them. I knew she was cheating on me with this guy, but nothing in the data could serve as a smoking gun. I needed more evidence. It's at this point, that I tell my best friend Marco what I had found. He asked me if I confronted her with what I had, and I said no, because I felt like it wasn't enough. That's when he told me about an app that I could download to apparently spy on her communications in real time. I won't say the name, but I got it installed, synced up my data plan, and waited. Within days of doing so, I finally saw it. A text string between the two of them talking about how much fun they'd had the previous night, and making plans to do it again that weekend. Boom. Gut punch. To say I was completely devastating was an understatement. I guess that moment counts as my D-day, and for the next two days after I was just broken. I actively distanced myself from her those two days immediately after D-day, which she was noticeably shaking by. She'd try to console me and ask me what was wrong, but I'd brush it off and leave her presence. I couldn't even look at her. This woman, who I gave 23 years of my life to. Who I have given everything I could and more to as a husband, and she stepped outside of our marriage for a guy just five years older than our eldest son. By the third day, I wasn't even sad anymore. I was pissed. I contacted Marco to let him know my suspicion was confirmed, and he asked me had I confronted her yet. My answer was no, and I told him I wanted payback. I didn't want to just divorce her, I wanted to destroy her. I wanted to leave her life in shambles and freaking ruin her. It was going to take time to do so, and I devised a plan. In my readings and research on infidelity, I had saw a quote that resonated with me that went, the enemy of infidelity is unpredictability. Or something to that. That was going to be the basis of my plan. I was going to make her life hell on wheels, while also secretly planning my exit strategy. So we're now in early June, and I've still got the app installed. Pretty much every night, I'm gathering as much data as I can seeing their back and forth messages. They're talking like it's a full blown relationship they're in. About sexy time, lovey-dovey romantic stuff, nudes, the whole freaking bag. At that point I had stopped looking at any of it, I was just collecting info and cataloging on my private FPS server. Meanwhile, I start doing things out of the ordinary. I start going out at odd times. I start coming home even later than she does. In her presence, I'm on my phone a lot more than usual and when she asks. Hey, what are you up to? I just simply say, just stuff and put my phone away. I'd also changed my log and info on everything, so she couldn't access any of my stuff. Mind you, for our entire marriage, we'd never hit anything from each other. But right around I'm assuming the start of her affair, she changed her password on Facebook, as well as on her phone stating, she had to because of the security breaches in recent months. Yeah, really nice cover for hiding your affair from your husband. Anyway, I'd clued Marco in on my plan, as well as telling my older, and only, sister and two more of my closest friends what was going on. These are people I trust with my life, and I swore them to secrecy. For context, Marco and I have been friends since we were kids. The other of our friends Joey and Nina we've known since high school. Make note of Nina, she comes into play down the road. July comes, and my wife is in full paranoia mode. She's texting and calling me a lot more frequently now, asking me if I'm going to be home when she gets home, when am I coming home while she is and I'm not, asking me what am I up to, the works. I can see the seed planted in her head the month prior is starting to sprout, especially in her communication with pencil neck. She's confiding in him her doubt and confusion. Telling him that I'm getting cold and distant. The fricking nerve of this woman. In the interim of these interactions with pencil neck, she suggests that maybe they should stop meeting up at our house because she has no idea if I'd just show up, confirming that yes, she's had this frequent in my home. Thanks, Sue. Pencilneck asked her specifically if she was worried about me potentially cheating on her, which actually pissed her off. I can't even begin to describe the level of joy and how many laughs I got out of reading that exchange. My cheating wife arguing with her a fair partner, over if she's mad her husband could be cheating on her. Oh the fricking irony. Now bear in mind, I'm not hooking up with anyone. When I leave, I'm usually at Marco or Joey's throwing back some booze, watching fights and spending time with my brothers, or at my big sis house hanging with her and my brother-in-law, who's like an older brother to me. My sis is 52 and her hubby is 58. She had told him about my wife's infidelity, but not of my plan. Couldn't risk it as he's a bit of a blabber mouth. We'll fast forward now to October. That's when things seriously pick up. I've been in my faux affair for three months now, and Sue is hyper aware of the fact that I'm actively pulling away from her. It's been as long as the day I enacted my plan until the day she confronted me, October 20, 2020 that I'd even touched her. No hugs. No kisses. No initiation of intimacy. Nothing. Not like she needed it, she was still having sexy time with pencil neck, just at his place or at motels. So that afternoon, she calls me at work, which wasn't rare before all this began, but certainly hadn't happened in a while and asked me to come straight home after work, saying she had something important to tell me. I'm not going to lie to you all, I have believed she was going to come clean about her infidelity, but she of course, didn't. Instead, I get home to her asking me if I was unhappy with her. The freaking nerve. She cites the fact that I've been spending way too much time away from home, I don't show her affection anymore and our sex life has completely died. She tells me. I'm worried you're pushing me away because you're resentful of how I treated you in the months you were rehabbing your knee. And then came the punchline. She freaking asked. Are you cheating on me? Folks, I fell out on the floor laughing hysterically. And when I say hysterically, I mean Joker laughing gas hysterical. On the surface it looked like, to her assuming, it was me laughing off the notion of being unfaithful, but it was of course actually me laughing at the sheer irony of what was happening in front of my eyes. I'm tearing up, pounding on the floor and complete hysterics, for a good two minutes before I compose myself enough to answer. I sit up and look her in the eyes for the first time in months shaking my head, but I don't give her an answer. I stand up, brush myself off, kiss the top of her head and go about settling in for the night. Later that night, as I'm in my office I decide, you know what? Given the brevity of what happened, I wanted to see what she was telling him. So I fire up the app and sure enough they're actually texting in real time. She tells Pencilneck. I know he's cheating on me. I asked him tonight and he literally laughed in my face. He fell on the floor and laughed for like five minutes. It wasn't five minutes obviously. He doesn't even care how I feel anymore. I don't know how or why, but he's gone. I know I've lost him, this is karma, I know it. The smile I had on my face reading that must have resembled a Cheshire cat. She was breaking. Pencilneck attempted to console her, saying that if I cared enough for her, she wouldn't have had come to him to give her what I wasn't giving her, but the tone of her responses told me she was having doubts now. She had the nerve to step out of our marriage, because I was unable to fulfill my role as a husband due to legitimate injury, and kept the affair going for nearly an entire year, but the idea of her losing me to another woman was enough to make her waver? What a freaking weakling. Now, during all of this I was also exacting the second part of my plan for payback, getting all of my affairs in order financially. In September, I had met with a family attorney to get the ball rolling on divorce paper, with the mountain of evidence I'd piled up to that point. New York is an at fault state as far as divorce, and the overwhelming amount of proof I'd gathered displaying Sue's infidelity, pretty much solidified I could nail her to the freaking wall in a divorce case. My lawyer instructed me to get all of my financials in order in preparation for whatever division of assets might come as result. I went one better than that, secretly pulling all of my money out of our joint account and putting it in my personal account. I also started shopping around for an apartment as part of phase two. We're now in November, and I've not changed my behavior. In fact, I've ramped it up. This is where my friend Nina comes into play. For context, Nina and Sue have never been what you call close. I met Nina during freshman year of high school, two years before I met Sue. Even way back then, Sue has seen Nina as a threat, as she's my closest female friend. There's always been an implied I don't trust her from Sue regarding Nina. She's never addressed it directly, but it's obvious to anyone who pays attention. Conversely, Nina's never been a big fan of Sue. Early in me and Sue's relationship, Nina called to attention to me how Sue was pretty much imposing herself into our little square of friends, whereas I didn't do the same with Sue's set of friends. That irked Nina because she knew why Sue was doing it, because of her. Among Sue's circle even now, there are no male friends, aside from Pencilneck. Whereas Nina is the only girl in my square. Nina had been stuck overseas due to the virus, and finally returned to New York City November 3. Marco, Joey and I decided we were gonna celebrate her return with a night at Joey's house for dinner and drinks. There was only five of us, Marco, Joey, Joey's wife, who is also Nina's sister, Nina and myself. Nina, being the evil mastermind she is, comes up with an evil idea to trigger Sue. She suggested we take some photos in the same vein of the photos I discovered of Sue and Pencilneck months prior. And post them to my Facebook. And that's just what we did. It wasn't until the fifth that Sue got wind of it, as I'm guessing a few friends noticed my updates and saw how uncomfortably close I was with Nina. This really fucked her mind up, because she still believed I was cheating, and I can almost guarantee she wanted to accuse Nina, but she knew that Nina had been stuck in Europe for the majority of the year. Still didn't stop her from attempting to dress me down that night for being so as she said, Hansy, in the pics. I saw this as a golden opportunity to deliver the lead jab for my knockout blow. I say, so what about the pics with you and Pencilneck from last year? He was pretty Hansy in them, but did you see me get bent out of shape over it? Dear in headlights. It was the first time I even mentioned the dude's name throughout all of this. The hamster will in her head started reeling in real time as she tried to explain away those pics. To that point she hadn't even known I saw them. That's how little I use Facebook. When I actually do post something, it's like an event to people, which is why the pics with Nina specifically got so much traction among our circles. And explain away she did. He's that way with everyone. He's just a really friendly guy. I can see how it looks, but there's nothing there. I'm sorry if those pics hurt you. I'll delete them. No, no, the pics aren't what hurt me. I thought the year you've been sexy timing the dude was lying to me that you're working extra hours and hanging with friends is what hurt me. But I kept it to myself, biting my tongue once again. But wait, because vengeance is a dish best served cold. From that night, Sue was being extra specially clingy and attentive to me. Like, annoyingly so. She's tried to initiate affection and intimacy with me and I'd stonewall her at every chance. All the while, I'm still archiving everything she's saying to pencil neck. Mind you by this point I've long since gone numb. Any desire I might have had to save my marriage was dead. I've checked out the day I enacted the first phase of my plan. She's confiding in him that I've gotten worse. That she doesn't know what to do, and she feels like I absolutely hate her. Which I do. Then comes the bombshell. She says she can't see him anymore. The guild is too much for her, and she feels like karma is suffocating her. She can't risk losing me. She says that she loves pencil neck deeply, but she's still in love with me, and she has to save her marriage before she loses me. No, my dear, you're about eight months too late for that. Pencil neck loses his shit, saying such lovely things as. He doesn't love you, the way I love you. You're making a mistake, you can't just throw me away like this. That text chain would be the last they'd have until about three weeks ago. Throughout the remainder of November into December, Sue is tucking limbo. She's trying to gauge where my headspace is and is still unable to tell if I'm actually being unfaithful. Meanwhile, pencil neck is steadily blowing her phone up daily, but she's not responding to him. I'd see her check her phone often, then quickly put it away. Meanwhile, phase two of the plan was now officially complete. The divorce papers were done. I'd found me a studio apartment in co-op city, New Yorkers will know the area, and signed a two year lease on it. All of my money was in my personal account. I was ready to throw my haymaker. So we're now a Thanksgiving. My oldest and his girlfriend were hosting a small gathering of our immediate families. So we, my oldest and his girlfriend and her parents, Sue and our youngest, have a great night. His girlfriend is studying to be a chef, and she did all the cooking herself. The girl can frickin' cook let me tell you. As I had to keep up appearances, of nothing being wrong between Sue and I, I initiated affection with her several times that evening. Kisses on the cheek. Cute little hugs. Wrapping my arms around her shoulders from behind. The gestures didn't go unnoticed by her, as she rubbled in it. Bear in mind, this was the first time I touched this woman since I kissed the top of her head the night she confronted me in October. So just about two months. Not gonna lie, I felt repulse doing it. But I had two. I couldn't risk the plan, and me being distant to her in the face of my boys, my oldest girlfriend and her parents would set off alarms. So my youngest decides he wants to stay over with his big bro for the night, so Sue and I head home. On the drive home, she thanks me for being so good to her, and says, I don't know what you're going through, baby. But I'm here for you. I had to hold off busting out in maniacal laughter again, and responded saying, I know. I just need time. So for the first time realistically since springtime, we had sexy time that night. I figured fuck it, with what I'm about to do, may as well get some action before I delete her from my existence. I won't go into detail, but it wasn't love making. When I was finished she was trying to figure out the direction of the truck that ran her over. No cuddling or anything after. I just got up, showered and went to go sleep in my office. To her confusion though, I used a condom. First time two damn decades I did. She was definitely perplexed by it, but she didn't ask questions. Sure as hell it wasn't going without protection, knowing that she'd been doing so with pencil neck for months at that point. I wake up the next day and check my handy dandy spy app, and for the first time in weeks, she responded to pencil neck. Dude went full novella. He professed his love for her. Said she was wasting her time trying to rekindle a flame in me that died. That she'd been in a prison with me for 23 years and deserved to experience the love and affection of a man who would cherish her. Mind you, this dude is 27 fucking years old. Five years older than our oldest son. And he's that sprung on a 45 year old married mother of two? What a great a high quality sim. She chose to blow up our marriage and destroy the home we'd built, for this dude? Pretty boy with a soft side? She responded saying pretty much the same thing she said when last they talked. That she loves him and enjoyed their time together, but she can't lose me. I'm still the love of her life, but she'll always have a place for him in her heart. That they can still be friends if he chooses, but the physical relationship between them is over. He begged her to see him one last time that week, and yep. You guessed it, she said yes. One more for the road, right? Who am I to say anything, that's what I did to her the previous night. Of course I added all of that to the archive I'd compiled. December 4 is when phase three, the final phase of Operation Shinobi Ghost started. The divorce papers were in hand. My new place or residence was set up. Now I had to slowly start moving my stuff out of the house. But first, I had to break the news to my boys. I called my oldest to the house that Friday night, had them join me in my office. And laid everything on that table. Not the specifics, but that their mother had been cheating on me for over a year, and I was going to be filing for divorce soon. My 17 year old was especially shaken up by this, because he himself had recently experienced his first taste of infidelity. Yep, his first girlfriend had cheated on him just four months prior. Seeing his heart broken a second time at the idea that his own mother was capable of doing this, hit him really hard. My oldest took it a lot better, and suggested taking his brother in to live with him until this blows over, to which I agreed. We packed up some of his stuff, and he asked me if I was going to be okay. I told him, yes, son, I'm going to be alright. And so are you. We're going to be alright. I promise. And then they were off. The hardest part was now over, and it was now time to arm the nukes. Over the next few weeks, day by day, Marco would help me get a little of my most sensitive stuff out of the house. Gave him a list of all of the definite stuff to grab while Sue and I were at work and left him the spare key. This was all stuff Sue wouldn't notice was missing unless you told her it was gone. I'd also gotten a new phone and phone number, and told everyone who needed to know, Marco, Joey, Nina, my boys, big sis and my mother, my new contact info. Meanwhile, I'm keeping up the rouse with Sue and she's none the wiser. Trickling bits and pieces of affection to her just to keep her off of the trail, while she's still in contact with Pencilneck. Not to the extent that they'd been prior, but there's still an emotional thing happening. The fog is faint, but it's still there. All the while, I gather everything, and I do mean everything. Every bit of data I've archived since I started the plan, call logs, texts, picks, emails, everything, and start making printouts. Folks, I must have spent over a $1,500 on staple supplies. Printer ink, paper, binders, the works. And I catalogued everything in order, from the beginning of the affair until that last bit two weeks ago, December 16th and the binders. 14 of them. I then put each one in a box, and gift wrapped each, addressing them to various people. Just my mother, my father past seven years ago, her parents, her two sisters, her brother, her HR department, did I forget to mention Pencilneck works for the same company, and there's an expressed rule against intercompany relationships, because of the nature of what she does? Several of her friends, Pencilneck and Pencilneck's parents. Logged all of those fuckers to the post office and shipped them all out December 16th. ETA for delivery, December 22 to 24th. Perfect. So we're now at Christmas Eve. Sue comes home around the usual time, no idea if she'd seen Pencilneck, I'd stop tracking her on the app the 18th. Figure I'd gotten all the mileage I needed from it. As per usual, she showers, hangs out with me a bit, I blow her back out on a living room couch. I know, I'm the bad guy, I'm the asshole, and she turns in for the night. The final phase was upon me at last. The nuke I'd been arming since June, was finally about to get launched. In the middle of the night, I woke up and wrapped up one of the three remaining binders, with the divorce papers taped to the inside cover, and set it on my side of the bed with a note that said, Merry Christmas on it. Next to it I left my old phone, and the business card of my lawyer. I packed up the remainder of my most needed items, enough to fill two backpacks, and I left my home. The home that I spent 23 years in, for the last time. That my friends, was one week ago. To Sue I am completely off the grid. Gone. Shadow ghosted. She's blocked on Facebook, but still hasn't blocked me for some reason. So I'm keeping tabs on the fallout. It's absolutely glorious. My packages have reached everyone I sent them out to, and Sue is getting crucified. Her youngest sister completely dressed her down. Both of her parents have condemned her. My mom absolutely destroyed her. Like holy shit, I know my mom has a mean streak. But the things she called Sue, were unfriking holy. She's been frantically trying to find out if anyone knows where I am, but those that do, aren't saying a word. All over her Facebook feed she's desperately trying to reach me, because I'm guessing she knows I'm likely looking. But I'm not saying a freaking word to her without my lawyer present. That'll be the next time I share oxygen with her. She's got no way of spinning the narrative to paint me as the bad guy, because I've exposed her to everyone who matters to her. And from what I've heard from a mutual friend who works in the same company as her, she and pencil neck apparently are being put on administrative leave as of tomorrow, so yay. Chances are she'll be going into 2021 unemployed. As for the final two binders, well, one has been turned over to my lawyer as my final bit of evidence for my impending divorce, and the last one I put in my storage unit to be burned in Joey's fire pit when the divorce is final. Do I feel guilty about this? No, not even in the slightest. 23 years, I did write by this woman. I gave her the home she wanted. I gave her the family she wanted. I gave her the life I felt we both deserved, and I loved her unconditionally. Never have I faltered. Never have I strayed. Never have I even entertained the notion of breaking my vows. When an issue came up that I felt was affecting our marriage, I came to her and told her, and we sorted it out as best we could. She opted to find comfort in another man's bed. Rather than come to me and say she was unhappy with our sex life at the time, she decided to step out with a young punk who gave her the tingles. So no, I have no sympathy for what I did, or for her. She can burn in hell for all I care. The most I stand to lose is my house, a car and maybe a couple hundred bucks a month in alimony, but seeing as the divorces filed under the statute of adultery and NYS is at fault, that might get waved with the insurmountable about of evidence I've provided. As far as I'm concerned, she's dead to me and I'm never looking back. Christmas Day was the first full day I spent in my new apartment. It's still a work in progress, as I have more stuff I want to get, but overall I've made it my home, since I'm going to be here for two years at least. My boys and the eldest girlfriend came over and spent a good portion of the day with me. The girlfriend brought over treats she'd made, and also whipped up a really nice meal. I got to sit and talk with my sons in a way I hadn't done in a really long time, and it was nice. My big sis also came over with more goodies and hung out with us. It had been the first time she'd seen her nephews in nearly a year. Having all of them around did me some real good, as if I were by myself, I think I would have just drank myself into a stupor. Everyone cleared out around 8-ish, and I decided I wanted to go hang out with Joey and his wife Claudia. Hung out with them for a couple hours, had a couple drinks and then went back home. The next big development happened on five days later, on the 29th of December. Around midday I get a text from Nina, asking if I was busy that night. I of course wasn't, so we agreed to meet up after I got off of work. She shows up and we go to a diner not far from where I work. Here in New York, we're doing indoor dining at 25% capacity, but there's mostly no trouble getting seats, because so many of us choose to rather eat at home now regardless. So after we're seated in order or food, Nina pretty much lays all of her cards on the table, and honestly, I knew this was coming. She basically confessed that she's like me all the way back since we were teenagers, but never got the chance to tell me, since Sue swooped in and scooped me up before she could. For context, I've known Nina longer than Sue by two years. As I mentioned, she's been the fourth point of my social square of myself, Marco and Joey. We were the social outcasts in high school. The raver kids who didn't fit into all of the other cliques. Back then, Nina had a weight problem and was diabetic. She was the heavy said goth chick who was super cool, but no guy would ever give a second glance at. We always had chemistry though. These days, Nina is a personal trainer and yoga instructor. She was the ugly duckling who grew into one hell of a beautiful swan, if I must say. Long story short, we decided that upon the finalization of my divorce, we are going to start seeing each other. And yeah, we had sexy time that night. Took her back to my new fireside and we had a grand old time. Am I ashamed of sleeping with her? Hell no. Nina's been a better friend to me than Sue ever was. That's not saying Sue wasn't my best friend. But through the near quarter of a century I've known Nina, she has always supported me. Even so much as Aya learned, that she willingly took a step back from her own feelings, to allow me to pursue and eventually start a life with Sue. That resonated with me on a level I didn't think it would. That kind of selflessness towards another person is the definition of real love. I know. It sounds like I'm just trying to justify in my head, that sleeping with her was the right decision. To me it was, and I plan on exploring what's to come with Nina and I, with total commitment. Okay, on to yesterday. The day I met my wife and her lawyer to discuss the divorce. It's now been two weeks since I ghosted my soon-to-be ex-wife. This past Monday, I got a phone call and Sue's attorney wanted to schedule a meeting for us to discuss the terms of divorce. I met with him the Tuesday morning to discuss the terms I wanted. Long story short, uncontested divorce under the grounds of marital neglect from Sue. My terms are full division of assets, and me selling my half of the house ownership to her, she can have it. We keep our respective vehicles, I keep my cabin in the Poconos. And under the pretenses of marital neglect, she gets no spousal support from me. As for our youngest son, he's free to choose who he wants to reside with following the divorce, which will most likely be me. So Wednesday comes, and I show up to my lawyer's office dressed in my Johnny Cash best. Then my wife and her lawyer come in. My wife, well, she looks like shit. Barely holding it together. I proceed to give and hold the stone face. I won't bore you with the lawyer babble, but her lawyer presented an offer for terms of reconciliation. I shot them down almost as soon as she finished listing the details of the request. Like I said, I'll spare you the details of the meeting. Long story short, we agree to a legal separation leading to an uncontested divorce. The only revision is that I will pay her $650 a month of temporary spousal support, to cover the cost of utilities until she's gainfully employed again, up to a year after the finalization. Yep, she got fired for sexy timing pencil neck. He got canned as well. I make enough that it won't hurt me financially, even if she drags her feet finding a new job, and she's got enough in her savings to live off of her quite some time. Once a full calendar year has passed after the finalization date of the divorce, she's on her own. Small price to pay for being rid of her cheating ass. It'll take roughly three months for things to go through, so early April if there's no cockups, I'll be free of her. So after the meeting, my lawyer gives me some final words before telling he'll be in touch to update me on the progress of the filing. Back out on the street, Sue chases me down and asks if we can talk. I figured I'd give her at least that. She held it together fairly well in the meeting, but outside let the waterworks flow, saying how sorry she was, and how she never meant it to go as far as it did. She said, I never expected to fall in love with pencil neck, but when I thought you were cheating, it made me realize how wrong it was to betray you, my own husband, in such a way. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me? Maybe we can start over in a few years. She went on about how she couldn't imagine what her life is going to be without me. I tell her to start imagining it soon, because this will be the last time I ever speak to or see her. I tell her that our oldest boy is almost a man, and old enough to make his own choices as to his own future. I say that I gave her half of my life, and every ounce of love I had unconditionally, and she in her own words, fell in love with another man. I add that there is absolutely no chance of me ever forgiving her. That all of the love I had for her was slowly killed all of those months that she confided and professed her love to pencil neck, rather than coming to me and telling me she had any form of issue with how things were going with us. I told her I loved who she once was, but I hate who stands before me, and that if I never see her again, it couldn't be too soon. Here we are on the sidewalk in Midtown Manhattan, her making a scene crying her eyes out. A couple folk walk by and give side glances, but at that point I didn't care. I wasn't about to publicly humiliate her, I pretty much already socially and professionally destroyed her, but I needed to get the last bit of emotion I had for her out. I finished by telling her I didn't regret the 23 years I spent being her husband. I regretted that in 23 years, she decided the easy way out was the better option, and that for 23 years I thought she was mine, but it turned out, it was just my turn. Immediately after I said my piece, I put in my earpieces, turned around and walked the fuck away. Later that night, her father calls me and apologizes. He praises me for always being a good man to his daughter, and tells me he's ashamed of her in that he raised her better than what she did. Not gonna lie, I'm going to miss the old man. My dad died years ago, so he's always been my default father figure since. But I can't see myself maintaining a relationship with anyone on her side of the family. After that call, I went on Facebook and symbolically changed my relationship status to divorced. Yeah, it's not final yet, but in my eyes it's over and done. Like I said, when I make a post on Facebook, it's an event, so plenty of folks started hitting me up over messenger asking questions. I laid it all out, especially that I filed for divorce with Sue earlier in the day. Of course Nina called me, shocked that I pulled the trigger so fast. Obviously I was already in the process of it when we spoke, but she had no way of knowing how far it was along. I asked her if she could come over, and of course she comes a-runnin'. We knocked boots again, but this time she stayed the night. We laid in my bed and talked into the wee hours of the morning, and I haven't felt this level of relief and connection in really long time. Nina gets me, and I can't get enough being around her. Since the day she confided in me, she's all that's been on my mind. Yeah, I know some folk are gonna say it's fucked up I'm moving on so fast, but as far as I'm concerned, my marriage ended the day pencil neck let Sue touch his shriveled-up pickle, so I'm about due. So yeah. That's it. My divorce is in the works, and I'm moving on to start a relationship with Nina. I know in a comment response to someone I said I'd probably not marry ever again, but that was before Nina came clean to me about how she felt towards me, and I can't deny that I feel the same. We're going to take it slow, and we're not announcing anything until the divorce with Sue is legal and official. As for Sue, I could give a flying fuck what happens to her. She could move pencil neck into our old home for all I care. I'll be getting my money for the house over the course of 2021, four quarterly installments, and aside from the $650 I will pay out directly to her savings account monthly, I never have to see or speak to her again. To all of the words of support, encouragement and praise, I eternally thank you all. The hits just keep on coming. I've been sitting on this for hours now. A little recap, I discovered my wife of 23 years, age 45, was having an affair with a 27-year-old coworker. We have two sons, 22 and 17. I concocted a plan to completely upend her life-centered around fooling her into thinking I was having an affair myself. I kept the rouse going for over four and a half months while compiling evidence of her infidelity, as well as securing divorce papers and planning my exit strategy. Think about slowly moving my personal belongings from our home to a new apartment, getting a new phone and number, separating my half of our shared income from our joint account, etc. On December 16, 2020, I gathered every bit of proof of her affair I'd compiled, printed it all out from start to that week, filed it all into 14 binders, packed 11 into gift-wrapped boxes and mailed them all out to the most important people in her life, as well as her HR department with an ETA around Christmas. On Christmas Eve, while she slept, I took one of the remaining three binders into the same, only this one I'd taped the divorce notice to the inside cover, and left it on my side of the bed, which mind you she'd had her lover in a number of times, along with my old phone and my lawyer's business card. And Shadow ghosted her. Over the next four days her life completely imploded. Her family pretty much excommunicated her. Her friends ostracized her, and my own mother took her to task calling her the most scathing and vile things you could possibly think of. Her and her lover were also placed on administrative leave and eventually fired. Last week we had our divorce hearing, and settled on a legal separation into uncontested divorce, with a few provisions in place for transitional income since she's now unemployed. I'm to pay out the price for the utilities, $650 a month until either she finds gainful employment, or upwards to one year after the date of the divorce's finalization, which is expected to be three months from now. She keeps the house, her car and her half of the shared assets. I keep my half of the assets, my vehicles, par, motorcycle and boat, and my vacation property, cabin in the Poconos. After the hearing, we had one final exchange where she tried to explain away her infidelity and begged me to give her a second chance after the divorce is finalized. I of course said no, gave her some choice words and walked away from her, forever. This brings us to last night. As only my closest friends, two sons, older sister and mother have my new contact info, and I've completely blocked my soon-to-be ex-wife on all social outlets she has had. No means of reaching me since I left her Christmas Eve, but some are mutual friends still do. Last night, I'm hanging out in my apartment and I get a voice call notification on messenger from one of said friends, one of the few who hadn't abandoned her following the outing her affair. She didn't waste any time when I answered, and said she had went to check on Sue and found her passed out in the bedroom, foaming out of the found with two bottles of empty pills next to her. She's in the ICU in critical, but stable condition. The doctor said that she will likely pull through, she's clearly not going to be well after. She begged and pleaded for me to come. Her parents and two of her sisters were also there at the hospital. My guess is they were notified after the hospital attempted to notify me, but Sue would still have my old number as her emergency contact. I simply told her no. Sue's not my problem anymore, and she clearly decided she wanted to take the easy way out rather than deal with the shame and agony of the 23-year marriage she blew up. I then told her friend, that if Sue's family were there, they can help her sort out the pieces, but as far as Sue and I are concerned, there is no Sue and I anymore. I then ended the call. I've had a few hours to sleep on it, and my sons called me this morning asking if I knew. I told them yes, but I'd also let both of them know, that if they want to be there and supportive of their mother, I will not hold it against them or judge them for it. She is their mother after all. But I myself, washed my hands of her, and care little to nothing about what she does for herself anymore. They were both a little taken back by this, but respected my stance. However, now that the news broke about her suicide attempt, many of those friends who dropped her are all starting to surface again, and saying I need to be there for her. That even despite what she did to me, I need to support her in her time of need. I've also been informed that her affair partner, Pencil Neck, tried to visit her this morning, but wasn't allowed because he's not family. I'm getting dog piled on to go see her, but I feel nothing for this woman anymore. I haven't for a very long time. I checked out during the process of getting my payback for her betrayal, and I stand by the fact that I don't care at all for what she's done. In fact, it makes me hate her even more. She's the one who was unfaithful. She's the one who though a near-year-long fling with a guy five years older than her oldest son, was worth destroying 23 years. And now that she has to face the consequences of her choices, she chooses the most selfish way to deal with it. Even now, seeing as she's in all likelihood going to survive, she's cultivated immediate sympathy from everyone who took her to task, and I'm being made out to look like the jaded ex-husband, unwilling to sympathize for her by most her family. Not her dad though. He's reached out to me over the last few hours and said he respects my decision to stay away. It's like I never even truly knew this woman. 23 freaking years and it comes to this. Yes, I know the way I broke things off with her may have put her in a poor mental state. But now a whole new can of worms has been opened up because either she had a complete mental breakdown and decided to self-delete herself. Or she made an extremely risky and calculated move to call favor back from people who just weeks prior condemned her for betraying me. She cheated on me and now she's the freaking victim. Sorry if this comes off as randish, but I'm here trying to wrap my brain around this. I want to be perfectly clear though, I am not going to visit Sue. She waived her right to me caring about her well-being, the day she jumped on the Venuschnitzela pencil neck. This might come off as heartless, because despite the cool, calm collected way I've been throughout my who or deal, my feelings are still very much raw, but I don't give a fuck about this woman. Haven't for a very long time. I'm aware I'm going to be vilified by a number of folk here. I don't much give a shit. Think of me however you want, if you were in my shoes, you'd see her actions vastly different. Some of you folks are going to go look up my post history and see the story of what I did to her. And you're going to draw the conclusion that her actions now was my fault. That me tormenting her for all of those months, fooling her into thinking I was cheating on her while she actively cheated on me, then destroying her socially and professionally as a result was the catalyst for her meltdown. Maybe it was. Maybe I'm a heartless sociopath. But as Arthur Fleck so famously said, you get what you freaking deserve. I gave this woman half of my life and did absolutely everything to be the best possible husband she could ever have. By her own admission, I had no bearing in her decision to step outside of our marriage. She did it for her. Her selfishness knows no bounds, and I am glad to be rid of her. If it makes me the bad guy for not going to see her and never plan on interacting with her ever again, so be it. I hold true to my damn convictions. She made the choice to betray me. She made the choice to put her needs above the needs of our marriage. So now it's my turn to choose from me over everything else. She can rot in the darkest pit of hell for all I care. Let everyone else help fix her. My obligation to ever care about her well-being ended the day we signed the separation agreement. I just needed to get this off of my chest. If you're going to cast judgment on me for feeling how I feel, save it. Like I said above, after 23 years and two children, I never really knew this woman after all. I have no sympathy for her, and I never will. Let her rot. Quick update, I've been informed by Suzdead that she's been moved from the ICU to the mental health wing. Doctors are still monitoring her mental state. She's conscious and cognitive again, but obviously lethargic. Her father told me that she asked if I came to see her. When he said no, she shut down again. He respectfully said any further news he'll share only if I inquire, because he understands the headspace I'm in. Also, I've scheduled counseling for 17. The first consultation is this coming Monday. The following is commentary on this story, sent to OP. As a mother myself, I can only say that your ex-wife is the most disgusting and self-centered woman I have ever heard of in my life. No matter what happens in your life, your kids should be your priority and never do anything that would jeopardize their well-being. Instead of focusing on how to be a victim, she should have spent that time trying to make your sons forgive her, if she cares for them. As for you, well done and good luck in your new relationship. Be strong for your kids and make sure they don't fall in her manipulative hands. She doesn't deserve to be called a mother. Second commentary. I don't blame you at all. I'm sorry you feel that way about your ex-wife. Nobody should feel that kind of hostility towards anyone. But, as I said, I don't in any way fault you for it. Besides, what are you going to do if you go to visit her in the hospital? Tell her you're okay? With what she did? That you don't think she's a horrible person for betraying a spouse who's been nothing but loving and supportive for 20 plus years? I don't think so. Also, it's not as if she's all alone. She evidently has plenty of family and friends, to be with her and help her with this. And, if you were still her husband you would be there too, loving her and supporting her like you did for 23 years. But, as far as you're concerned, you're not her husband anymore. And she did that. Personally, I'm good with your decision. Your ex-wife seems to be prone to bad decisions based on how she feels. She made a bad decision, to hook up with pencil neck, because that's what she wanted. She made a bad decision, to have one for the road with pencil neck, even while she was trying to win you back from your affair because that's what she wanted. She made a bad decision, to try to end herself, not because she's distraught over losing you, but because everybody in her life, family, friends, work, etc. knows what a terrible person she is and so, instead of facing up to her failure, she will just exit. Because that's what she wants. As for, let her rot, I understand why you don't have any sympathy for her. But, for your own heath and well-being, it might help to get past this kind of animosity. Pity her, for her selfishness, short-sightedness, lack of honesty and integrity. Stay away from her, because that's not the kind of person you want in your life. But hatred will eat you, and turn you into someone that I don't think you want to be. Best of wishes for your future. Thank you for enjoying this extra long Christmas special. My loyal watcher, I make these videos for you, with artificial love. Together, we will have a great year. What do you think about this story? Let us know. I'll join the conversation. Be sure to tickle the like button. I will see you, in the next one.