Rebecca
Four months later
"Those are his kids and that woman is his w—"
I couldn't bring myself to finish the last part of my question because I found it hard to believe but the evidence before me was enough proof that what I just found out was the truth. My husband has another family. My husband of seven years has two kids with another woman and they were all smiling at the camera.
Smiling so happily in what looks like a very recent photo and if the date the private investigator imputed was right then he had been with them four months ago on the same day I had my third miscarriage in four years and almost lost my life.
The same day, I had been so downcast by the loss of my third pregnancy, I almost ended my life. I needed my husband but he had not been there for me. Now, I find out that he hadn't been on a business trip like he told me when he finally made it back home but he had been with his mistress and the mother of his children.
Four whole months since that night when I woke up at the hospital after adamantly refusing to get treatment. I collapsed and the ambulance came just in time. I woke up alone and tried to leave again but the doctors sedated me.
I slept a whole week at the hospital and Julius never showed up and that's when I knew I had to do something. It took me a whole month to recover and in that one month, he only came around for one week and didn't even stay with me. He didn't mention our baby either. I hated him so much in that moment.
That's when I knew I had to do something but first, I had to find out what he had really been up to. When I first hired the private investigator three months ago, I never expected him to find out something like this. Yes, I had suspected that he was seeing someone and that's why he doesn't bother to come home even after long weeks away on business trips but I never expected this. A wife? Kids? Two kids and a wife? I just couldn't wrap my head around it all.
The past four months, I have only seen him about four times, and each time, he tells me that business has gotten really busy and that if I had a problem with him always being away then I should start following him on his trips. Of course, I turned him down. I hate moving around and he knows that. maybe that's why he suggested it because he already knew I won't take him up on his offers. Married?
"I can't believe he married someone else while being married to me."
I let out.
"Not his wife. They are not married but she is the mother of his kids and they have been together for nine years."
I looked up at the private investigator to make sure I heard him correctly and he nodded at my questioning look. Nine years? Nine whole years? Long before I even met him? They have known each other for longer yet he married me? I couldn't wrap my head around his logic. I couldn't wrap my head around anything that was going on. Maybe it wasn't true. There's no way everything I just found out is true yet I knew there was no way everything was a lie.
It made sense if he had another family. That will explain why he is always away and why he was bothered about my miscarriages since we started trying for a baby. The first two years of our marriage, he had been relearning how to live after the accident that almost killed him, and the third year was spent rebuilding his business after he fully recovered and that's why we started trying in the fourth year of our marriage but luck wasn't on my side as every pregnancy ended in miscarriage.
While I was actively trying and failing to have a baby with him, that man was busy making a family elsewhere. A family with a woman he has been with before me yet he married me and still went ahead to have kids with her.
Why wasn't she with him when he needed help? Why didn't she show up when he spent three whole months in a coma and eight whole months in the hospital? No one. No fucking person showed up so I assumed he had no one and that's why I stayed with him throughout. I gave up everything else to take care of him and I didn't stop there.
I used up every last dine I owned, sold all of my assets just to help him raise money to rebuild his business and this is how he repays me? I didn't even know what to feel. anger? Sadness? Disappointment? Hurt? What was I supposed to feel about the whole madness? I don't know and that's why I felt numb.
I should be mad. I should be heart broken, I should be throwing up and shouting yet none of those things happen. I flipped the pages of the file the private investigator gave me and the more I saw, the more it was obvious that even when our marriage had been in the early stage, he had been meeting with her.
Their first child looked about five years old, which means, as soon as he could walk on his own again, he went to her. he didn't just go to her, he slept with her and got her pregnant. He didn't stop there but he continued seeing her and they had another baby.
My eyes widened when I looked closer at another recent looking photo, the date on it was a week ago! my jaw dropped and I looked at the private investigator for answer.
"Yes, she is pregnant with their third child. Around four months pregnant."
I swallowed the lump that suddenly formed in my throat at his word. Third? Why? Just why did it have to be so similar? Three children? Was it even a coincidence that they were on their third successful pregnancy while I lost three?
While I was mourning the loss of my babies, Julius was having his with another woman. No wonder he didn't care that I lost our babies. No wonder he told me that I don't need to try so hard to get pregnant. He had it all planned out. He had a family already.
"Does she know that he is married?"
The question sounded stupid but I had to ask. Maybe if she didn't know that he married someone else maybe she won't be a terrible person but I highly doubt that she didn't know. Unless, he was really good at deceiving people. Well, he did deceive me so that means he is good.
"She does know."
I scoffed at the private investigator's words.
"Are you sure? Why will she have kids with a married man?"
I asked another stupid question and couldn't blame the private investigator when he sighed.
"He wears his wedding band even while with her and she calls him even when he is at home with you."
Wow, they were doing all that and I had no idea. just how much of a fool have I be? How could I have been so stupid? Why didn't I think of the possibility of him cheating soon? I guess I trusted him too much. I put so much faith in him and this is what I get in return. I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat and forced a smile.
"I see. Is there anything else that I need to know?"
I asked him and he shook his head. I stood up and thanked him before walking away. It was a miracle that I made it back to the car without falling over. I could barely see a thing as tears blinded my eyes. Seven years. Seven years with a man who turned out to be a cheater. Not just any kind of cheater but the kind who intentional starts a family outside.
I sat in my car for more than thirty minutes. I couldn't stop crying. I couldn't stop the feeling of hurt. I couldn't stop the pain that pierced my heart each time I thought of what just how much I sacrificed to be with Julius. I gave my all to him for the past seven years yet he chose to pay me back with backstabbing?
If someone had told me that the man I married would turn on me the way Julius did, I would have fought with the person that's how much I trusted him.
"Fool! What a fool!"
I cried out. I have been a fucking fool. I have let that man so easily use me. I didn't question anything he did even when I had my suspicions. I cut everyone off just to be with him. I cried even more when I thought of all the times I needed him. all the times he wasn't there and all the times he came up with the worst excuses yet I believed him.
After crying in my car for about thirty minutes, I finally stopped myself enough for me to drive back to the house and once I walked into the bedroom that I have shared with him since we moved into the mansion three years ago, I collapsed to the ground and cried again. His betrayal cut too deep. It hurt so much.
When I started to feel stupid for crying because of a man who didn't care to respect me enough to not have a family outside our marriage. I stood up and wiped my eyes. I walked to my dressing table and sat down in front of the mirror and had to hold back a sob when I saw my reflection.
"Is this the woman that you have become?"
I asked myself the question that made me feel sick inside. I looked so sad and pathetic. For the past four months, I have been living in total sadness. Every day felt like hell and even with everything that has been going on, Julius didn't care.
Over the last four months, he has traveled more than ten times and each time he spends more time away. In fact, he has spent more times out of this house than he has spent in it. I laughed sadly. Of course, he went to spend time with his family.
"Family."
I said the words in sadness. Family! He had a family. I dragged my fingers through my hair and wiped off tears from my eyes. I rubbed my forehead when I suddenly got hit with a headache. I reached for my medicine drawer and looked around for some aspirin. I took some and drank the water I had on my table.
I was about to close the drawer when I noticed that my supplement bottle was slightly open. I reached for it and was about to close it back when I realized that something was wrong with the content. The bottle looked fuller than it was the last time I took it.
"Did I buy a new one?"
I couldn't remember because I haven't really been myself in the past four months so I haven't really been taking any kind of supplements. Not even the one that would help my body heal and prepare for a new pregnancy because I already gave up hope and now with what I know, I won't be getting pregnant anytime soon. What I will be getting is a divorce.
Divorce. I never thought a day would come when I would think of that word but it has to happen. I can stay married to a man who cheated on me. Not just cheated but had a whole family on me. I would be a fool to stay.
I still have a little bit of self-respect. Cheating has always been a deal breaker for me and I really trusted Julius. He acted so in love with me when we were newly married and even when he started to drift away, he still acted like he cared.
Until four months ago, I didn't even suspect a thing. I just thought he got busy because his company got bigger. I thought he was expanding. Yeah, he had been expanding quite alright. Not just in the way I thought. I angrily wiped the tears that gathered in my eyes. I have cried enough for that bastard.
No more tears. No more fucking tears. On impulse, I turned the whole contents of my supplement bottle onto the table and leaned down when I realized the pills were different. It wasn't that obvious but I could tell the difference because I have been taking it for so long.
I picked two different pills and my eyes widened in shock when I realized that indeed, both of them were not the same.
"What's going on here?"
I let out as I stood up and went to grab my phone from my bag. There's no way two different pills can be in the same bottle and I know damn well that I didn't add the second. It was a pill that I didn't recognize because I had never taken it. I quickly did a search and my phone fell from my hand when I saw what pill it was.