his around on me,” I said, my voice cold. “You lied to me, Jess. You made me feel like I was failing you, like I was ruining our marriage.

All so that you could fund some tropical getaway behind my back?”

She stared at me, speechless for once, before trying to pivot.

“It wasn’t like that,” she stammered. “I was joking in the group chat. You know how girls talk… It wasn’t serious!”

I raised an eyebrow.

“So, you didn’t sell the ring?

It’s here, at home?”

Her mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. Finally, she tried a different tactic.

“Well, maybe if you weren’t so boring and predictable, I wouldn’t need to get away in the first place!”

Her words felt like the sting of a hundred bees.

I took a deep breath, my hands trembling as I set her phone on the bedside table.

“I’m done, Jess.”

Her face crumpled, and she tried to grab my hand.

“Mark, please. I didn’t mean it!

I was just venting to my friends. I wasn’t really going to…”

“Stop talking, for goodness’ sake, Jess,” I said, stepping back. “I deserve better than this.

Pack your bags.”

It’s been three days since Jess left. I’m not even sure where she went or what she’s doing. But I’ve already contacted a lawyer to start the divorce process.

Seven years of marriage, and it all unraveled in a single weekend.

The betrayal stings more than I can put into words, but I’m clinging to one truth: I won’t let her lies define me.

The next day, my mother came over for tea, bringing a large chocolate cake with her.

“Mark, where’s Jess?” she asked, taking a cake knife out of the cupboard.

“I don’t even know where to start,” I said, my voice barely a whisper.

“Then start wherever it hurts most,” she said gently, slicing into the cake and sliding a thick slice onto my plate.

I let out a bitter laugh.

“Where it hurts most? That would be realizing that the woman I loved, the one I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with, sees me as a fool. A joke.

A piggy bank, apparently.”

She froze mid-slice, her brow furrowing.

“What are you talking about, Mark?”

I hesitated, but once I started, it all came tumbling out. Seeing Jess at the pawn shop. The lies about being in financial trouble.

The messages on her phone, how she bragged to her friends about selling her ring to fund a vacation, and laughing at how gullible I was.

By the time I finished, my hands were trembling. I set the mug down before I spilled tea everywhere.

“She said it was my fault, Mom,” I said. “She told me that I was selfish and irresponsible, that I was ruining her life.

And for a moment, I believed her. I stood there, in that damn pawn shop, thinking maybe I’d let her down somehow. Maybe I just wasn’t enough…”

“Oh, honey,” my mother said.

“I can’t stop replaying it in my head,” I admitted.

“The way she looked at me like I was the villain. And all the while, she was laughing behind my back. She made me question everything.

My worth. My instincts. My whole sense of reality.”

My mom reached across the table and put her hand over mine.

Her touch was warm, grounding me.

“Mark, listen to me. This isn’t about you. This is about her.

Her choices. Her lies… those are her failures. Not yours.”

Talking to my mother made me feel somewhat better.

But I didn’t know how to move on. I felt as though trust was going to be a difficult thing to come by now.

“I’m not sure what my next move is yet,” I said quietly. “But I do know that Jess needs to remain in the past.”

What would you have done?

Source: amomama