I Cared for My Husbands Mom for Five Months After Surgery While He Was Cheating – So I Taught Him a Lesson by Taking What He Valued Most

For five relentless months, I lived in a state of perpetual service. I was up before the sun to help Julia to the bathroom and prepare her meals. Eric, on the other hand, became a ghost. His initial promises to handle dinner or watch the kids dissolved into late office calls and urgent reports. He started disappearing after dark, claiming he needed quiet time to work, while I was left behind to scrub floors and reheat coffee I never had time to drink. Julia was never the problem. She was kind, deeply appreciative, her whispers of “thank you” always carrying the fear that I might leave her if she didn’t show enough gratitude. Eric, however, was becoming more and more absent, his lies growing lazier with every passing day.

The turning point came on a humid Wednesday evening. I was on my knees in the bathroom, scrubbing bleach around the base of the toilet after Julia had suffered a minor accident. My back ached, a headache was beginning to build, when my phone buzzed on the counter. It was my best friend, Jenna, asking if I was home.

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