I discovered my spouse was living two lives after seeing her payment statement.
Until I noticed an odd pattern in my wife’s financial statement, which included payments for kindergarten, pediatricians, and baby supplies—all of which made little sense considering that we were childless—I had assumed that my marriage was secure. Out of confusion and concern, I followed her, only to find that she was leading two lives.
As a thirty-three-year-old lawyer, my specialty was adultery and getting the best result for the person who was injured. But I was talented at it, and it changed my life.
I was driving home through the crowded city one evening as the sun was sinking. My work experience had taught me the value of trust in marriage, which is something I really believe in, especially since I recently got married to the lady I loved, Natalie.
I grimaced when I came into my driveway that evening and saw that Natalie’s car was missing. She was always home by now; her punctuality was one of her strongest suit. Things have changed recently; she used to arrive home much later than me.
The quiet house made me feel even more anxious. The uncomfortable quiet within made me start to have misgivings because of my line of work. The thought “Maybe Natalie is cheating on me?” kept repeating itself. It was something very undesired but inevitable.
Natalie, thankfully, returned a few hours later, appearing exhausted, but I couldn’t stop talking. Have you visited anyplace? You’ve been tardy lately. Are there any things you’re keeping from me? At last, I wondered if she was having an affair.
When she saw it, she was shocked. Hank, you have my undying love. I would never turn on you. “It’s just that I’ve been busy grading tests at school,” she moaned, comforting me. That made sense. I nodded, figuring that Natalie was a dedicated teacher, and attempted to move on.
But a message on Natalie’s phone cut short whatever peace we may have had throughout dinner and the rest of the day. Will you be there tomorrow, honey? I glanced at it and was surprised at how near it was.
She quickly deleted the message and tried to talk about her day.
Without second thought, I cut her off. “What was that?” I questioned in a suspicious manner.
“Explain what you mean.” She seemed confused, or maybe that was how she was acting.
The message that was delivered. I glared and said, “I saw what it said.”
Natalie sighed, furrowing her brow. “Hank, it’s not what you think,” she said in an attempt to comfort me, and she offered me her phone to prove that the number was off.
But I lost my appetite, and uncertainty clouded my judgment.
I continued thinking about the message as I lay in bed later, and it kept me awake. Natalie seemed content as she slept peacefully on my side. My doubts grew, and I realized what had to be done. It was untrue, but I had to know the truth nonetheless.
She had been returning home later than normal, so I discreetly unlocked her phone with her finger and found a contact named “Rabbit,” which contained texts she had exchanged about meeting up with an unknown number on those days.
I also decided to check her bank statements. It was always a key clue in all of my cases. My heart sank as I pieced together the details of her covert existence, which included paying for children’s gifts and medical expenses. Did she have a kid that I didn’t know about? Did she call the youngster “Rabbit”?
Who was the father, furthermore?
After stirring momentarily, I quickly hid her phone and noticed that Natalie appeared to be falling asleep. Still, I felt uneasy on the inside. It was too much to contemplate living two lives for her.
The next morning, I woke up determined to accompany Natalie to work. I arrived at the school, parked inconspicuously, and kept an eye on the entrance till Natalie abruptly left.
Heart pounding with each step, I followed her until she stopped in front of a run-down house in a peaceful neighborhood. After a few minutes of waiting, I exited my car and peered in through the window.
Natalie was with a male that I saw, and they appeared to be enjoying themselves. They were very much acquainted with one other. I was shocked to see her lean forward and kiss the man’s cheek, even though I knew it.
I decided to hide in some bushes beside the fence because I wanted to explore the area more. It was then that I saw Natalie emerge from the home, wheeling a little girl in a wheelchair. I stared at them, and they both smiled at each other.
I was lost in my own reverie, not realizing until I was startled by a dog’s yelp that it was approaching. When Natalie realized it, her eyes widened in terror as she peered around the garden. I tried soothing the dog. That’s when I heard her.
“Who is present? I will call the police. Natalie yelled because she thought I was someone else amid the chaos. As I ran away, the dog was biting my ankles and ripping my pants as I went over the fence. My wife not noticing me was the only thing I could hope for.
As I made my way back to my car, the photo of Natalie and the young girl in the wheelchair followed me. As I drove home, I was overcome with fear, uncertainty, and worry about having to face my wife.
When I got home, I got out of my torn clothes and waited on the bed. Eventually, I heard her car, so I got ready and headed to the living room. Natalie entered the house and apologized for being late due to work.
Taking note of her disheveled appearance, I murmured, “Natalie, please stop.” I have a lot of knowledge.
With a frown, she asked, “What do you mean?”
I firmly said, “I am aware that you are unfaithful to me.”
She appeared astonished and denied it, blaming her late nights on work. I asked more questions concerning the shady messages.
“Hank.” You took a peek at my phone? Horrified, she exclaimed.
Yes, in fact! Yes, in fact! I browsed through your phone. Really, I’m the villain here? With a note of hurt in my voice, I snapped back, “It’s me spending money on another family.”
Natalie looked genuinely shaken. “What subject are you talking about? What other family?
“Natalie, everything I saw. I got to see it for myself. I replied, “Go see a man and a girl instead of staying late to work at school.”
“You trailed me?”
With no shame, I answered, “Yes.”
With her arms up, Natalie let out a cry and raced towards our bedroom. “This is unbelievable,” she exclaimed. I followed after a short while, only to see her packing.
“Where are you heading?”
“I’m not certain. A motel or anything else,” she remarked, haphazardly stuffing her suitcase.
I grabbed her phone off the bed and exclaimed, “Fine,” before turning to leave. Back in the living room, I downloaded a tracking software just in case. I went back to the bedroom and put the phone back in its original location.
However, I noticed her expression and the sorrow I had brought about. I started pleading with her to stay instead of wanting to be angry. “Let’s talk,” I murmured. It’s something we can resolve. It’s not necessary for you to go.
With a swift “Yes, I do,” Natalie snapped back to him. “Just so you know, that man and that child you saw are actually my brother and my niece.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Why haven’t I met them yet?!” I persisted. But she didn’t answer, avoiding me as I trailed after her.
She slammed the front door, and I backed up, astonished. I screamed my fury out and threw everything off of our mantel. Gasping for air, I realized I had to find out more, so I looked inside our bedroom.
I couldn’t believe what I discovered inside her clothes—a hidden compartment containing cash, numerous counterfeit passports, a pistol, and a newspaper article about a bank heist.
“What?” I exhaled. “With whom did I get married?”
I felt truly disoriented. I packed the items into a suitcase, placed it in my car’s trunk, and drove to the motel, which I assumed was Natalie’s place of accommodation. Fortunately, I proved to be right and successfully bought Natalie’s room number discreetly from the receptionist.
When I knocked on her door, I pretended to be room service. She crossed her arms and let herself in. What additional subjects would you like to talk about, Hank? “I have promised not to cheat on you,” she moaned.
“I believe you weren’t disloyal to me,” I interrupted. I handed her the bag and asked her to explain the money, phoney paperwork, and weapon.
Natalie sighed and said she had arranged with thieves to carry out a bank heist in order to pay for her niece’s life-saving surgery. She then invited me inside. I listened and tried to take it all in, rubbing my chin in shock.
“You stole from a bank?” I whispered.
“Yes,” she said without sound. There was nothing else to do. My brother, my “Rabbit” Tom, was short on cash because Katie, my niece, was terminally ill. I had to do something. This happened before to our scheduled meeting.
“Nat, we must call the police.” But my friend Luke is the best criminal defense attorney in the state,” I began, putting my legal mind into overdrive. “You cannot continue to live this double life while waiting for the sword to descend. Come home with me, and we’ll figure something out together.
When Natalie met my eyes directly, I could feel the fear that must have engulfed her in the years after her bank crime. Still, I took her hand. I would stand by her side the entire time. Finally, she nodded, and we left for home.
We sat at the kitchen table drinking tea that Natalie had made at home. I suggested she get in contact with Luke so he could assist her in finding a good deal, but all of a sudden my eyelids became tired. I could only remember Natalie showing me to my bedroom.
I woke up the next morning, perplexed. I blinked rapidly to gather my thoughts. A strange redness in the sheets caught my attention, and I squinted my eyes to see a bloodstained knife on the other side of the bed.
When I thought back to the tea, it all made sense. Was she trying to manipulate me? To pretend she was no longer alive?
“Natalie!” I stood there, unsteady on my feet, and yelled. When I noticed a trail of blood running out of the bedroom, I gasped at the condition of my flat. Everything was a wreck. Everything was overturned, and the scene of devastation in the living room was worse than what I had witnessed the previous evening.
I couldn’t stop calling my wife. I tried using my palm to dab at some of the blood, but it didn’t work. I finally noticed movement outside and peered through the slats. I overheard my neighbor say that there was screaming coming from our house while he was chatting with two police officers.
I looked sideways and my automobile looked like it had been driven over rough terrain, but I couldn’t remember ever leaving the house. I quickly ran to the bedroom, changed, grabbed Natalie’s revolver, and jumped out the window as soon as the two police officers came over and started hammering.
They saw me and came after me, but I knew the terrain better. I kept thinking that I needed to find Natalie in order to find out the truth. But I couldn’t do it if I got discovered. The scene in the house was too strange. Natalie had done a fantastic job of trying to make it look like I’d hurt her.
When I saw the two police officers running away in the opposite direction, I was hiding somewhere. I waited, feeling more and more ill. I carefully slid out from beneath my cover after a while, my fingers trembling, and used the tracking app on my phone to find my wife.
I found Natalie’s phone in the tall grass at the location the program directed me to, which was a clear sign that everything had been prepared. Frustrated but unmoved, I decided to visit Natalie’s brother’s house.
I pounded nonstop after getting a cab to his apartment. When Tom opened it, I didn’t waste any time striking up small conversation. He pulled back and I took the revolver and aimed it at his face, raising my hands in the air.
I forced him to contact Natalie as soon as he came in. I didn’t hold back when the call was placed.
“Hi, Natalie. You sound surprisingly alive for someone who should be dead. I have not been put in prison, as you had planned. But here, Tom isn’t faring that well. If you don’t come here in the next six hours, I’ll kill Tom and Katie and point a gun at him.
You wouldn’t act in that way, she cried out.
I gave a fierce sneer. Would you like to challenge me? Not in my perspective.
Natalie begged, “Hank, please.”
I cut her off. “You’ve got six hours.”
I waited with the revolver clutched tightly around my neck while Tom and his daughter sat on the opposite couch. Even though I knew I should have felt awful, I didn’t care at the time.
The front door swung open and my wife came in. She froze, terrifying her brother and niece when she noticed her pistol. Natalie begged Hank to “please, please, leave them.”
“Nat, what made you pretend to be dead? Why did you do this?” I instantly stood up and blurted out my inquiries.
“I have no desire to go to jail. You wanted to file a report on me. I could not have anticipated such risk.
You are loved, Natalie. I spat. “Together, we could have handled anything.”
She said, “But I would have been alone in prison,” as she turned her head.
My lips quivered as I tried to come up with a plan to preserve our lives. The police suddenly shocked us by storming into the house and extending their arms. They went straight for me, and I told them everything my wife had done, even though I knew I should have been arrested for putting Tom and Katie in risk.
They took Natalie into custody after she finally opened up and revealed the truth to them. As they brought her off, our eyes met for the very last time and we said our silent goodbyes.
I turned to face Tom at that point. “I truly apologize for causing you any concern. Even if I didn’t want to, there was no other way I could convince Natalie to come.
The police also took me into custody. I tried to justify my actions from inside the patrol cruiser by stating, “You see, I had no other choice.” I needed her to get here.
“You should never use a gun to threaten someone.” If you had told the police what had happened and given it to us to handle, that would have been preferable.
I realized how severe my blunders had been and how much I wanted to go back and start over when I reflected on their statements. But I could only get better later on—I ought to give Luke a call first. I was in desperate need of his help.
