I Arrived Early Just In Time To Hear My Husband Announce His Mistress’s Pregnancy – Three Weeks Later Unbelievable Happened
After dinner, I went to the dressing room and grabbed my jewelry box to put it in the safe. That’s when I noticed. Jewelry was missing. Several pieces.
A pearl necklace that belonged to my grandmother, diamond earrings my parents gave me for my 16th birthday, and a gold bracelet with my mother’s precious stone charms. A sapphire necklace my father had given my mother for an anniversary was also gone.
My blood boiled. It wasn’t enough to steal my income; he had stolen my family memories. But I didn’t have time to deal with that now.
I went into the office, opened the safe where I kept all the important documents, and changed the combination. I stored the remaining jewelry, locked it, and left. I packed a suitcase and said goodbye to Jax with a kiss on the cheek.
Just to mess with him, I discreetly pocketed his car keys from the console table in the foyer, tucked them into my purse, and left the house. I didn’t go to the airport; I drove to a hotel downtown. I booked a comfortable suite, went up to the room, and finally took a deep breath.
I was alone, safe, and fully in control of the situation. An hour after leaving the house, my phone rang.
«Do you know where my car keys are?»
I feigned surprise. «I don’t know, honey, but why do you need the keys at this hour?»
«Oh, nothing, I just realized they weren’t here on the console table.»
I interrupted him. «Maybe they fell behind the furniture? Did you look closely?»
I heard an irritated sigh on the other end. «I’ll take a look. Have a good trip. Love you.»
I hung up and immediately opened the camera app. The sight of Jax ransacking the entire house, searching for the keys tucked away in my purse, was almost comical. He looked under the sofa, rummaged through drawers, and even crouched to look beneath the furniture.
After 15 minutes of frustrating searching, he grabbed his phone, typed something quickly, and collapsed onto the living room sofa with the expression of someone who just realized he has completely lost control. I smiled alone in the hotel room, but the night wasn’t over yet.
Half an hour later, my phone notified me that someone was at the front door. I activated the camera and saw three people entering the brownstone: Uncle Charles, Aunt Carol, and Madison.
They sat down at the kitchen table. Jax looked destroyed; his shoulders slumped, his face pale. Aunt Carol was visibly irritated, her arms crossed, her expression hard. Uncle Charles drummed his fingers on the table, impatient.
I turned the audio volume to max and put on my headphones.
«Explain exactly what is going on,» Aunt Carol demanded, her voice cutting.
Jax ran a tired hand over his face. «She hired a property management company to run the condos. All the tenants received notice. Starting this month, rent goes straight to the management company. New contracts, everything official. I no longer have access to anything.»
«And Madison’s condo?» Uncle Charles asked.
«She received notice too. New contract in a week, or eviction.»
Madison placed a protective hand over her belly. «Jax, I don’t have money to pay the rent, you know that.»
«I know,» Jax replied in a defeated voice. «You’ll have to stay with my parents for now until I sort this situation out.»
«Sorted out? How?» Uncle Charles practically spat. «You’ve lost control of everything. Years of planning, years taking care of that girl, and you let it slip away at the last minute.»
«I didn’t let it slip away,» Jax countered, raising his voice. «She suddenly got smart. She never questioned anything in five years of marriage, and out of nowhere, she decides to hire a management company.»
«Because you rushed her with that stupid power of attorney,» Aunt Carol shouted, pointing a finger at him. «You should have waited longer, earned more of her trust.»
«More trust? I’ve known her since birth. If that’s not enough trust, I don’t know what is.»
«Clearly, it wasn’t,» Uncle Charles muttered.
There was a tense silence. Madison nervously fiddled with the necklace she was wearing—my sapphire necklace—rubbing the pendant between her fingers.
«So, now what?» she asked in a weak voice. «What do we do, Jax?»
He sighed. «I’m going to try to convince her to sign the POA. It’s the only way to reverse this. With the power, I can undo the contract with the management company and regain control.»
«What are you going to say to make her sign?» Uncle Charles asked.
«I don’t know. I need to talk to her when she gets back from Japan.»
Aunt Carol leaned forward, her hands on the table. «Jax, listen to me closely. We did not take care of that child all these years just to end up with nothing. Do you understand? I didn’t endure that brat crying about her dead parents for free. Your father and I didn’t make such a sacrifice just for it to go wrong now.»
My stomach turned. The way she spoke about me, as if I were a burden, an investment that had to yield profit.
«I know mom,» Jax said tiredly.
«You know? Do you really know?» Uncle Charles joined his wife. «That company should have been ours too. Half of that money, half of those condos—it should all be ours. But her father got greedy and bought my share when the company was doing badly. He kept all the profits when it improved and then died, leaving everything to that spoiled kid.»
Aunt Carol shifted in her chair and continued. «She grew up in the best schools, she had everything she wanted, and she never worked a hard day in her life. Meanwhile, we were busting our backsides. Your father at that miserable store, me at that clinic, watching them from afar with that luxury life that should have been ours too.»
Uncle Charles nodded. «Exactly. That’s why, when they died, it was our opportunity—our chance to correct that injustice. Care for the girl, earn her trust, and when she turned 21, be so close that she saw us as her family. And it worked. She let us live in her house, she trusted you to manage the condos. She married you. Everything was perfect until you messed it all up,» Aunt Carol finished, looking at Jax with contempt.
«I didn’t mess anything up!» Jax slammed the table. «The plan was to wait for her to sign the POA, transfer everything to my name, and then file for divorce. Done. Over. Everyone goes their separate way. But she didn’t sign it.»
«Not yet, but she will,» Jax insisted.
«How are you so sure?» Uncle Charles doubted.
Jax hesitated. «I… I think she will. I’ll find a way. She trusts me.»
«She trusted you,» Aunt Carol corrected. «After this property management company stunt, I don’t know. She seems suspicious.»
They fell silent for a few moments. I remained in the hotel room, heart racing, recording every second of that conversation.
«What about us?» Madison asked. «You said you don’t have the rent money anymore. How are you going to support me? Support the baby?»
Jax ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. «I don’t know, Madison, I don’t know. The money I had saved was used for the trip, and the rest I lost gambling.»
«You lost it?» Aunt Carol almost screamed. «Jax, you promised you would quit.»
«I didn’t know I would be cut off from the rents this month. If I had known, I wouldn’t have gambled everything.»
«You’re an idiotic boy,» Uncle Charles said bluntly. «A fool. And now, how are we going to pay the bills this month?»
«I’ll fix it,» Jax insisted, but his voice lacked conviction.
Madison started crying. «You promised I wouldn’t have to worry about money. I quit my job, I fought with my parents, I left home. You promised you would take care of me, that we would have a good life, that the baby would have everything. And now you tell me you have no money, that you gambled it all away?»
«Madison, please.»
«No!» She stood up from the chair. «I can’t believe I was so stupid, all these years being the other woman, hiding, waiting, and for what? To end up pregnant, homeless, dependent on your parents’ charity?»
«Calm down, Madison,» Aunt Carol said without much sympathy. «We’ll solve this, and when we get the money, everyone benefits. You, the baby, everyone. But you have to be patient.»
«Patient?» Madison laughed humorlessly. «I’m four months pregnant, Carol. In five months, I’ll have a baby. I don’t have time for patience.»
«Well, you should have thought about that before you got pregnant,» Aunt Carol retorted coldly. «Have you never heard of birth control or condoms?»
The silence that followed was charged with tension. Finally, Uncle Charles broke it.
«We need a new plan. If Ava won’t sign the POA willingly, we’ll have to force her somehow.»
«Force her how?» Jax asked.
«I don’t know. Blackmail? Threats? Something that leaves her no option.»
«Blackmail with what?» Madison asked. «She has nothing to hide. Her life is perfect, clean, proper.»
«Everyone has something,» Uncle Charles muttered. «We just have to find what.»
Aunt Carol nodded thoughtfully. «Or, we create something. Plant some evidence, something that compromises her. Then we offer to fix it in exchange for the signature.»
I felt nauseous. They were seriously considering framing me for something fake just to get my signature.
«That’s too risky,» Jax said.
«More risky than losing everything?» Uncle Charles countered.
They spent a few more minutes discussing possibilities, each more absurd than the last. Finally, they decided to think it over and meet again in a few days. When they finally left, it was nearly 3 AM. I turned off the camera, my hands shaking.
This wasn’t just a financial scam, it wasn’t just infidelity; it was a conspiracy spanning over a decade. Since my parents’ death, perhaps even before, they had planned everything. Every gesture of affection, every word of comfort, every family moment—it had all been calculated, measured, and executed with precision. And I had believed it all.
When 7 AM arrived, I picked up the phone and called Mr. Harrison. He answered on the third ring. His voice was sleepy, but he became alert when he recognized my voice.
«Ava, what happened?»
«I have everything recorded, the full confession. They admitted the marriage was a scam from the beginning, that they cared for me only to access the inheritance, and that now they are planning to blackmail or frame me to force me to sign the power of attorney.»
There was a silence on the other end. «Are you safe?»
«Yes, I’m in a hotel. They don’t know where I am.»
«Send me the recordings right now and come to my office this afternoon. We are going to end this once and for all.»
At 2 PM, I was in Mr. Harrison’s office. He had already viewed the main recordings; his face was serious, his jaw tight.
«Ava, this is much worse than we imagined,» he began, opening a thick folder on the table. «But it’s also much better for your case.»
«How so?»
«The detective I hired finished his investigation. We have concrete proof of everything.»
He turned his laptop towards me. «Rents diverted to Jax’s personal account for 5 years. Bank statements showing excessive spending on online betting, casinos, gambling websites. Jax is a severe gambling addict.»
My stomach churned, but it wasn’t a surprise; I had discovered that last night.
«There’s more,» he continued, opening another tab. «The trips to Maui were all a lie. The detective obtained flight and hotel booking records in their names. Every year, the four of them went to a luxury resort. Jax, Madison, Uncle Charles, and Aunt Carol. Airline tickets, 5-star hotels—all paid with credit cards linked to the account where your rental income was deposited.»
He showed me the documents. Reservation confirmations, credit card statements, plane tickets—all in their names, all paid with my money. The dates matched perfectly, between December 25 and January 6, for the last 5 years.
While I stayed in Manhattan working, believing they were visiting relatives in Hawaii, they were partying with my money.
«What do we do now?»
He leaned back in his chair with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. «Now, we legally destroy them. Immediate divorce on grounds of adultery and fraud. With this evidence, Jax gets not a penny. We evict Charles and Carol from your brownstone, we file a civil suit for misappropriation for all the diverted money, a theft charge for the jewelry, and we can even consider the criminal avenue.»
«Let’s do it,» I replied without hesitation.
«Excellent. I will start preparing all the documentation; everything will be ready to file with the court tomorrow morning.»
I spent 3 days in the hotel, monitoring every movement through the cameras. Jax and Madison were growing increasingly comfortable in my condo. She had practically moved in, her things scattered around the house.
They behaved like a couple in every corner—the living room, the kitchen, my bedroom—every space profaned by their betrayal. On the third day’s afternoon, watching another deplorable scene through the living room camera, I had an idea.
I already had all the evidence I needed, but there was one thing I wanted to see in person, something that had to happen to make my plan even better. I needed to catch Jax red-handed, and I needed Aunt Carol and Uncle Charles to find out from me.
I waited for the right moment. On my phone screen, I saw Jax and Madison settle onto the living room sofa, drinking wine and laughing at something on his phone. They were completely relaxed. Perfect.
I grabbed my keys and left the hotel. My condo was 10 minutes away. Throughout the drive, my heart beat fast, not from nervousness, but from a strange mix of rage and anticipated satisfaction.
I parked in the building’s garage. I took the elevator up. I walked down the hall to my door. I took a deep breath. I glanced one last time at my phone to ensure the moment was right, and I opened the door.
The scene I found was exactly what I expected, but still, seeing it in person was different from watching it through a screen. Jax and Madison were on the sofa. She was sitting on his lap, wearing one of my silk nightgowns.
They were kissing, his hands tracing her body with the familiarity of someone who had been doing it for years. The sound of the door opening made them separate immediately. Jax turned his head and went white—literally white. All the blood drained from his face in two seconds.
