"My wife is out of town. I can’t wait to have you in my arms!" Lauren receives an anonymous text with a screenshot of her husband's chat and decides to catch him with his mistress. She hides on the balcony and sees him entering the bedroom with their teen son's teacher.
45-year-old Lauren’s phone pinged while she was packing for her business trip to Miami. She curiously opened the message from an unknown number and found a shocking screenshot of her husband Dustin's intimate chat with another woman.
"My wife is out of town and the kids are at their Grandma's place. We'll have the house to ourselves tonight, babe!" read 46-year-old Dustin's text. “I can’t wait to have you in my arms, and in my bedroom ;)”
Lauren could not believe her husband of 25 years had cheated on her.
But she couldn’t just stand there, crying, when she’d done nothing wrong. She had to unravel the depths of this affair. Lauren hid her luggage and turned off all the lights to make it look like she’d left for the trip. She then hid behind the dense potted palm on the balcony.
Hours of anxious waiting ended when she heard Dustin's SUV on the gravel driveway. Her heart started racing, wanting to see who Dustin's woman was.
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Lauren peered through the curtain and witnessed her husband brazenly entering the bedroom with his mistress minutes later. Her eyes widened in utter disbelief when she recognized the woman as Madison, her teen son's, Math teacher.
Reclining on the bed, Madison mischievously extended her slender finger and beckoned to Dustin. In split seconds, he removed his shirt and cozily settled beside Madison.
Lauren couldn’t watch anymore. She bolted from her hiding place and burst into the bedroom, giving Dustin the nastiest surprise of his life.
"DUSTIN, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Lauren yelled.
Dustin sprang to his feet. "La—Lauren…You…you’re home?" Dustin stuttered. "I thought you…"
"You thought I’d be on my flight to Miami while you fool around with your mistress…ON OUR BED! How sick!"
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"Hold on, Lauren," Madison chimed in. "I'm NOT your husband's mistress. I'm his DAUGHTER! And I sent that text to your phone this morning," Madison said.
"H—how is it possible?" Lauren stammered, looking at Dustin for answers.
But his wide eyes were fixed on Madison as a thousand thoughts flashed in his mind. It felt like being pushed off the edge of a cliff as Dustin sank onto the bed, holding his head.
"Are you…Brooke's daughter?" he asked, agony etched on his face.
"Yes! I am," Madison replied, crossing her arms.
"Oh God…Now I understand everything," Dustin broke down, turning to Lauren. "Do you remember the day we fought 25 years ago?"
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It was the fall of 1995. Dustin and Lauren met at their usual spot in the park. Dustin had brought a bouquet of white roses and chocolates to surprise his girlfriend, but Lauren arrived with jolting news.
"It's just three years, Dustin," Lauren said. "We discussed this. My parents want me to study interior design in New York. I can't go against their word."
"Lauren, it's too far. Why don't you understand?" he argued. "I've just started a part-time job and can't travel that far to see you."
"I didn't ask you to visit me, Dustin. We can write letters…and call each other. God…why do you have to complicate things all the time? I'm going there to study, not leaving you forever. Can't you wait three years?"
Dustin wasn’t convinced. "A long-distance relationship won’t work. Let's break up. You do what your parents want you to do, alright? Forget me."
"Fine!" Lauren was shattered. She stormed off with tears in her eyes.
Dustin watched Lauren's slender figure disappear through the park gate. A year of whirlwind romance had come to an abrupt end, and he was terribly hurt.
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"Man, she just walked away. All she said was a lame FINE!" Dustin chugged his beer and spilled his heart out to his friends at the bar that night.
"Ah c'mon man…there are many chicks in the world," one of his friends assured, patting his shoulder. "Just forget her."
Dustin sadly nodded. He was drunk out of his mind when one of his friends approached him with a girl, who he introduced as Brooke. Brooke's beauty and her smokey gray eyes enthralled Dustin. The moment he locked eyes with her, thoughts of Lauren and their breakup faded from his mind.
"Can I buy you a drink?" Dustin said, his gaze fixed on Brooke as she flirtatiously smiled and nodded.
Things heated up quickly. Dustin and Brooke spent a long time at the bar. Once the party was over, Dustin drove Brooke to his one-bedroom apartment, where they spent a passionate night together.
Dustin woke up to the warm streaks of sunrays and found himself alone in his bedroom. Brooke had disappeared without a trace.
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Two weeks passed. Dustin was getting ready to meet friends when his doorbell buzzed. He slipped on his sneakers and casually opened the door, only to find Lauren standing on his doorstep with tears in her eyes.
"Lauren? What are you doing here?" he exclaimed in shock.
"I'm not going to New York. Being away from you…I realized that I love you. I can't be without you, Dustin. Please forgive me," she pleaded.
Dustin was stunned.
"Wait…what? Are you giving up on becoming an interior designer for me? What about your parents?"
"It's my life, and I've decided." Lauren smiled. "You're more important to me than my dreams. We can use the college money to start our future together. Shall we start over…fresh?"
Dustin was over the moon about getting his girlfriend back. Those two weeks without her…they were hell. He threw himself into Lauren's arms and kissed her. However, his one-night stand with Brooke flashed in his mind, and he withdrew from Lauren.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
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"Uh…nothing…come in." Dustin decided it was best if he kept quiet about that night with Brooke and just moved on for good.
Dustin and Lauren spent the whole day at his house, laughing and planning their future. They were cooking when Lauren asked him to buy some things from the nearby grocery store.
"...and we need some dark chocolate…and jalapeño," she said as Dustin kissed her and hurried out of his house.
He was excited about his dinner plans with Lauren until he saw Brooke standing outside his house. A cold sweat broke on his forehead.
"Brooke…what are you doing here?" Dustin rushed to Brooke. "Look…You can’t come to my house again, alright? What happened that night was an accident…we were drunk out of our minds. Please forget about it. You know, I—" Dustin anxiously explained, but Brooke interrupted him with a jolting revelation.
"Dustin, I'm pregnant…" she said.
"No…no, no…this can't be," Dustin panicked. "Brooke, we can't have this child, okay? Let's just terminate this pregnancy…please."
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"I’m keeping this child, Dustin," Brooke replied in a stern, cold tone. "I came here to ask if you're ready to be a father."
A grave silence engulfed Dustin. His heart started pounding. He wouldn’t risk losing Lauren again and knew he couldn’t parent that child.
"Brooke, look…I love Lauren. She came back…"
Brooke interrupted again.
"Fine! That's all I need to hear. I'm ready to hide the fact that you’re my baby's father. But I’ll need money to raise my child. $100,000 in cash. It’s not much since I'm going to raise this child alone. Give me the money, and you'll never see me again."
This was huge money for a young Dustin who had just started his first part-time job. He looked at Brooke pleadingly but realized she wouldn’t change her mind.
"Give me a few days, alright?" Dustin said. "I'll think of something. Now please leave before Lauren sees you."
"I'll be waiting for you at 11 a.m…at the park…two weeks from now," Brooke said as she turned away, leaving Dustin in a daze.
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Dustin faked a smile for Lauren when he returned from the store. They dined. Then cuddled on the sofa and watched a DVD. However, Dustin was haunted by Brooke's pregnancy. He didn’t know where to get the money to meet her demands. He looked at Lauren for a few seconds and remembered something.
When Dustin and Lauren first started dating, he’d snuck into her backyard to meet her. Spotting Lauren's father on the balcony, Dustin hid in their garage. There, he found an unlocked trapdoor concealed under trash bags. Inside it was a suitcase of money. Dustin had fled, pretending he did not see the money.
Now, Dustin smiled as a plan brewed in his mind. When Lauren fell asleep after the movie, he rummaged through her handbag and stole the key labeled 'Dad's Garage'.
The following evening, Dustin walked Lauren home. He watched the bedroom and living room lights go off in Lauren's house and approached the garage.
He slipped inside and took the suitcase with the money. Back in his apartment, he counted out a stunning $120,000 in cash. That same night, Dustin met Brooke outside her rented flat and gave her the money. She agreed to leave town...with their little secret.
"...I never saw her after that," Dustin finished with a heavy sigh.
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"I can't believe this!" Lauren yelled. "You were the thief who broke into my Dad's garage? You MURDERER! Dad had a heart attack after his money was stolen. You were there…with us…comforting me at the hospital when my Dad passed away! You told me the thief who stole the money would pay for his sins someday!"
"I…I'm sorry, Lauren…I had no choice…” Dustin found himself at a loss for words.
"How could you do this to me?" Lauren yelled.
"I sacrificed my dream for you! I lost my Dad because of you! I left everything behind for a man who cheated on me…and stole my Dad's money to pay for his secret child!"
At this point, Madison knew she could no longer keep quiet.
"My Mom never told me about my biological father," she chimed in. "I kept asking her who my father was. But she would never answer that question…until she was on her deathbed six months ago. Looking back at all the struggles my Mom and I went through because of this man, I decided to make him pay."
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"It was easy to track him down with the address my Mom gave me. I later discovered you guys got a bigger house in the same neighborhood. I landed a job as a teacher at your son's school. I was damn interested to know how the man who cheated on my mother lived after paying such a small price for his lies…and depriving me of a father."
Madison pointed to Dustin with a furious gaze. "I found out a lot of interesting things from observing him…the kind of secrets you would have never known despite being his wife! It's an immense pleasure to share what I found with everyone, Lauren!"
Madison then displayed a dozen photographs on the table — pictures of Dustin in compromising poses with several mistresses.
"That's your boss's wife!!" Lauren gasped as she stared daggers at her husband. Just then, Dustin's phone rang. It was his boss.
"Hello, Dustin…WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST GET IN MY MAIL?" Dustin's boss barked from the other end of the line.
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