Betrayal Weekly - Betrayal Weekly | Brook

Episode Date: September 19, 2025

If you’re new to Betrayal, we want to share a recent episode from our sister show, Betrayal Weekly. On Betrayal Weekly, you’ll hear standalone stories of deception every Thursday. Each episode is told by the person who lived through it, and hosted by Andrea Gunning. This is Brook’s first-person account of surviving an unthinkable betrayal.  If you like what you hear, just search for Betrayal Weekly in your podcast app and hit subscribe.  Content Warning: Brook’s episode contains a description of pregnancy loss.   If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team, email us at [e-mail] and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod   To access our newsletter and additional content and to connect with the Betrayal community, join our Substack at betrayal.substack.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Vodam. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot.

But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the, cat, just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Dr. Maya Shunker, a cognitive scientist and hosts of the podcast, a slight change of plans, a show about who we are and who we become when life makes other plans. I wish that I hadn't

resisted for so long the need to change. We have to be willing to live with a kind of uncertainty that none of us likes. You can have opinions. You can have like a strong stance. And then there's your body having its own program. Listen to a slight change of plans on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's Financial Literacy Month, and the podcast, Eating While Broke, is bringing real conversations about money, growth, and building your future. This month, hear from top streamer, Zoe Spencer,

and venture capitalist Lakeisha Landrum Pierre, as they share their journeys from starting out to leveling up. There's an economic component to communities thriving. If there's not enough money and entrepreneurship happening in communities, they failed. Listen to Eating While Broke from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know, there's a lot to break down.

Gorsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real House Wise franchise, the drama, the alliances, and the T, everybody's talking about. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King

on the IHard Radio app, podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Hi everyone, it's Andrea. If you found us through the Hulu documentary, welcome to the Betrayal podcast. On this feed, you can listen back to all four seasons of the show, including season three, Stacey and Tyler's story. Right now, our team is busy working on season five, which launches in January of 2026. But in the meantime, we are bringing you new stories every Thursday on Betrayal Weekly.

Each episode is told directly by the person who lived through. it. And these stories are powerful. Today we wanted to share one of our recent weekly episodes. If you like what you hear, just search for Betrayal Weekly in your podcast app and hit subscribe. This is Brooke Story. I went down to D.C. thinking that I was making a parenting plan. And I came back with business cards for investigators and victims' assistance phone numbers in my luggage, doubting who I knew for the last five years. I'm Andrea Gunning, and this is Betrayal, a show about the people we trust the most and the deceptions that change everything.

Betrayal Weekly is officially back for Season 2. Whether you've been with us from the beginning or you're just tuning in, welcome. This season, we're bringing you some of our most riveting, emotional, and unforgettable stories yet. Starting with this one. So I had been married for 11 years. It was very shocking to me what little independence I had so easily fallen into. And I didn't want to be like that.

That's Brooke Fisk. She's an ICU nurse from upstate New York. When she was 32, she divorced her first husband and started over. The first couple of months were scary and lonely. You know, I would come home from work and the house. would be empty because the kids would be at their dads, and it would be quiet, and I would sit down in the kitchen and look around and not know what to do with myself. Brooke was a newly single mother of two, sharing custody with her ex. This transition made her

painfully aware of how much she sacrificed in her marriage. She wanted to rebuild a life where she was in control. So when I got divorced, really my focus. for that first year was to become independent and maintain my independence. And I really thrived at that. She bought a small house and fixed it up on her own. I would watch YouTube videos on how to fix things and how to maintain things. And it was very empowering figuring out how to do that stuff. When she started dating again, she was careful.

Her kids had already been through enough change. I was on dating apps and I would meet people and go on dates and have a lot of fun with that. But whenever it got to the point of somebody wanting to get serious, I think that it would scare me and I would back right off. She didn't want a boyfriend and she definitely didn't want to get married again. If she was looking for anything, it was just someone to go on dates with. Her life was busy enough with her two kids and a demanding job in the ICU. I worked nights, and it was an incredible experience. I loved working in the ICU.

I loved being able to really impact people's lives. That's where she met a medical resident. So his full name was Seconder, Emron, but I called him sick. A lot of his friends called him sick. One day, she was called into a room with sick and another doctor. They were talking about the patient's heart rate, and he said, well, his heart rate's up now. It must be because this nurse is in his room.

He was talking about Brooke. He shot Brooke a smile, which, you know, was funny and flirtatious and maybe a little inappropriate at the time. But, yeah, that was. was the first time I remember meeting him. A few weeks later, Brooke was working the night shift with sick when he asked her to help with a patient.

And once the patient fell asleep, Brooke and sick got to chatting. At the end of our conversation, he asked me if I would like to go out with him. And I said that I don't date doctors. He said, ever? And I said, no, I don't date doctors. I have a rule again. And he said, well, let me know if you change your mind. And after he left the room, the patient who I thought was sleeping opened her eyes.

And she pointed at me, she had a trache so she couldn't talk, but she mouthed the words, that man is for you. And I laughed and I said, no, he's not. And she said, yes, he is. Brooke didn't like the stereotype about doctors and nurses hooking up. You know, the nurse and the doctors sneak off into a supply closet because that's what's depicted on Grey's Anatomy. That's why she had the rule. No dating doctors.

But after a few weeks of flirtation, he won her over. She took his number and decided that just this once, she could break her rule. They started with an ice cream date, then long walks and dinners at his apartment. We really developed kind of a friendship-first kind of relationship. So we would spend a lot of time watching movies, going to movies. I taught him how to cook rice American style. I don't think either of us realized at the time how much closer we were getting

while we were doing those casual things. So that fall, We went out a couple of times and we started talking about, you know, where he came from, what my background was. And I knew that he had come for residency from Pakistan. He came from a family of doctors. In fact, his dad had owned a hospital in Pakistan. Like his older brother, sick wanted to stay in the U.S. and practice medicine here. where he grew up, men and women didn't do public displays of affection.

And I remember the first time that he held my hand in public, he was so awkward about it. And I was like, what are you doing? Are you holding my hand in public? You know, kind of joking with him. And he was like, yeah, I am. But he was so nervous about it. There was a real connection between them. But that didn't change Brooks' feelings about commitment. I was honest with him that I really wasn't looking for any kind of a relationship.

That, you know, I have kids at home and they're my first priority. He knew that I would only go out with him when my kids were with their dad. And he was accepting of that. He also said that he wasn't looking to get into a relationship or get married either. Regardless of what he said, Brooke could tell he was trying. He would always pay attention and notice details. He would notice how I took my coffee and make an effort to prepare it for me that way.

He knew which ice cream flavors I liked at which dessert restaurants. He was logical and thoughtful and funny and caring. After six months of dating, they realized that what was happening here was more than just a casual fling. It was probably late the next spring that he looked at me and he said, do you consider me your boyfriend? And I hadn't even thought about it. And I said, well, yeah, I guess I do.

Is that okay? It was definitely okay with him. Once they became official, they kept things quiet at work. A lot of our coworkers knew that we were together, but it was just kind of a thing that nobody really talked about. Occasionally someone would say, oh, I saw your boyfriend. But I would say, oh, do you mean Dr. Imran? You know.

Outside the hospital, they built a rhythm. When Brooke's kids were with their dad, she and Sick planned romantic dinners and weekend getaways. We loved to go on trips. What we really like to do is go to vacation spots and find the foods that they were famous for. It started with an impromptu road trip to Chicago. Sick drove with Brooke asleep in the passenger seat.

And I remember him waking me up as we were kind of driving into Chicago. It was nighttime. And Chicago was lit up. A lot of the buildings had purple lights on them for some reason. And he woke me up and he said, look, I called Chicago and had them light the buildings have purple for you because he knew that I liked purple. That weekend, they didn't have a plan. They just explored their way through the city.

We found this really awesome restaurant that had Pakistani food, and they were open all night. We went there at like 1 o'clock in the morning, this hole-in-the-wall restaurant, and it was the most amazing food. Next, they went to New Orleans. Even though I don't eat meat, we ate alligator.

It was pretty good. Back home in New York, they weren't living together, but they were in each other's lives in real tangible ways. About two years into dating, Sit came to her with a proposition. He moved out of his apartment and into a townhouse.

And he had said at one point that he thought that I would come and live with him. And I said, I can't come live with you. I have kids. And he said, well, you can just stay here when your kids aren't home. And I said, that's fine. And at that point, we had a conversation about how we really liked the life we had together. and we liked being together when we could be together, but that neither of us were really passionate about wanting to get married still.

Brooke had been careful about boundaries from the very beginning, especially when it came to her kids. For me, there was a lot of hesitancy about introducing someone to my kids. So there was a little bit of integration, but not a lot. We all went to the movies together a couple of times, and he came over for dinner a couple of times. Her kids really took to sick and enjoyed having him around. After that, he wanted Brooke to meet his family. His mom came to town, and he asked me if I would meet her, and she invited me for lunch and tea.

So I went over, and we had a really nice afternoon together. and we ended up talking about love. Sick was at work, so it was just broken his mom. And there was clearly a wink and a nod to the conversation because Sick hadn't been completely honest with his mom. Sick had told her that I was his friend, but she's a mom and she's not dumb. So I think she knew what was going on.

She asked me what I thought about arranged marriage and if I thought it was good or if I thought love marriages were better. And we had a nice conversation about love and she told me about meeting Six Dad and their marriage. I didn't get any sense of disapproval from her at all. She was very kind to me. The meeting went so well, Brooke and Sikh's mom started sending letters and care packages back and forth, which made sick a little nervous. I remember him being a little bit like, she's going to know, she's going to know. And I was like, I think she already knows. Brooke didn't see the big deal.

But for sick, his family expectations mattered, especially when it came to marriage. He talked about feeling like there was an expectation on him to marry a Pakistani girl. And his family wouldn't accept him marrying a white girl. And I asked him, well, what if you just don't get married? Would that be okay? Would your family accept that? And he said, I think so. And I said, well, okay, let's do that then.

Let's just not get married. Their agreement worked for almost four years. But when six residency ended, their relationship hit a crossroads. He started applying to fellowship programs across the country. We actually went to a couple of different places. We took a little road trip around for him to look at them and interview. The program he really wanted to go to was in D.C., a six-hour drive from upstate New York. Brooke made it clear that relocating wasn't an option for her family.

I don't think that trying to have a long-distance relationship is a good idea, especially given that I have kids and he's going to be living states away. And he acknowledged that, and we had a couple of conversations about it. But ultimately, he decided that it was important for him to go to this program. It was a program that his brother had done. So it was kind of a family legacy. It was bittersweet, but Brooke supported Sick. If he wanted to start his career in America, this really was for the best.

I was very happy for him. I congratulated him. I bought him a cake and helped him start looking for places to buy down there and helped him paint it and helped him pick out furniture. and decorate it. And then, you know, we kind of said goodbye after that. But of course goodbye wasn't really goodbye, as often happens in these relationships.

They knew they had an expiration date, but they were having a hard time letting go. I remember walking into the airport with tears streaming down my face, bawling after saying goodbye to him and a TSAH and came up to me and she said, are you okay? And I said, yeah, I just said goodbye to my boyfriend. But I'm sure she thought something was horribly wrong just from the amount that I was crying.

We said a lot of goodbyes that year. This began a new era of their relationship, one where they kept finding their way back to each other, weekend by weekend. We weren't in a relationship. We were not together. what we would end up doing is anytime either one of us had like a long weekend free or if it was one of our birthdays we would take a little trip together. For her 37th birthday, sick planned a trip to the Poconos. We stayed at a bed and breakfast up in the mountains, fireplace, woody, romantic getaway, candlelight,

lit dinners and fireside chit-chat every night, you know. Brooke didn't know it at the time, but what happened that weekend would affect the rest of her life. At the end of their trip, they said another tearful goodbye. It was a great time, but that whole weekend, sick had been keeping a secret. He just couldn't bring himself to tell her in person. He called me a couple of days later, and he said that, He wanted to talk to me, and he wanted to let me know that he had talked to his mom, and that he had agreed to let his mom arrange him a marriage.

There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of The Girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist.

I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the Girlfriends.

Trust me, babe. on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Everyone, I'm Ego Wodom. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like,

and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my eyes. way up through and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know,

the cat just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. You can have opinions. You can have like a strong stance. And then there's your body having its own program.

I'm Dr. Maya Shunker, a cognitive scientist and hosts of the podcast, a slight change of plans, a show about who we are and who we become when life makes other plans. We share stories and scientific insights to help us all better navigate these periods of turbulence and transformation. There is one finding that is consistent, and that is that our resilience rests on our relationships. I wish that I hadn't resisted for so long the need to change. We have to be willing to live with a kind of uncertainty that none of us likes. Listen to a slight change of plans on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, everyone. I'm Cheryl Stray, author of Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things.

I'm excited to share that I have a new podcast called Mind Over Mountain. In each episode, I interview athletes, adventurers, and adrenaline seekers to discuss the inner landscapes and life experiences that informed and inspired their extraordinary feats. I also bring a bit of advice into the mix so we too can better understand how to face our own seemingly insurmountable challenges. Do you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to pull out what you already have inside. We're coming into this world,

fighting for our lives. All I'm going to do is pull out what you already got inside. We're there to support and celebrate each other. And that's not like your story versus my story. You're going to walk up and over that dang mountain. You're not just going to put your mind over it. Yep, yep, exactly. And if I can't walk up and over it,

I'm going to go through it. Listen to Mind Over Mountain every Thursday on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. After a romantic getaway for Brooke's birthday, Sik called her with surprising news. He was moving forward with an arranged marriage. I was surprised because he had not been interested in an arranged marriage and hadn't expressed any interest in it. She always thought Sick wanted a love marriage. And when he broke the news, he didn't even seem excited about the idea. He seemed resigned to it.

He seemed sad about it. He talked about it like he was going to get a girl who wanted to marry a doctor. Brooke tried to hide it, but she was hurt. I felt sad, but I think that part of me had been expecting it because we'd basically been trying to say goodbye for a year. So even though part of me felt like he was still mine, he really wasn't mine anymore. If he was serious about pursuing this, that meant their relationship had to be over. I told him that if that was happening, then we really needed to stop talking to each other

because it wasn't fair to another woman to think that she was getting a husband. and have her husband over here in the United States talking to me and going on trips with me. That's just not fair. And he agreed. And for all the times we had tried to say goodbye over the past year, I think that finally seemed to be the thing that let us stop talking to each other. After that conversation, I think we went the longest period we had ever gone without talking. It was over two weeks. Neither of us reached out. And then I realized my period was late. So I took a pregnancy test and it was positive. Brooke knew it happened during their Poconos trip. The moment I realized I was pregnant, I started thinking about the baby and

who he was going to be. I really just felt like that was my baby from the minute I knew I was pregnant. It felt like a gift from the universe. She knew this would be her last baby. And it just felt right. But now, she faced another decision.

I wasn't sure if I should even tell him. Part of me thought, if I don't tell him, he'll never know. And I just have the baby and go on with my life and he can go on with his life. On the other hand, it felt wrong to keep this from him. Is it fair of me to not give him that choice and that opportunity to take part in his child's life? I knew how much I liked being a parent, and I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to be in my child's life. So I decided to tell him

because I thought that it was the right thing to do. She told him over the phone. He was quiet for a few seconds. And then? His immediate reaction was to ask me to have an abortion. I told him I couldn't. And he didn't have to be involved. He didn't have to financially support the baby.

He didn't have to have anything to do with the baby. I was already a single mom. I loved having kids. I'm good at raising kids. If he doesn't want to have the baby, that's fine. She went to the doctor and learned the baby was perfectly healthy. It was a little boy. I was already picking out names before I was even showing because I already knew who he was.

I decided to name him Mackay and call him Kai for short. But Sick wasn't on the same page. After she told him, he started spiraling. That started months of phone calls and text messages, begging and pleading with me to have an abortion and telling me that I was ruining his life, that this was going to cast shame on his family in Pakistan, that his mother was going to be ridiculed, and he was going to be an outcast, and that I was causing him mental anguish.

She understood that having a baby outside of marriage wasn't part of his plan. But plan or not, this was happening. All of that text message and the phone calls about, you're ruining my life, you're ruining my mom's life, that all made me pretty mad. She kept waiting for sick to come around. But every time she talked to him,

he tried a new tactic. One day I was sitting on my bed and I was on the phone with sick and he said that he had talked to a friend of his who was an OBGYN, and that his friend had told him that I could take Mesa Prostel, that it would abort the baby and that I could do it right there at Sixth House and it would all happen very easily. and I wouldn't even need to go to the hospital or anything and SIC could be there with me the whole time and SIC asked if I would be willing to do that

and I said absolutely not no he said that he wasn't trying to pressure me but that we were running out of time because we could only do this in the first trimester and my first trimester had been coming to an end so he wanted me to do this and I said no. When she started the second trimester,

the conversation was over. She'd made her choice. The window for second-guessing had closed. Now that it was official, Brooke shared the news with her two kids. We had a little gender reveal cake for the baby. We went shopping and bought him a bunch of clothes and some stuff for his crib.

She didn't hear from sick for a few weeks. But when he did reach out again, he'd had a change of heart. Eventually, he starts talking about setting up a bank account for me and the baby. And then he asks me if I'll come down to see him so that we could figure out a parenting plan and figure out a way that we could have this baby together and him still be in D.C. and maybe in New York. but still have this baby together. Finally, the sick she knew was back. She made plans to drive down to D.C.

right after her four-month ultrasound appointment. The morning that I left, I went to the doctor. We did a fetal heart rate. Everything looked good. And I left and set off to go down to D.C. to see him. I drove. The whole way down there, he's texting me reminders to get up and walk. so I don't get a blood clot,

reminding me to drink water, asking me how my drive is going. When she got to Sixthouse, he gave her a long hug. Everything seemed back to normal. Except for one thing. He didn't say anything about my belly. He didn't try to touch it or anything like that.

When he came to the baby, he still seemed to have a wall up. He hadn't even wanted me to tell him the gender of the baby. So I knew it was a boy, but he didn't. At one point that evening, I did start to bring up the baby, the pregnancy, and he said, let's wait and talk about this tomorrow. And I said, okay. And the next morning, we got up and we start making breakfast together, which we've done hundreds of times before. I'm making eggs and he's making coffee.

And he's making coffee that we have gotten when we went to New Orleans. And it's this chicory root coffee. So it's a little bit stronger. So when I started drinking it, I noticed that it burned my stomach a little bit. And I kind of just thought, But, you know, I'm pregnant. I probably shouldn't be drinking so much coffee.

I'm probably developing an ulcer. Maybe I shouldn't drink this. So I didn't finish my cup of coffee. I set it aside, finished breakfast, and went on about our day. Got ready, went shopping. But as soon as they got to the mall... I was having a queasy feeling, so I ended up going into the bathroom quite a few times. At some point, he asked me if I was feeling okay.

And I told him, no, that I had an upset stomach. His response was just, oh, okay. And that struck me in that moment as being very odd, because he normally would have asked if I needed anything or gotten me a drink or had some follow-up to make sure I was all right. And in that moment, I remember thinking that I wondered if he was hoping that something was wrong. And then, of course, I convinced to myself to put it out of my mind. As the day went on, she started to feel better.

So they decided to get takeout and go back to his place. After dinner, he put on my favorite movie and said that he was going to make me a cup of tea for my stomach. So it was dark in the room. He brought me the tea. And when I tasted it, I noticed that it was unusually sweet, which was not how I took my tea. And he said that he had accidentally put in both sugar and honey, which was odd because he always remembered how I took my tea. But I drank it anyway. And when I got toward the bottom of the cup of tea, I took a sip of it.

and there was grit in the bottom. And from being a nurse, I knew that texture was ground-up pill. So I spit it back in the cup and I put the cup down and I said that I had to go to the bathroom.

I went into the bathroom and I put my finger down my throat and then I put a toothbrush down my throat to try to make myself throw up, and I couldn't. And I sat there in the bathroom, and I wasn't sure what to do. As the minutes passed, she started doubting what she'd seen at the bottom of her cup. I've known him for years. I've been dating him for years. This man loves me. The man I know wouldn't do that.

And then I remembered that conversation where he told me that his friend suggested that I take Mesa Prostal, and it would cause an abortion, and I told him no. And I just, I knew that's what he did. But then I kept going back to, maybe I'm crazy. Maybe there weren't pills in my cup. He wouldn't poison me, so maybe I'm insane. But then if he did that to me, what else would he? do. If I go out there and he knows I know and he actually did it, will he kill me? If he wants to get

rid of the baby, is so bad that he'll poison me? Is he going to kill me? So I can't let him know that I know. In that moment, she came up with a plan. And before we keep going, I want to flag that what Brooke is about to describe could be emotionally triggering for some listeners. If you've had a experience with pregnancy loss, please take care while listening. Now back to Brooke, here's what she decided to do. I'm going to wait until he goes to sleep and I'm going to sneak out of the house and I'm going to go to the hospital. And so I sat down on the couch with him and the movie was almost over and I told him that I was tired and I wanted to go to bed. And so the movie ended and

he got up to take my dishes to the kitchen and I said, I'll take them. And he said, no, I'll take them. And he pulled them out of my hands, took the dishes to the sink. And I saw him tip the cup into the sink. And then he went into the bathroom. And when he went into the bathroom, I thought, I have to know. So I turned on the kitchen light and I looked and there was pill fragments in the of the cup. So I got a plastic baggie out and I scooped out the rest of the pill fragments

that were in the cup and I zipped him up in the little plastic baggie and I hit him in my purse. And I thought when he goes to sleep, I'll go to the hospital because now I don't so much think I'm insane. I think he probably did poison me. But now I really do need to wait until he's asleep. Now that she had seen the proof, the panic came flooding in. What had he given her and how much of it did she drink. But she had to stay calm so she could get out and get help. So I got ready for bed and I laid down next to him and I just listened to him breathing and waited to hear his breathing change.

So I could hear when I got deeper so I could sneak out of bed. And while I was laying there, I felt a pop and I felt myself start bleeding. I got up and ran into the bathroom and I was bleeding and I started crying and laid down on the bathroom floor.

At this point I was almost 20 weeks along four months pregnant the baby was fully formed so having this happen in his bathroom at his apartment is certainly medically dangerous for me. And he came in and he said,

what's wrong? And I said, the baby's dying. You need to call 911. And he said, no, you're fine. I'm a doctor. I can take care of you. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl.

You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And Rule 2, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends... Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me?

The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Wodom. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo.

My dad gave me the best advice. ever. I went and had lunch with him one day and I was like, and dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar

of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right. It wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Yeah. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can have opinions. You can have like a strong stance. And then there's your body having its own program. I'm Dr. Maya Shunker, a cognitive scientist and hosts of the podcast, a slight change of plans, a show about who we are and who we become when life makes other plans. We share stories and scientific insights to help us all better navigate these periods of turbulence and transformation. There is one finding that is consistent, and that is that our resilience rests on our relationships. I wish that I had a

resisted for so long the need to change. We have to be willing to live with a kind of uncertainty that none of us likes. Listen to a slight change of plans on the I-HeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, everyone. I'm Cheryl Stray, author of Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things. I'm excited to share that I have a new podcast called Mind Over Mountain. In each episode, I interview athletes, adventurers, and adrenaline seekers.

to discuss the inner landscapes and life experiences that informed and inspired their extraordinary feats. I also bring a bit of advice into the mix so we too can better understand how to face our own seemingly insurmountable challenges. Do you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to pull out what you already have inside. We're coming into this world, fighting for our lives.

All I'm going to do is pull out what you already got inside. We're there to support and celebrate each other. And that's not like your story versus my story. you're going to walk up and over that dang mountain. You're not just going to put your mind over it. Yep, yep, exactly. And if I can't walk up and over it, I'm going to go through it. Listen to Mind Over Mountain every Thursday on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Brooke planned to get out of Sixth House quietly and drive herself to the hospital. Before she could, she started bleeding. Four months into the pregnancy, she knew she needed to get help quickly. But when sick found her on the floor of the bathroom, he didn't want to call an ambulance. And I said, you need to call 911. And he said, no, you're okay. I'm a doctor.

You're going to be fine. I didn't know if he was refusing to call 911 because he wanted to kill me. She was terrified for herself and for her baby. Part of me was really hopeful that Maybe if I could just get to a hospital. Somehow the baby was going to survive. So I was desperate for him to call 911.

I said, you don't understand. Your son is dying. Your son. And if you don't call 911, then I will. She hadn't told him the sex of the baby until this moment. When she called the baby his son, something shifted for sick. and then he said, okay, I'll call. And he went and he called 911.

And then the ambulance came. And at this point, I was bleeding a lot more. The paramedics picked her up from the floor and laid her on the stretcher. As they're pushing me out of the apartment, I see my purse sitting on the counter. and I remember that the pill fragments are in a baggie in my purse. So I ask the paramedic to hand me my purse, and he says, you don't need it. And I say, no, I want my purse. And sick picks it up, and he says, I'll take it.

I have another moment of panic thinking, if the paramedic asks me for my nurse, insurance card, sick is going to open my purse and he's going to see that baggy in there with the pills in it and he's going to get rid of it. So they blowed me into the ambulance and sick gets into the ambulance with us. I just keep thinking if I can get this paramedic to just make eye contact with me, he'll see in my eyes that I'm afraid and I don't want sick here. But the A paramedic was too busy triaging Brooke to notice. All the while, sick stayed right by her side, acting concerned. So we get to the hospital and the whole time, sick is holding my purse.

Finally, we got up to labor and delivery and he sets it down on the counter in the room. Sick wouldn't leave her. And he made it known that he was a doctor. She's right there the whole time, right next to my bed. helping them move me from stretcher to bed and talking to the doctor about their medical training and where they've both worked. And he's that normal person that everybody likes in that room. Finally, he goes into the bathroom and I whisper to the nurse to make him leave. I could just see the color drain out of her face.

she looked at me and she whispered back, are you okay? And I said no. A couple of minutes later, the charge nurse came in and got sick and said that she wanted to show him the father's lounge and she took him out. And then the nurse and the doctor came and asked me what was going on. And I said, I swear I'm not crazy.

But I think he poisoned me. I found pills in my tea. and they're in a baggie in my purse. The nurse went into Brooks bag and grabbed the Ziploc with the pill fragments. She wanted to send them to the lab for testing. Not long after that, my water broke. And Kai was born. He was not alive.

Art of me still hoped he would cry when he was born, but he didn't. But they wrapped him up in a blanket, and put a little tiny hat on him and brought him to me. They let me hold Kai for a couple of hours. When I was holding Kai, I wasn't thinking at all about what Sick had done. It was more thinking about the loss. Even though Kai wasn't alive,

still looking at him, there was sort of this amazement about who he was as a person, which is odd to say about somebody who wasn't alive, to recognize who they are as a person. But he was, he was a little person with little long fingers and long toes, and that's what I was thinking about when I was looking at him, that he probably would have played basketball. and he would have been tall. And maybe he would have played piano

because he would have had long piano playing fingers. Probably sounds strange to somebody who hasn't lost a baby. But that's what I was thinking about in that moment. Sick was in the room too. When he saw what Kai actually looked like, Sick cried. I almost think that that is the first time sick realized that it was a whole human. I think that was really the first time that it was real in his mind, that that was his son.

After they took Kai's footprints and filled out the paperwork, his body was taken for an autopsy. 7 a.m. rolls around and the day shift nurse comes in, and she takes a.m. me in the bathroom and she very quietly asks me what happened. Once again, Brooke told the story. And she says, what are you going to do? And I said, I don't know. I don't know what to do. And she said, if there is any part of you that thinks that this man poisoned you and killed your baby,

you need to report him. Brooke agreed. And she said, have you asked him? Have you asked him if he did this? And I said, no. And she said, I think you should. So they went back in the room just as sick was walking back in. And he said he was going to go back to his apartment and take a shower, get changed, and bring me some clothes.

And I said that before he left, I wanted to answer. ask him a question. And I asked him, did you poison me? And he said, do you honestly think I would do that to you? I said, yes, I do. And I told him, I found ground up pill in the bottom of my cup, and I gave it to the nurse, and they're going to have it tested. So if you did this, you need to come clean with me right now. And he started crying, and he put his head down on the bed. He was sitting in a chair next to the bed, and he put his head down on the bed and just started bawling.

And he told me that he had put Mesa Prostal in my coffee that morning, and that's why I had a stomach ache. And when it didn't work, he... ground up more and put it in my tea that night. It was the final confirmation. She just stared at him in silence, heartbroken. Sick continued talking and tried to rationalize what he'd done. And he said that the reason that he did it is because he knew that I loved him

and I wanted to do what was best for him. but he knew that if I made the decision to have an abortion, I would be unhappy about it. So he was making the decision for me so that I wouldn't have to live with it. He said it like he thought that he was doing something benevolent for me. But he wasn't. He was taking from me, somebody that I loved, somebody that I wanted in my life. life. And he was justifying it and acting like he was doing it for my benefit. He really seemed to believe he had done the right thing.

I couldn't believe what he was saying to me. I couldn't believe it. I felt betrayed. I felt like that's not your decision to make. And he was completely selfish rather than taking on what he thought was going to be ridicule. He was causing pain to other people. That's a coward. And while he was saying it, there's a knock on the door to my hospital room. And that was the police.

The police took sick into another room for questioning. And he confessed that he had poisoned me. So they arrested. He arrested him and took him to jail. Brooke wouldn't see him again until his sentencing hearing. But Sick had left his phone with her, so she picked it up and made a call. I called his brother, who lives here in New York, and I told his brother, Sick had been arrested, and what he had been arrested for, that he had poisoned me and killed our baby.

and his brother said he didn't know that I was pregnant. I said that I couldn't take care of sick anymore. That he was not my responsibility, and he needed to come down here and take care of his brother. Before they hung up, Sikh's brother had one more thing to say. While he didn't know that I was pregnant, And they did know that Sick and I were seeing each other. And his mom had known for years.

She'd known since the day she met me. And they had just been waiting for him to tell them. It was a tragic revelation. The pressure sick put on himself to live up to his family's expectations was self-imposed. His family would have accepted Brooke and their son. Brooke called a friend who flew down to D.C. to pick her up at the hospital. Before they started the drive home, they stopped by six apartment to get Brooke's bags.

The police met us there. It was very strange to go in. There's crime scene tape in his apartment, and it's been ransacked by the police. Just an odd feeling, knowing that that's now the scene of a crime, and it's a place that you painted and decorated. The police had turned the apartment upside down to find more evidence. And they did. They found white powder in a pack of 100 misoprystal tablets with 10 doses missing.

He had given her all 10 in one day. It was a massive overdose. So he had given me 200 milligrams in the morning. And then when that didn't work, he gave me an additional 600 milligrams. 600 milligrams in the evening. He probably needed to give me that dose because I was way further along in pregnancy. The police told Brooke they'd be in touch,

and that was it. The drive back to New York was awful. There's no eloquent way to say that. It was just awful. I cried most of the way back. I missed my baby. I went down to D.C. thinking that I was making a parenting plan. And I came back missing my baby with business cards for investigators and victims' assistance phone numbers in my luggage.

Doubting who I knew for the last five years, my whole world had changed. And then came the regrets, even though she knew it wasn't her fault. All she wanted was to go back in time. You know, blaming yourself. I wish I had never driven down there. I shouldn't have done that. I should have known better. I've worked through that.

I don't still blame myself. But at that time I did. I kept thinking that. How stupid was I to drive down there? When she got home, the loss became even more real. Because she had to find a way to tell her, her kids. Not only was I dealing with my own emotions, but I had to tell my kids that I wasn't pregnant anymore and they weren't getting a baby brother. And not only were they not getting a baby

brother, but their baby brother was murdered. And not only was he murdered, he was murdered, he was murdered by somebody that they knew and trusted. And I have to help them through that While I'm trying to manage my own emotional fallout from this and also figure out what to do about this criminal case, I can hardly function to get dinner on the table. Her kids weren't just mourning a baby brother. They were mourning a sense of safety, and Brooke had to carry all of it. She took leave from work, leaned on her friends, and found a therapist. pissed. Even with all the support, she stayed awake at night, trying to make sense of what happened.

I really went through this period of wondering if I ever knew him at all. And did I ever see him? Or was I fooling myself? Was he a monster this entire time? And I just didn't want to see it. And I really did have to think about that. Because Either I loved a monster and never knew he was a monster. Or I loved a man and then he became a monster. One of those is true. Her heart tells her it was the latter. I had to objectively look at the person that he was

and look at his actions leading up to that time and look at the way he treated people, I really think that I loved a man who became a monster. Sick was charged with premeditated fetal homicide. He initially pled not guilty. I didn't want to go to a trial. I really just wanted him to plead guilty and take responsibility for what he did.

That's when I decided to speak out about what had happened. Brooke went to the local news to tell her story. After I talked to the media, he changed his mind and decided to plead guilty. After that, the only thing left was the sentencing hearing. He was facing 20 years to life in prison. He's not an American citizen. So whenever he completed his sentence, he was going to be deported back to Pakistan. So when he decided to plead guilty, what I decided to do was to ask for leniency for him.

So I wrote a letter to the judge and asked for leniency. And I explained to the judge that my son is gone. My son is dead. Kai's life is over. He will never do anything. with his life, he's gone. He won't have a chance. But Sick still does.

He still has a chance. And I would hate to see two lives be gone because of this. And I really think that rather than wasting the rest of his life, sitting in prison, sick owes it to Kai to do something. with his life. The judge wrote my letter and granted him leniency and sentenced him to four years in prison. Otherwise, he would have given him 20 years to life. Sick was released from prison in 2021 and deported to Pakistan.

Today, it's been eight years since the crime. And despite everything she's gone through, she manages to live a joyful and fulfilling life. Today, I have finished my master's degree in nursing, and I'm teaching nursing. I do Brazilian jiu-jitsu a couple of times a week as a fun hobby and exercise. It's very empowering. I love doing that. She and her kids chose to memorialize Kai. His brother got a burial plot and set a prayer over him, and we buried him in a cemetery here. So he's got a little gravestone in a cemetery up here in upstate New York with his little superhero on it.

And it says superheroes never sleep. We end all of our weekly episodes with the same question. Why do you want to share your story? When people hear my story, it is a little bit shocking. And people often say, oh my God, I can't believe that happened to you. But what I like people to take from it is no matter what happens, no matter what you go through, you'll get stronger and you learn to carry it. I was surprised that I made it through.

I was surprised by the amount of strength that I came up with and looked at. at it from the other side, I look back and I think, wow, I made it through that. If I could make it through that, people can make it through anything. They really can. Next week on Betrayal Weekly. I go, what are you involved in? Are you being investigated by the FBI? And he looked at me so coldly.

Like he never knew me. And he said, if I go down, I'm taking you with me. If you would like to reach out to the betrayal team or want to tell us your betrayal story, email us at Betrayalpod at gmail.com. That's Betrayal P-O-D at Gmail.com. We're grateful for your support. One way to show support is by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts. And don't forget to rate and review betrayal.

Five-star reviews go a long way. A big thank you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group and partnership with IHeart podcasts. The show is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fasin. Hosted and produced by me, Andrea Gunning. Written and produced by Monique Laborde. Also produced by Ben Federman. Associate producers are Kristen Mulcuri and Caitlin Golden.

Our IHart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Kreincheck. Audio editing and mixing by Matt Delvecchio. Additional editing. support from Tanner Robbins. Betrayals theme composed by Oliver Baines, music library provided by Mib Music. And for more podcasts from IHeart, visit the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Vodom. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo.

My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall, and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that.

There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Dr. Maya Shunker, a cognitive scientist and hosts of the podcast, a slight change of plans, a show about who we are and who we become when life makes other plans. I wish that I hadn't resisted for so long the need to change. We have to be willing to live with a kind of uncertainty that none of us likes. You can have opinions, you can have like a strong stance, and then there's your body having its own program.

Listen to a slight change of plans on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. It's Financial Literacy Month, and the podcast, Eating While Broke, is bringing real conversations about money, growth, and building your future. This month, hear from top streamer Zoe Spencer and venture capitalist Lakeisha Landrum Pierre, as they share their journeys from starting out to leveling up. There's an economic component to communities thriving. If there's not enough money and entrepreneurship happening in communities, they failed. Listen to Eating While Broke from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeart. Art Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. On a recent episode of the podcast, Money and Wealth with John Hobriant, I sit down with

Tiffany the budgetista Aliche to talk about what it really takes to take control of your money. What would that look like in our families if everyone was able to pass on wealth to the people when they're no longer here? We break down budgeting, financial discipline, and how to build real wealth, starting with the mindset shifts. Too many of us were never, ever taught. ever felt you didn't get the memo on money, this conversation is for you to hear more. Listen to Money and Wealth with John Hope Bryant from the Black Effect Network on the I'd Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.