Reddit Stories - ABANDONED on the HIGHWAY_ BETRAYED by a Sudden Call from the Past_

Episode Date: October 20, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #abandoned #highway #betrayed #suddencall #pastSummary:A gripping tale of being abandoned on the highway, only to be betrayed by a sudden call from the past. The unexpected turn of events leaves the protagonist reeling with emotions and questioning loyalties.Tags:redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, abandoned, highway, betrayed, suddencall, past, emotionalstory, unexpectedtwist, loyaltyissues, intenseplot, dramaticevent, thrillingnarrative, plot twist, fictionalstory, storytelling, characterdevelopment, writingpromptBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. Spouse left me on the highway after receiving a sudden phone call from his former partner while I was experiencing discomfort, instructing me to handle the situation on my own. Now his child's decision made him lose everything. So three days back, I-41F had a bit of an accident and hurt my wrist. It's nothing serious, it's just a sprain, but at the time when it happened, I was in a lot of pain. When it happened, only my husband Michael, 45M, and I were at home and I asked him to take me to the nearby ER so I could get this checked out because I had thought I had fractured my wrists somehow. Initially, he was very skeptical and unwilling to take me to the ER and kept telling me that it was going to be fine if I just put some ice on it.

But I didn't want to take any risks, so I convinced him to drive me but halfway through the ride. He received a call from his ex-partner and literally asked me to get out of the car because he had an emeritus. that he needed to deal with. We were just a couple minutes away from the ER, so I tried to convince him to at least drop me there before he left, but he refused and kicked me out, telling me to figure it out for myself because he had an emergency. I was in a lot of pain, but somehow, I walked to the ER myself and it was a 15-minute walk whereas by car, it would have only taken me a couple of minutes. When I got there, I was hot and sweaty because of the heat and the pain also felt worse. Anyway, while I was waiting,

I called my stepdaughter April and explained the situation to her and within 20 minutes, she showed up and she was the one who drove me home. April 22F is Michael's daughter with his ex. Let's call her Eva, 44F, but she and I are very close and she calls me mom. I've pretty much raised her since she was seven years old because Michael and Eva broke up when she was four and they don't really have that strong of a bond. So April was obviously very upset that her father had just kicked me out of the car when I was injured and then left me to walk to the ER, especially when I was in so much pain.

Even when we found out that it was just a sprain, she told me that it was still no excuse for my father to have treated me that way, and she was very upset with him. I didn't bother to defend him because I was pretty upset with him as well. When we got home, my hand was in a splint and I would have to wear it for three to four weeks, so I don't think that's nothing like Michael had been claiming and I think I did the right thing by getting myself to the ER. After we got home, April stayed with me and helped me out with everything, but I could tell that there was something bothering her. Then, in the evening, when Michael finally came back home, she sat all of us down and said some things that have caused a lot of problems, but even then, I'm proud of her

for taking a stand for me. She got me, Michael and our twin daughters, 15F, to sit in the living room, and then, she made an announcement saying that she had recently been contacted by her great uncle's lawyer and apparently, the man had left her a pretty significant inheritance. For context, her great-uncle is on Michael's side of the family and April was very close to him since they had a lot of common interests. He passed away recently and it's not surprising that he left so much money to April because he was quite well off and his own wife and kids had unfortunately passed away in an accident a long time ago, so we had expected him to leave something to April but we had no idea that he would leave her so much. We were happy for her, and I

about to come to congratulate her, but she had more to say. And then came the controversial bit, where she announced that she had been thinking about splitting her inheritance with her parents, that's me and Michael, but after what had happened today. And the way Michael had been behaving for the past couple of weeks, she had decided that it would be better for her to split the inheritance with me instead. Because right now, she didn't think that her father was treating any of us right, and of course, she wasn't exactly wrong. Eva had recently moved back here a couple of months ago and initially, she and Michael had started reconnecting his friends because she intended on spending more time with April and she believed that Michael could get it

to happen because he was closer to her. And April wasn't really interested in meeting her biological mother that often, because like I said, they don't have a strong relationship and that's mainly because of Eva and her work. Eva and Michael had broken up because she had to move away for work and they couldn't do long distance, and after that, her relationship with her daughter also started deteriorating. She would only come back home on alternate weekends to spend time with April, but as she made progress at work, she got busier and couldn't visit her that often. Sometimes, April would go without seeing her mother in person for months and even when she did

visit, it would only be for a couple of days. Initially, she used to resent her mom for not being there for her, but then, Michael and I got together and I was so nice to her that in her head, she pretty much started replacing her mom with me. And it worked out well for all of us because I really love April like one of my own daughters and she treats me like her mom. I'm sorry to say, but I don't think that Eva was ready to be a mom back then so she took the easy way out and tried to build a relationship with her daughter on her terms and as per her convenience. That didn't work out well for her and now, they hardly have a relationship. Now that Eva has returned, she tried to build a relationship

with April again, but she shut it down pretty quickly because now that she's an adult, she's already said in her ways and I don't think anyone can blame her. When she had the time and opportunity, Eva decided to prioritize her work and her life over her daughter, so this is not exactly unexpected now. So that's why she had to start speaking to Michael, trying to get him to repair the relationship between her and April, and basically just acting like a mediator. That's how it all started, from what I know, but recently, he has pretty much shifted his entire attention from his family to Eva. And it's not like we haven't discussed this already, I don't like his increasing closeness with her and I'm not a generally

insecure person, but it's gone to an extent where this is getting on my nerves. Both of them are in the same line of work, and they are thinking about starting a business together, and he has reassured me time again that they are interacting strictly in a business and platonic capacity, but even then. The fact that he goes over to his ex's place at least twice a week doesn't sit right with me and we've been bickering about it a lot. And then, what happened when I was on my way to the hospital? I can't seem to move on from that. So when April announced that she would be splitting the inheritance with me and her father would have to stay out of it, all of us were a bit awkward about it. But Michael instantly got to his feet and started accusing me of manipulating his daughter

against him and her mother. He didn't even say anything to April, who had actually made the announcement and that decision on her own. He straight up just started attacking me and told me that I needed to stop overreacting and getting insecure about every little thing. Michael was screaming in my face about how he had to leave only because he had some business emergency that he had to deal with and Eva had called him about a potential investor, which is why he had to leave, and I needed to stop being a drama queen because he was sure that my injury wasn't even as bad as I was making it out to be. He said that he knew that I was only shedding crocodile tears to make his daughter feel bad for

me and manipulate her into taking my side by making him out to be the villain. Until then, I was just dumbfounded but then, when he said that I had already replaced April's mother in her life, but I couldn't replace him even if I tried, that's when I finally lost it. I started fighting back and gave him a peace of my mind. I told him that he was the one acting irresponsible and crazy here, and if he thought that I was overreacting because he would spend half the week at his ex's place then maybe there was something wrong with him because anybody in my place would have already left him. So if anything, I was underreacting because I trusted him, but now, I don't think he deserves

to be trusted anymore. Clearly, his priorities had changed and me and his family don't matter to him anymore. It's all about Eva all of a sudden and all these sudden meetings that they were having. It didn't even matter whether they discussed business or April or whether they were just having an affair behind my back because now, I was done. At first, I hadn't been suspicious because I thought that he wouldn't jeopardize 12, years of marriage for his ex, but now, I wasn't so sure of that anymore. He got even more agitated when I implied that he might have been cheating on me and the fight just got worse, to the

point where we were just cursing at each other and April had to intervene and separate us so we could both calm down. After our fight, Michael walked out and didn't come back home until late at night. Even then, he just packed a couple of things from our bedroom and left without a word to me, but told April that he was going to be staying with a friend for a couple of days. Now, three days have passed, and I feel terrible about the fight. Even April hasn't been able to go back to her apartment and has had to work from home for the past three days because if she leaves, I'll be completely on my own until the twins come back home and that won't be until the evening because they have their co-curricular activities after

school. She hasn't complained about it and seems happy to be here with me, but even then, I feel like she's having to give up her privacy so she can be here for me. And it shouldn't be her responsibility, it should be Michael's responsibility. to help me out right now, but he's not even here. I feel really guilty for even creating the situation and I feel like if I had just kept my cool the other day, then we would have been able to sort the situation out without having everything get so out of control. April has told me several times that I shouldn't blame myself for any of this because if anything, it's her father who created this situation and I've already been dealing with him with a lot more patience and level-headedness

than most people but even then, I feel like this is all my fault. I'd have for getting into a a fight with my husband because he's been keeping in touch with his ex lately. Edit, okay, a couple of things that I think I have to address. First, I'm not shaming Eva for choosing her career over anything. In fact, I didn't even think that I was shaming her. I just thought that I was pointing out the facts. Eva did not choose her daughter, that's just a fact, and it's not my fault that April has a better relationship with me than her.

I put in the time, I put in the effort and she didn't, that's just how it works. She didn't try to be there for her daughter when she was younger, during her formative years, but I was there. And now, as an adult, she can try to build a relationship with her, but if April doesn't want it, then I don't think she can force it on her even with Michael's help. So I really don't know what they have been meeting about so frequently, since the business idea only occurred to them a couple of weeks ago and they've been working on it since then, but before that, they apparently only met to discuss April. And secondly, I'm not a complete fool. like a lot of you seem to think. I know that there might have been something going on with Michael

and Eva, I haven't completely ruled that possibility out, but it's just that it hurts me so much to even think about it that I didn't speak about it too much on my post and I have been actively trying not to think about it in my life. So I'm not clueless. I know that he might be having an affair, but I've just been trying to look the other way so far because it hurts me too much to think about it. It's obviously not the most healthy way to deal with it, but what else could I do? It's not like I had any hard evidence, it's just my suspicions and insecurity and even though I have spoken to him about it a couple of times now, he's always managed to reassure me that there's nothing going on between the two of them and that they are just friends. They have stayed in touch

for many years, even after they broke up because of course, they have a daughter together and until recently, I never had an issue with it. But now, I find it very uncomfortable and it's very embarrassing to even say it out loud because it makes me feel like a high school girl, but I really don't appreciate them having a relationship like this anymore because it feels like it's crossing the limit of what counts as Platonic at this point. Anyway, my point is that I know there might be something going on between the two. I just haven't been able to acknowledge it so far but now, I guess I have two. Update 1.

So, I spoke to April about whatever I was feeling. First off, I apologize for putting her through so much trouble because it's been a week since Michael walked out and she's been staying with me. She's been a great help because I can hardly do anything with my sprained wrist since it's the right hand that's been affected. So she's been helping me out with the chores that I can't do, and she's also been working from home like I said. I know it must be very stressful for her because even though I've had to switch to working

from home too, at least, I don't have to worry about the household work anymore and it's all thanks to her. I told her that I had been feeling really guilty about all of this because it was really not her responsibility since Michael should be the one here helping me out. right now. But she told me it was no big deal because even when she was younger, technically speaking, I wasn't supposed to be her responsibility because we are not even biologically related, but I went above and beyond for her. So this is the least that she can do for me, it got me really emotional, and I ended up crying and venting to her. I told her about my suspicions of her

father being unfaithful to me with her mom because of how much they've been hanging out lately and I thought that she would tell me that I was overthinking everything and that no matter how he was, Michael would never be able to cheat on me, but unfortunately, she just stayed silent. So I knew that she was thinking along the same lines, that there was no telling what Michael would do or not, at least at this point because things had already turned very bitter. After a while, she finally spoke up and she told me that while she wasn't exactly sure whether Michael had been cheating on me or not, she was sure that they were definitely not discussing her or trying to repair her relationship with her mom like they had said they were going to do

because for the past couple of months. She has hardly received any messages or phone calls from Eva. She wanted to talk to me about it and had been looking for the opportunity, but she didn't want to start any trouble between the two of us, and besides, this was an awkward enough topic to deal with anyway, so she hadn't found the courage to bring it up with me so far. When April told me that, I was already feeling pretty down and that just shattered me because if Eva was not even trying to reach out

to her own daughter, then whatever Michael had been telling me about the two of them brainstorming ways to repair the relationship between mother and daughter had all been just a bunch of BS. I didn't know what to say to that, so I just told April that at this point in time, I thought the only way I could deal with this situation was by filing for a divorce. Because I was not comfortable with his closeness with Eva anymore, and it was very obvious that he couldn't care less about whether I liked it or not. In fact, I didn't even know if they were actually planning on starting a business together or if it was all just an excuse to get together. Things have come to a point where I'm not sure about anything anymore and at my age,

I don't want to deal with stuff like this. I've already put up with everything that I possibly can without any complaints because I really loved him but even love has its limits. I couldn't think of anybody that I could say this to as comfortably as I confessed it to April because my dad, who I was close to, passed away a couple of years ago and my mom hasn't been part of my life since I was little. And I'm glad that April seemed to understand because even though she's not my biological daughter, she's more than what I could have asked for. My twins are still too young to understand these things but April is older and more mature

and she told me that if I really wanted a divorce, then I should go ahead without caring about anybody else's feelings. Because currently, nobody is prioritizing my feelings, so the least I can do for myself is put myself first. Besides, there's no telling what might be going on between her father and her mom at this point in time, and it's not like even if I do confront him about it, he is going to tell me the entire truth. The whole situation has gotten really bad and out of hand and it's time that I extract myself from it before I get even more hurt than I already have. That's the advice that April had for me, and I have to say, even though she's so much younger than me, that's pretty sound advice and I just needed to hear that.

So I've already started looking up divorce attorneys, and soon enough, I think I'm going to be filing for a divorce. In the meantime, if Michael does come back home at any point, I'm going to talk to him about it and let him know about my decision, but my mind has already been made. It's going to be difficult, I'm already aware of that, but honestly, after what's been going on for the past couple of months, ever since Eva came back, I think this is going to be a cakewalk for me now. Update 2, hi, so it's been a pretty rough week.

Two weeks ago, Michael walked out and he still hasn't come back. I've spoken to a lawyer, April helped me get in touch with him, and a couple of days ago, I filed for a divorce. Michael and I haven't blocked each other, we just stopped talking, so I just left him a message telling him that given the situation right now, I don't think it's necessary for us to be together anymore. It's very obvious that his priorities have shifted after Eva has come back and I can't deal with it anymore. It's been emotionally devastating for me, but it's time that I took a stand for

myself and I'm doing that by filing for divorce. I poured my heart out in that message, but he did not reply. And there was nothing else that I had to say to him, so I just let it go. Today, I think he was served with the divorce papers because he reached out to April and told her that he would be signing off in a couple of days. He just needed some time to get his lawyer to take a look at the terms of the divorce, but other than that. He had gone through it himself and he was completely fine with the terms that I had put forth. I found it a little sad that even though I had texted him myself, he didn't even have the courtesy to reply to me personally and was speaking to me through April. But whatever, I have learned not to expect anything from Michael anymore.

And this nonchalant attitude towards the divorce, it just makes me even more sure that there must have been something going on with him and Eva. Because even when we have fought earlier, we have had really terrible fights but we have never even entertained the idea of divorce because he just wouldn't have it and to be very honest, neither did I ever think that it would come to a stage like this. But here we are and there's nothing much that we can do at this point. On a better note, at least my daughters are all on my side. The twins, even though they are really young, seem to understand what I'm going through and have been extra supportive and compassionate. it. April, as always, has been very mature about the whole thing and even helped me break the

news to the twins a couple of days back when I finally filed for divorce. I thought that they were going to be upset with me, but they were very supportive and I really can't ask for more. As long as all three of my daughters are by my side, I think I can pretty much tackle everything. This whole situation with Michael is really nothing. And luckily, the twins are 15 and by the end of the year, they'll be turning 16, so I don't even think that we need to get into the whole custody thing. We can just speak to them, get a lawyer to do the paperwork, and arrange something that works for all of us. But right now, the twins have very negative sentiments toward their father and don't want to spend any time with them. With time, I'm sure that might change, but for now, they're very

adamant that they are going to be staying with me and don't want to see their dad. Update 3-so, 5 days have passed since my last update, and today, Michael came back home with the signed divorce papers. He's not contesting anything, and as soon as the waiting period is over, the divorce will be finalized since we've already worked out the nitty-gritty with our lawyers in the past couple of days. He hadn't called to inform me that he would be visiting today, so I was a little shocked when I saw him outside the door, but I still let him in. He told me that he was only here to collect his things because he was running out of clothes to

wear and he couldn't keep borrowing. It's the weekend, so April and the twins were all at home and throughout the time that their father was here, they just stayed away from him and barely even looked at him. It was very obvious that they were pointedly ignoring him and even he did not acknowledge any of us until he was done packing and then, right before he was about to leave, he finally addressed his daughters and told them that he could understand that they were very upset about whatever was going on with me and him. But they needed to understand that both he and I were going through a lot of stuff in our personal lives and these are not things that they would understand

at their age, but at the end of the day, he was still their father and he knew that even though they hated him right now, they would understand his point of view at some point as well. The kids didn't say anything and neither did I because even though he was completely off about all of that, about both of us going through things in our personal lives, we just didn't want any more drama, so we stayed silent and then he left. The second his car pulled out of the driveway, April started ranting about how insane it was that even now after so much had happened, he was still not willing to admit that he had screwed up everything that he had and completely messed his family up.

She didn't hold back at all after he had left and told me that she knew that he was the only one going through issues in his personal life. The only issues that I was going through were the ones created by him and that really hit the hammer on the nail because that's exactly what it was. He was going through a midlife crisis or something. That's why he was getting so close with Eva, but I didn't have any problems until that started and yet, in his speech, he pretended as if both of us were in the wrong. April was mad as it was, and even the twins were very upset that he was presumptuous enough

to say that at one point, they would understand his side because from what they had so far, there was no side of his that they needed to understand. He was wrong, what he did was messed up and that's it and the only thing he needed to say today when he came back was that he was sorry about everything but instead, he screwed that up for himself as well. Anyway, I'm glad that my daughters dealt with the situation in a dignified manner and didn't get into any unnecessary fights with him because clearly, he's beyond reasoning at this point. He's so delusional that he has actually started to think that he has a point and that whatever he was doing up till now was completely fine, even though it cost him his family life.

He can continue believing that, I don't care about that anymore. Update 4. Hey, so it's been six months since my last update and the divorce was finalized a few months ago. I'm in therapy right now. I didn't really think it was going to do me any good but April talked me into going for it and I've got to say, it's actually been going pretty well. From what I know, Eva and Michael did start their own business a couple of months back, right after our divorce was finalized. So they were telling the truth about that, but I'm also pretty sure that they are hooking up right now. I don't know why, but I just have this feeling that they are. A few months ago, knowing that would have devastated me, but now, I just feel nothing.

I gave this man 12 years of my life and he messed it up, so it's his loss and not mine. I'm just happy that my daughters and I are doing well on our own, that's all that matters to me.