Reddit Stories - Betrayed when love turns to betrayal and business partners become rivals

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #betrayal #love #business #partnership #rivalrySummary: Explore stories of betrayal where love turns to deceit and business partners become rivals, leading to heartbreak and unexpected twists. Discover the complexities of relationships and partnerships through emotional accounts shared by individuals facing betrayal.Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, betrayal, love, business, partners, rivalry, deceit, heartbreak, relationships, emotions, trust, loyalty, deception, conflict, drama, friendship, challengesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. Spouse was unfaithful with my colleague and abandoned me for him. Later attempted to reconcile tearfully after he ended the relationship. My former partner Kathy, age 38, and myself, age 38, had been in a relationship. For 19 years, married for 16. We also had a 14-year-old daughter together, but she left it all almost six months ago to be with my work partner. Ex-work partner, to be precise, since he sold his shares and left the business after I discovered the affair. Leon, the guy I used to run the business with, was my co-worker earlier and we became very good friends,

which is why we decided to quit our jobs and start the company together. We had been working together for the past five years and he had been having an affair with my wife for three of those years. I found out about it almost six months back because of some texts that I found on my wife's phone. When I confronted her about it, she did not even bother to deny it and just accepted all of it. She told me that she was sick and tired of hiding things like this when all she wanted to do was just leave. I was devastated because I had no idea that she was unhappy in our marriage and I was willing to do anything to fix that. So the day that I confronted her, and she said that she was leaving, I even told her that we could still make this work and that was pretty stupid of me, but I was desperate.

But she just started getting annoyed with me and said that the only reason she had even married me in the first place was because she got pregnant and she didn't want to be on her own. She had tried to love me for the past 16 years, but it hadn't worked out, and now she had found someone that she actually loved. She wasn't going to let me hold her back and said that now that I had found out about the affair and her secret was out, I had to suck it up and let it go. I was really heartbroken, more so for the sake of our daughter, but she didn't even think twice before leaving. She filed for a divorce and the petition was relatively simple, she just wanted to leave and she didn't even demand

any sort of settlement or alimony from me, and the division of assets was pretty fair. So within a couple of months, we were able to finalize the divorce because I came to my senses after a while and realized that after what had happened, I would never be able to make it work with her. After we had filed for the divorce, I confronted Leon as well, and he just apologized and told me that he had wanted to tell me about it a long time back but did not know how to come clean to me. Within a couple of weeks, he had resigned and told me that he and Kathy would be moving away because they didn't want to create any more trouble for me than they already had. Also, Kathy had been offered a pretty amazing job in Boston and his cousin also lived in Boston, so he could just work with his cousin instead, and it had already been sorted out.

He put this all in an email and after that, we never spoke to each other again. And the last time that I saw Kathy was two months ago, the day that our divorce was finalized. Since then, I hadn't heard from either of them and things were tough for me and my daughter, but we were getting through it somehow. At least I still had my business to run, and that was keeping me busy because no matter what, I wanted to be able to give my daughter the kind of future that she wanted. But around one week ago, Kathy showed up again and I'm still kind of confused about whether my daughter and I did the right thing or not. So one week ago, around 11-ish in the evening, somebody frantically started ringing our doorbell and knocking relentlessly. My daughter was already in bed by then and I was just finishing up some work in my office when that happened. So both of us rushed to the door to check and through the window, we saw that it was Kathy.

My daughter asked me not to open the door because so far, she has been very upset with her mother since even though she has partial custody, Kathy has made no effort to keep in touch with our daughter. And also the fact that she cheated on me doesn't sit right with my daughter either. So I would say that they have a pretty bad relationship at the moment. But I knew that if Kathy had shown up at my door at such a time, it must be about something important and I opened the door to let her in. Instead of coming in, though, she just started yelling at me from the doorstep and said that she was going to file a lawsuit against me and make sure that this went to court.

And she got whatever she was owed because she couldn't believe that I had chosen to punish her so cruelly. For the first couple of seconds, I had no idea what she was talking about and I had to ask her to slow down and elaborate because I was so confused. She was still pretty pissed and said that there was no need for me to pretend not to know because she was pretty sure that I had hidden the real nature of Leon from her because I wanted to punish her for cheating. She then pulled up the sleeve of her shirt and showed me a spot on her arm with a band-aid on it. I was able to figure out that Leon must have done something, and it came as a shock to me as well because we had worked together for several years, but he had never even lost his cool in front of me. Kathy told me that for the past couple of weeks, ever since they had moved to Boston, they had been fighting a lot and nothing had stayed the same after their move. She had figured out that it was just

because Leon was still trying to adjust to this new life, but even after spending one full month there, he was acting like this was all Kathy's fault. Apparently, he kept accusing her of ruining his life because he had to leave the business that he had worked so hard on, and here, he had to work with his cousin who constantly kept undermining him. And he blamed Kathy for all of this because she was the one who had revealed the affair to me before he was ready and he had to move all the way here for her job, so he couldn't fight for the business either.

They had been fighting every night in the night before she came to our doorstep. He got really mad and threw a vase at her and she tried to dodge it, but it still hit her arm and she got cut. So far, he had only been verbally abusing her, but this time, things had gone too far and she had left the house that night and taken the next flight here so she could speak to me about this. She told me that Leon hadn't even bothered to contact her or apologize to her after she left and she said that she was holding me responsible for this because she believed that I had known all about his abusive behavior, but I had hit him. it from her because I wanted to punish her. And she thought that it was really cruel of me to do so because apparently she had done me a favor by not fighting for anything during the divorce and I couldn't even have her back and make sure that she was safe. It was just really stupid because like I said, I had worked with Leon for a really long time and I knew him well, but that was all

in a professional capacity and in the workplace, he was a very different guy. I had never dated him and had only occasionally met the women he had dated in the past, so there was really no way that I could have known about this side of him. So her accusations, that I had hidden all of this on purpose, it didn't make any sense to me and I felt pretty annoyed by how she was acting like I owed this to her or something. I tried to explain to her that I had no idea about any of this and said that I was really sorry that this was happening to her, but ultimately it was her own fault and she could threaten me with lawsuits all she wanted, but she knew that this was not my fault. She just kept arguing with me, insisting that I knew about all of this and she is now going to make sure that she fights for everything that she didn't during our divorce.

My daughter had been standing by the door all this while and I had pretty much forgotten about her because I was so caught up in the argument, but once we started talking in circles, she interrupted Kathy and told her to go away. I was a bit surprised because I didn't think she was going to interrupt and I think even Kathy was caught off guard. But then, Kathy told her to shut up and stay out of this because she wasn't even old enough to know what this was about and told her to go to bed, but my daughter refused. She stayed there and said that Kathy had no right to speak to me this way, especially after everything that she had put me through. She told her that for the last couple of months, ever since I had found out that she had cheated, I have been heartbroken and she, the selfish and heartless monster that she is, just simply moved on with her life. She then reminded her mother that she had not even come to visit her own daughter or even bothered to keep in touch with her because she was so busy with Leon and her new life. My daughter told Kathy that she had failed at being a good wife and she had failed at being a mother as well,

so she had absolutely no business standing there and acting like she was the victim in the situation that she had created for herself. My daughter is just 14, but hearing her say those words really put into perspective how much she had grown up because of the divorce. Kathy literally had nothing to say because she was speechless at our daughter's words and then, my daughter finally said that now that Kathy had left and she was with Leon, she would just have to deal with whatever she was going through on her own because we were no longer her family. anymore. She had dug her grave and she had to lie in it because that would be exactly what she deserved for screwing people over. Once she had said that, my daughter slammed the door in Kathy's face and went back to her room, I could hear Kathy crying outside the door, but I didn't bother

to check up on her because I didn't think it was necessary after the discussion we had just had. So I also went back to bed and tried not to think about it for the next couple of days and kept myself busy at work. I was very proud of my daughter for standing up for me and not letting me fall weak in front of Kathy. Things were going pretty well after that visit but three days back, Kathy showed up once again. And this time, she had shown up with a lawyer to demand full custody of our daughter. Luckily, our daughter was out with a couple of her friends at the time when she visited in the evening. So I haven't told her anything about this yet. But I was incredibly pissed off when she showed up and said that after our daughter had spoken to her in that way,

the last time that we met, she had decided that there was no way she was going to allow her to live with me anymore. She told me that apparently the real reason she had not tried to keep in touch with our daughter after I found out about the affair was that she did not want to get involved in a drawn-out custody battle and disrupt my life even more than she already had. Which is why she wanted to leave quietly and she didn't even try to keep in touch with our daughter because she knew that I was upset about what was going on and her keeping in touch with our daughter might have made things worse. So she was basically trying to tell me that she had done all of this for my sake, not just because she wanted to leave without any responsibilities.

I was obviously not buying any of that. And I told her that I knew that the only reason she did not fight for anything during the divorce, let alone custody of our daughter, was because she wanted to move away as quickly as she could and start a new life with leaving. on. This had nothing to do with me like she was trying to make it seem so I really didn't need to feel bad for her. But she said that she didn't care about that anymore because now, she wanted full custody of her daughter and she was going to make sure that she got it because she was not going to allow me to ruin my daughter's perception of her by feeding her nonsensical stories and teaching her to disrespect her mother. She claimed that apparently the last time

that we met, our daughter had been incredibly disrespectful to her and instead of reminding her, was encouraging that behavior. So now, she knew what to do and she had come back to inform me that she would be taking this to court. I told her to be my guest and shut the door because I really didn't want to speak to her anymore and waste my time but now I'm starting to think about whether she has a point or not. I want to believe that I'm doing the right thing, but as of now, I'm not sure of anything, to be honest. So I'd have for not reprimanding my daughter when she was rude to her mother, my ex-wife. Update 1, I have decided that I have nothing to be sorry about,

my daughter did exactly the right thing by standing up for me, and the comments made me realize just how stupid I was being. She literally cheated on me, I don't think I have to have any sympathy or any kind of regret about what has happened to her. And many people in the comments even told me that I had to speak to my daughter about this beforehand, since it would not be fair for her to be caught off guard in case Kathy files for full custody, even after the last meeting. So I spoke to my daughter about it yesterday and I told her everything, I did not want to keep secrets from her. She has already proved to me that she is mature enough

to handle these things and I do feel kind of bad that she had to grow up overnight, but at least now I can prepare her for the future. So far, we have not received any word from Kathy, but we are guessing that we are going to hear from her soon. Our daughter is 14, and that's old enough for her to count in court, given that this even goes to court. If we are able to settle during mediation, that's going to be better but just in case. I have still made sure that she really wants to stay with me. And obviously, she does. She has made it abundantly clear to me that she wants nothing to do with Kathy, not right now at least. She told me that she told me that. She told me that in the future, she might consider reconnecting with Kathy and building a relationship with her again,

but right now, everything is just too recent. She obviously blames her mother for breaking up the family and I can't say anything because technically, it's true. I don't want to be the kind of father who turns his kid against his ex-partner, just to be petty but in this situation, I don't think there is much that I can do. I think Kathy did the job pretty well herself since our daughter really wants to keep her distance from her own mother. And they used to be pretty close before the affair came to light, so this is a huge change from what they were both used to. Obviously, Kathy is upset that my daughter is on my side here

since she has always tried to be closer to her. Speaking of which, some of you wanted to know who exactly had told our daughter about the affair. So it was not me, it was Kathy herself, and she had confessed about it in an email to our daughter a couple of days after she had moved out without even bothering to ask me if I wanted that. My daughter was very upset when she found out, and in spite of that, she still wanted to speak to her mother just once, but Kathy was the one who refused. Back then, when I tried to contact her to tell her that our daughter wanted to speak to her

and discuss these things, she said that she did not want to speak to our daughter about it because she was much too busy with the divorce proceedings and also, she did not think it was appropriate to be discussed. She had said whatever she wanted to say in that email itself and she had nothing more to add. I tried to convince her to talk to our daughter just once because she seemed to have a lot of questions, but Kathy was very firm about her decision. After that, she stopped speaking to us at all. So my daughter's perception of her mother changed completely and I don't think that it's fair for Kathy to hold me responsible for all of that. Anyway, I have spoken to my lawyer and we are going to deal

this. Update 2. So a couple of days back, I was finally served with the notice for full custody by Kathy and my lawyer and I immediately responded to it by contesting it. We are going to meet with the court-appointed mediator tomorrow, but before that, Leon called me up today. I was quite surprised to see him calling because it was not like we had anything to talk about, but I still answered the call and as soon as I did that, he told me that he wanted me to send Kathy back to him. He said that he had been trying to get through to her for the past couple of days and he knew that she must have been with me, or at least spoken to me and he wanted me to tell her where she was. I told him that I had no idea where she was living, but I had indeed spoken to her in the past couple of

days, and she was here to fight for custody of our daughter. I did not do this to help Leon, just to be clear, but I did this because I thought that maybe if Leon came by and spoke to Kathy, then he could change her mind and get her to go back. If I was lucky, maybe he would even be able to convince her to sign away her rights over our daughter. So with that in mind, I told him everything and I also added that she was pretty distraught by the fact that he had not bothered to contact her after she had left that night, and if he wanted her back, then he should make a move quickly. The poor guy did not even suspect anything and he had no idea that he was being manipulated, so that worked out pretty well for me. I'm just hoping that Kathy still wants to make it work with him and when he comes by, she might go back with him.

I told my lawyer about this plan as well, and even he thinks that what I did was the right thing to do because even though the scales are tilted in our favor already, it doesn't hurt to save time and energy and just get this over with before this goes to court or whatever. Update 3. Hey, so Kathy and I met for our first mediation session two days ago, and of course, it did not go well. She did not agree with any of our statements and claimed that it was all a waste of time before terminating the session within half an hour. After she left, I went back home after picking up my daughter from school and once we got back, Leon was waiting for us at our doorstep. The poor guy looked like he was in a really bad state and I can imagine him being in that condition after spending a couple of months with Kathy.

Anyway, I told him that he had to leave because my daughter and I had just come back home and we wanted to relax, we did not have time to deal with this drama. And I had already helped him however I could, I was not able to go out of my way to help the guy who had been having an affair with my wife. But he literally broke down and said that after their last fight, she had not even bothered to reply to any of his texts, and he had no idea where to look for her. So I told him, just like last time, I still had no idea where she was living and there was no way that I could help him. He just sat down on the porch steps and started crying with his head in his hands and at that point, I started getting kind of annoyed. Because this guy and Kathy had literally ruined my life and now, he felt comfortable enough to ask me to help him find that woman so they could sort things out. I told my daughter to go inside so I could deal with this and once she was inside, I told her. I told Leon that he had to go because I was simply done with both of them.

For good measure, I gave him Kathy's parents' contact info and told him to get in touch with them if he couldn't get through to Kathy, but he had to leave us alone now. I told him that he had ruined my life along with Kathy, I didn't want to see him lurking around ever again. He tried to apologize to me and said that he really didn't mean to hurt me, but he had fallen in love with her and he couldn't help it. But I didn't want to hear it, so I just didn't say. anything and so he left. I'm just so exhausted and confused all the time that I don't even

know what I'm doing with my life right now. I am really hoping and praying that Leon and Kathy are able to make things right for my sake, if not theirs. Because if they are, it's likely that they are going to leave me and my daughter alone, and I will finally be allowed to move on with my life. At this point, I don't even know what's going on and how I should feel about anything. I'm just numb for the most part and can't wait for this to come to an end. Update 4 Hello, so a couple of days ago, Kathy terminated our mediation sessions and said that she wanted our situation to go to court. That would not end well for her and we all knew that, but I guess she wasn't in denial until now. Anyway, she visited me a couple of hours ago with

Leon. I guess they were able to patch things up. I did not invite them in because my daughter was home and she was kind of sick, so I didn't want to make that worse for her. So I told him to wait for me in a nearby cafe, got my mother to come by to take care of my daughter, and then headed to the same cafe so we could talk things out. When I got there, Kathy and Leon apologized for everything they had put me through and yet again, I had to tell them that this did not matter to me anymore, and I just wanted them to move on and talk about why exactly they had called me here. I did not want to waste my time with insincere apologies and stuff, so they stopped beating around the bush as well, and they told me that they had realized that they had made a mistake by screwing me over and they

were not happy at all in Boston. Kathy really missed our daughter and Leon missed being his own boss. So now, Kathy wanted me to agree to send our daughter to see her every weekend or at least every other weekend because she didn't want to give up the life that she had. And Leon's demands were a bit more outrageous, he wanted to come back as a partner in the business and start a branch in Boston. The best part of all of this was that they wanted me to make a decision within a couple of days because Kathy had been told by her employers that she needed to come back if she wanted to keep her job because she couldn't keep working from home anymore. So even if I wanted to tell them that I would think about it, I did not have that choice. And that's why I ended up telling them that there was

no way I was going to be agreeing to any of that. Leon had already resigned and sold his shares, I had that on paper, so I was not hiring him back again because I did not trust him even one bit. Kathy's proposition was ridiculous because our daughter does not deserve a life where she has to travel back and forth every other weekend just to be able to see her own mother. She should have thought about these things before she moved away to Boston, this is not my fault at all. They started to argue with me, saying that they were willing to come to a common ground with me because they really didn't want to fight this out in court. So I told them that the idea that they could fight what they wanted in court and actually win was actually laughable and the only reason they wanted to bargain with me in person was because they thought that they could get to me. Unfortunately, I was not weak and stupid enough to fall for any of this.

The only reason I had even come to meet them was because I wanted to put an end to all of this. That really shut them up because even they were aware of the fact that they would never be able to win if this went to court. And I told them the most that I could do for them, for Kathy to be more specific, was talk to our daughter and get her to agree to meet Kathy whenever she visited. But beyond that, I was not doing anything. So they could either take it or leave it because I was not going to waste more of my time arguing with them. And Kathy seemed pretty desperate, so she agreed readily and then I left. I'm going to speak to my daughter when she gets better, but I'm not going to force her to do anything that she doesn't want to. So if she decides that she doesn't want to see her mother again, that's up to her.

I'm not going to be convincing her. Update 5, hi, so a couple of months have passed, and in my last update, I mentioned that I was not going to force my daughter to meet her mother if she didn't want to. And I spoke to my daughter after that, told her what I had said to Kathy, and she said that she needed some time to think things over. So I communicated the same to Kathy a couple of months back and since then, we've had no contact. I don't know if she and Leon have been able to resolve their fights, I don't really care about any of that, but from what I know, they are still together and living in Boston. Good for them, I guess. At least they have left me alone and now I can finally try and move on and that's exactly what I'm doing. The best revenge is living well, so I'm just focusing on working and bringing up my daughter to be a good human being, nothing like her mother basically.

I hope I succeed in doing that.