Tears filled her eyes as she spoke.
I opened the banking application on my phone and showed them the credit card charges.
“Dinner at Bellucci Restaurant, four hundred seventy dollars,” I read aloud.
“Tiffany necklace, eight thousand two hundred dollars.”
“Hotel at the Ritz, six hundred per night.”
Amber looked horrified.
She turned to Stephen and asked, “Did you really spend your wife’s money on me?”
Stephen tried to explain that his medical practice had been struggling but that he would repay everything someday.
I interrupted him again and said calmly, “His clinic has been losing money for three years and I have been paying all the bills.”
Amber looked sick.
I explained that every dinner, gift, and vacation came from the salary I earned running my company.
Amber looked like she might vomit on my sofa.
Stephen sat there silently while his face turned red with anger rather than shame.
Amber began crying loudly and demanded to know what else Stephen had lied about.
Then she mentioned something unexpected.
“Stephen promised he could help my father’s career,” she said.
“What is your father’s name?” I asked.
“Victor Lane,” she replied.
My stomach tightened because Victor Lane worked in the operations department of my company.
I looked at Stephen and asked calmly, “Did you promise promotions in my company to your girlfriend?”
Stephen looked down at the floor and said nothing.
Amber cried harder and called him pathetic.
Finally I told Amber she needed to leave my house immediately.
She picked up her handbag and coat and walked toward the door while I followed.
Before leaving she turned and said quietly, “I am sorry, I did not know you were real.”
After she left, Stephen tried to grab my arm but I stepped back.
He started apologizing rapidly and promised to break up with Amber and fix everything.
I asked him how long he had been lying to me.
He admitted his medical practice had actually been failing for five years.
He said he felt emasculated by my success.
I reminded him that I worked two jobs so he could attend medical school.
Then I told him to pack his suitcase and leave the house that night.
Stephen argued that it was his house too.
I reminded him my name was the only one on the deed.
He went upstairs and began packing.
I sat in the kitchen drinking wine while my twelve year marriage collapsed around me.
Later that night Stephen left the house with his suitcase.
I sat alone at the kitchen table crying until midnight.
The next morning I called my closest friend Lena Grant, who arrived twenty minutes later with bagels and coffee.
I told her everything.
She grew furious as I described the necklace, the vacations, and the lies.
She also recognized the name Victor Lane.
Victor worked in the operations department of my company.
Lena advised me to handle the situation carefully so it would not affect the workplace.
That weekend I examined all our financial records and discovered hidden credit cards, thirty thousand dollars in cash advances, and a seventy five thousand dollar loan Stephen had taken using our house as collateral.
On Monday morning I contacted the best divorce lawyer in the city, Walter Griffin.
He listened carefully while reviewing the documents and explained that Stephen had wasted marital assets which would strengthen my case.
