While Planning a Birthday Surprise for My Husband, I Discovered He Had a Secret Family.

My husband was on a work trip, so I planned a birthday surprisingly to discover he had a secret family he’d been hiding for years. Hi. So, for context, my husband Robbie and I have been married for 3 years. He and I are both 31 and we have known each other for almost 10 years now. I met him at my first job and we became friends because both of us were right out of college and we were the newbies at our company.

We struck up a friendship and remained friends for a couple of years before he asked me out when our internship was about to end. We dated for a couple of months when we were in our early 20s, but it fizzled out soon enough and we ended up breaking up. But then we met again at a friend’s party when we were around 25 and we then rekindled our relationship.

Both of us told each other that we had dated a couple of people in the middle, but things never really seemed to work out with those people. And maybe the reason behind that was that we were meant to be together, which is why we had run into each other after so long at one of the most unexpected places because we didn’t really have a lot of common friends.

So, we decided to give things another chance. And this time, both of us were grown up as compared to earlier. So, we made it work. After being together for 3 years and having lived together for one, we agreed that it was about time to get married because things were going well and it just felt right. There was no formal proposal as such.

We just sort of came to an agreement about it. Anyway, 3 years ago, we got married and things have been great since then. That’s not to say that he and I don’t fight like any other couple. We also have had our ups and downs, but we always make up. His behavior around me has always been normal and I have never really suspected anything because I trust him and I didn’t think that he would ever lie to me about anything because I like to think of myself as a very understanding person.

So he wouldn’t ever feel the need to lie about the big stuff. So after what I found out recently, my head was turned and I honestly didn’t know how to react to any of it. Because finding out that your husband has a whole separate family that he has kept a secret from you for as long as you have been together is never an easy thing to come to terms with.

And because of the emotional devastation, I might have done something and gone overboard with my revenge or whatever. At least that’s what people are telling me. But I don’t see anything wrong with what I did. Everyone thinks that I should have just dealt with this in person instead of airing our dirty laundry among friends and family and even a couple of his business associates.

So, I just want to know if I did the right thing. And that’s why I am here right now. It all started a few weeks ago. Robbie was turning 31 and I wanted to celebrate his birthday, but unfortunately he told me that he had to go away on a business trip that week and he wouldn’t be here for his birthday. I was a little bummed out because I was looking forward to celebrating that day with him since I’m the kind of person who makes a big deal out of birthdays.

But then I had a bright idea and I decided that I was going to surprise him on his birthday by showing up at the hotel that he was staying in. And I decided to make it easy would speak to his secretary and make the necessary arrangements. Both my husband and I run businesses. I run an electronic store and he has a PR agency.

But the difference is that I started mine a couple of years ago and he inherited his dad’s business and that’s why he’s a lot more successful as a businessman than I am because I am just starting out on my own and well he already has everything laid out for him because his dad did a lot of work in his time and they were already a flourishing business when he took over.

But I have never held that against him and I am actually happy for his success. I’ve never been jealous of him or anything because I know that I am his wife and we’re a team. His successes and failures are both mine and it’s supposed to go both ways. I am mentioning this part now because it comes up later.

So, I thought I just get it out of the way. Anyway, I spoke to Robbie’s secretary and told her that I was planning to surprise him on his birthday by showing up at the hotel and I told her to make the necessary arrangements. She did so gladly and told me that she had booked a room for two and had also notified the hotel front desk staff about this surprise.

So, they would let me up into his room when I showed up. And that was it. It was all arranged and I was quite excited about it because I thought it was a brilliant plan and we hadn’t taken a vacation together for a really long time. So, we could turn his business trip into a mini vacation or maybe a station even.

On the day that he left for his business trip, everything was fine and he told me that he loved me and everything. I couldn’t have ever known what he was up to behind my back if he didn’t slack off on the day of his birthday and I didn’t happen to be at the right place at the right time.

His birthday was 2 days after the day that he was supposed to leave for his trip. And I flew out on the morning of his birthday to surprise him. When I reached the hotel, it was around 2:00 in the afternoon and I knew that by then whatever meetings he had had for the day were over because Robbie doesn’t meet anybody after 12:00 and everything else that he had scheduled for the day would start after 4:00. So, I had enough time.

I went up to the room and I had a key card of my own since the room had been booked for the two of us. But even when I took the key from the receptionists, things were kind of weird for me because they were shooting me really strange looks that I couldn’t make sense of. But I didn’t think much of it and I just headed up to his room.

However, when I got there, I noticed that the door of his room was slightly a jar and I could look inside without much effort. That was important because I could hear voices coming from the room. And it was weird because I could hear a woman’s voice and a child’s voice as well. And as far as I was concerned, he had no business hanging out with a mother and a child.

When I peaked in, my worst fears were confirmed. And I saw Robbie sitting on the bed playing with a little boy while a woman around my age was seated on the edge of the bed. And all of them looked really carefree and happy. The boy couldn’t have been older than maybe five or six. And I didn’t get a good look. But Robbie and that boy were playing something on his iPad.

There was a lot of laughter and not an idiot. I instantly recognized what was going on. I had read enough books and watched enough movies to know what was happening here. And I didn’t want to stick around to find out more about it. So I decided to make a run for it before any of them opened the door and found me outside it.

But before that, I had enough presence of mind to make sure to get a picture of it on my phone. And then I started running. I also thought that maybe if I didn’t confront the problem, it would go away. But of course, that’s not how it works. I literally ran out of the hotel, took the first cab that I could find, and rushed back to the airport.

I booked a seat on the first flight that I could find to go back home, and only had to wait for around hours for it to take off. And I think that I pretty much went through all the five stages of grief in those two hours because I just couldn’t accept what I had seen. And suddenly, the looks that the receptionist had been shooting me made a lot more sense.

I was rattled to the very core and I tried to make sense of what I had seen. I even tried to come up with perfectly innocent explanations, but none of it added up. Towards the end, I was forced to admit that Robbie had a secret family that I knew nothing about, and that was just the truth. It was a horrifying realization, and I was in denial of it for a couple of hours.

But no matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t run away from the truth. After I got home that day, I started thinking about what I was supposed to do next because there was no way that I was staying with him anymore. I knew I had seen that. If I confronted him about it, he would just come up with some story to defend himself.

I, being the emotional fool that I am, would probably buy it and give him a second chance. And I didn’t want to risk it in the slightest. Just to be on the safe side, I decided to do some digging of my own. And I knew that if he had a son and a partner, there were bound to be financial records or something or the other so I could catch him in his lie.

So, I talked to his secretary and I told her that I needed his financial report for the past 3 years urgently. She and I are on good terms and I just made up some story about how I needed it because I wanted our lawyer to look through it in case of some discrepancy and reassured her that my husband had asked for it because the company was about to be audited and he didn’t want his personal expenses to have any mismatch either.

So, she sent the records to me and I had my lawyer look through all his bank statements for the past few years and realize that every month there was a huge payment that was released from his end and was received by an account that was located in the very place that he claimed to be going for business trips quite frequently.

I just figured that maybe he had some important client there, which is why he had to visit them every month. But now everything was much clearer to me and it all made sense. I spoke to a well-known divorce attorney right after I found out the truth and filed for a divorce. After I had made sure that there was no way he was not cheating on me with a secret family, I decided that I was not going to let this slide.

Call me crazy, but my first instinct when I confirmed that he was visiting his other family was not to feel bad about it, but to feel pure hatred and rage and the desire to get revenge on him. I had cried enough about it. I just wanted to get back at him and get it over with. So, for the next couple of days, I pretended that everything was fine and that I was just as in love with him as I had been before I found out the truth.

I had been ignoring him for 2 days after I came back from my visit. But then I resumed my normal behavior so that he wouldn’t suspect anything. And I also made sure that his secretary kept her mouth shut about everything so she wouldn’t ask him anything about the surprise and told her that I hadn’t actually been able to visit him because I got sick.

I told her not to mention any of it to Robbie so he wouldn’t worry and she didn’t thankfully. I did everything in my control to make sure that he wouldn’t find out about my visit and wouldn’t suspect anything. In the meantime, I continued to plan for the real surprise that I was going to give him when he came back from his trip.

A few days ago, he finally came back and I had to pretend to be in love with him and act like I missed him, knowing what I knew, which was very difficult. I was sick to my stomach doing it, but I had to put up an act and I had to be convincing at it because I didn’t want him to miss the party that I had organized for him.

The evening that he came back, I had invited all our friends, family, and some of his skiers and business associates to have dinner with us. I also knew that he had been trying to crack a deal with a very well-known industrialist, and I invited him as well because I wanted to hurt Robbie.

I didn’t really think things through, if I’m being honest. I was just too caught up in the idea of getting revenge and hurting him just as much as he had hurt me. And I didn’t think about the consequences of my actions. So anyway, I had everyone come over and everybody was there. I brought my husband out into the living room and told him that this was a surprise birthday party for him.

Everybody greeted him and stuff. And once that was over, I brought out the best part of the party. The part that I was the most excited about was the cake. Because in the spirit of revenge and exposing him and his dirty little secret, I had decided to get that image of him with his other family that I had clicked from outside the hotel room digitally printed on the cake.

And when I uncovered it, everyone was shocked, most of all Robbie, because I could tell from his face that he had not been expecting this. His face fell and he kept looking at the floor as if it was going to open up and swallow him or whatever. But unfortunately, none of that was going to happen. He had been caught in his lies and there was no hiding it anymore.

But when I started talking, he still tried to tell me to stop and said that he would do anything to keep me from spilling the beans. It was just a lastditch desperate effort to keep this a secret. But I think everybody in the room had already figured out what was going on by then. They were just waiting around for me to confirm it, and I was not going to deny them the pleasure of that.

So, for the first time in my life, I told Robbie to shut up and let me talk because he was not going to get away with what he did, and I was going to make sure of it. I told everybody that I had gone digging through his financial records and I had found out that he had been sending money every month to his other family and this went back almost a decade.

This meant that throughout the time that he had been with me, he had been hiding a secret family from me and had been cheating on me all along. I looked at him to confirm the story or tried to deny it when the proof was so clearly placed in front of us on the cake. But he just stood there and refused to say a word. But I kept taunting him, asking him to speak up and give us all an explanation because I wanted him to feel as humiliated as I had felt when I showed up at his hotel room and saw him chilling with some other family. And at one point, I think

I finally broke him and he cracked and started talking. He lost his mind and started yelling at me, saying that yes, he did have another family, but it was none of my business and that he regretted the fact that he married me instead of Elena, who I can only assume is his affair partner. I was quite shocked by that outburst, but I stood my ground and we got into a nasty fight in front of all his friends and family and his business associates as well.

He told me that he had been seeing Elena before he met me and reconnected with me. But things had just been casual with her and they were not very serious, which is why he asked me out again and we got together. But a few months after we got together again, Elena contacted him to tell him that she was pregnant and wanted an answer as to whether he was willing to be a part of the child’s life or not.

He said he had wanted to tell me about it and be honest with me, but he didn’t want to risk it and jeopardize our relationship again because he really liked me and he wasn’t sure if I would still stay with him once I found out that he was going to have a baby with another woman before me. So, he thought that he would hide it for a couple of months at least until the child was born.

But then months turned into years and the longer he waited to tell me, the more awkward it became. And then before he knew it, we were getting married and there was just no way he could bring it up now without breaking my heart. So, he just never told me and that’s how I had to find out. He also mentioned that the affair with Elena was a recent development and that it had started only a couple of months ago, but before that they only had a strictly platonic co parenting arrangement, but for the past few months, they had been seeing each other more often because he was sick of

1. Elena knew about me and she had no problem with it because he had promised her that he was going to leave me when the time was right and had made up his mind that he was going to file for divorce soon because apparently am crazy and I don’t deserve to be with him anyway. And he said, “Oh, all this rather.

” Screamed all of this right at my face in front of all the guests. So, suffice it to say, I had intended to humiliate him at the party, but that was a bit humiliating for me as well. However, I still had the divorce papers that I had filed for. And as soon as he said that he was going to file for divorce, I went into my study and brought my papers out and then shoved them at him and told him that I had already beaten him to it.

Then I walked out of the party to my car and started driving. I had already packed a few of my things in a bag and stashed it in the car for a quick getaway. And I also knew which hotel I was going to be at for the next few weeks. My blood was boiling, so I didn’t check my messages or notifications for the next couple of hours.

But when I did, I realized that most people agreed that I had taken it way too far. There were messages from my friends who said that while they understood my anger and resentment against Robbie, throwing a party just with the purpose of humiliating him was a little too much. And they think I owed him an apology because apparently he lost the business deal that he was working on because of me.

My parents also felt the same way. And I was just surprised that so many people were on his side when he was the one who cheated on me. They had the same reason as well. They said that it was unfair because he lost a huge deal because of me. And he could even sue me for defamation if he wanted to.

So, it would be in my best interest to apologize to him and tell him that I just lost my mind for a bit after I found out that he was not being honest with me. However, I don’t think that he can file any sort of lawsuit against me because whatever I said at the party was true. And more importantly, I really don’t think I owe him any sort of apology because if he didn’t want to get caught and humiliated, he probably shouldn’t have cheated on me.

And as for the deal that he lost, I also think that it’s his own fault because I didn’t make him cheat on me and turn out to be a dishonest, lying piece of crap. Apparently, after I left, everybody started clearing out almost immediately. And Robbie tried to stop the CEO of the firm that I had mentioned before, who he had been trying to crack a deal with.

Everything that had just happened was obviously very embarrassing, but he still couldn’t let that deal go to waste because he had been working for months to crack it. So, he tried to stop the guy and talk to him, but I guess he didn’t want to work with Robbie anymore because of what just happened. The rejection was quite public as well.

And apparently, the CEO guy told my husband as politely and gently as he could that he believed it would be for the best if he focused on his personal life just now. And since his firm was a pretty huge account, he didn’t believe it was Robbiey’s cup of tea right now and the deal would go to somebody else. Then he left. And as soon as he left, Robbie broke down into tears and some of the guests stayed back to comfort him.

I find it all a bit ridiculous if him being honest because he lost everything because of his own behavior and his own infidelity. I think it’s really unfair to blame me for any of this. And yet that’s what people are doing. I can’t make sense of it, but I’m getting sick of people blaming me. Ever since I left the house, people have been texting me and telling me that what I did was messed up and that I need to make amends for it.

Worst of all, my parents think that I am at fault and I am really at a loss for what to do. I really don’t think that Robbie deserves an apology that’s not happening, but I also feel bad because everybody’s just being really harsh on me. So, AITA for throwing a party just to humiliate my husband and expose his dirty little secret when I found out that he had a secret family. Update one. Hello.

Thank you so much for all the support in the comments of my original post. I am glad to hear that a lot of people agree that I shouldn’t have held back and that what I did was perfectly right. I feel the same way. Obviously, this is why I’ve decided that I am going to cut everybody out of my life if they continue to tell me that I am the one at fault for this because I am getting really sick of taking the fall when I’m not even the one who cheated.

To be honest, I wish I could show my parents and a few of my friends some of the responses and comments that I got on my original post about people saying how they would have gone scorched earth and that they would have taken it even further than me. though they would really understand how bad it was to get betrayed by your husband of 3 years and partner of almost 6 years find out that everything that you had believed for so long was just a lie.

I don’t think anybody knows how I am feeling right now. So they don’t have the right to judge me and make me feel bad about everything that I did. I will admit that I thought humiliating him would make me feel better but it didn’t. But that doesn’t mean that what I did was wrong in any sense of the word. Now that the party is over and I don’t have anything to plan.

I just have the divorce to look forward to. I’m having to deal with the full emotional impact of what has happened and what is going to happen in the future. And I can tell you guys it’s not easy and I don’t need people to make it more difficult for me by telling me that I am wrong and that I need to apologize and stupid stuff like that.

If they can’t understand where I am coming from and why I was so angry, that’s fine. But they do not have the right to make me feel worse and try to portray me as the bad guy. Even in a situation where I am clearly the victim, I haven’t been responding to any messages because most of them are just telling me that my soon-to-be ex-husband is miserable and it’s all my fault.

I don’t need to hear it. But now I have decided that I’m going to respond to each and every single person who texted me and tell them that if they don’t shut up, then I will just block them and move on and never speak to them again. So if that’s what they want, they can continue to take his side and try to make me the bad guy.

But if they want me to be a part of their lives, they are going to have to apologize to me and tell me that they were wrong. I’m not going to excuse people defending a cheater and still have any access to me anymore. That’s not happening. Update two. So, I received Robbie’s response to the divorce papers today and my lawyer told me that he had consented to a mutual divorce and I was honestly very relieved because it’s all happening on my terms, so there won’t be much of a problem during the negotiations.

I also told my parents and a couple of my friends, but I had said I would tell them in my last update, and most of them did not speak to me, but I’m fine with that. It’s very obvious that they were never my friends in the first place, and they were all Robbiey’s friends. My parents, however, came to their senses and apologized to me.

They said that they just felt bad for Robbie because he was devastated after I revealed his secret because apparently he had put in a lot of work to hide it, and that was quite obvious. And his parents were also very upset because they believe that it was none of my business. I don’t even know why they think it’s none of my business because I’m literally his wife.

It is most certainly my business if my husband has another family that is not telling me about. But whatever. I don’t even care what his family thinks of me anymore because they have been helping him to hide it all along. He am really glad that he lost the deal that he had been working on. He deserves it. And I honestly hope that every bad thing happens to him now because I am not a large-hearted person who wishes the best for the people who have done me wrong.

I wish the worst for him because he is the worst. And also for anybody who went against me and told me that I was wrong. Here they can all go jump off a cliff for all I care. Am going to continue to defend what I did because even before I had done it, I did not think there was anything wrong with it.

I did not think there was anything wrong with what I was doing even while I was doing it. And even now it’s the same. So everybody can take a hike. Robbie got what he deserved and I’m going to hope that he learns a lesson from this update. Hey, so it’s been almost a year since I filed for divorce from Robbie and it came through about months ago.

We were done with our marriage as soon as the waiting period was over and now is free as a bird. I heard that he moved Elena and his son down here and they are all living together now. Whatever doesn’t matter to me anymore because I am also doing a lot better than him. My business really took off a couple of months ago and we are doing great.

I live in a much better house now and I have everything that I could ask for. I am not dating anybody right now because I am in just so busy, but it’s very much on the table for me in the future and I know that everything will fall back into place eventually. I’m glad that Robbie showed me his true colors because if he hadn’t then maybe I wouldn’t have this life right now because I really threw myself into my work after the divorce.

I’m honestly just grateful for everything. And now I know that whatever happened happened for the best.