After ten years of ups and downs, I thought my husband and I were finally happy.

But then, a message from my sister changed everything. She revealed a secret about my husband and his mother planning against me which left me heartbroken and wondering if our marriage could ever be fixed.

My husband and I have been married for ten years, and our marriage has had its ups and downs. We survived some really tough moments where it felt like our lives were just a cycle of fights and silences.

Recently, my husband has been very attentive and hands-on around the house. He’s been really romantic; for instance, the other day we had a really nice date night, which we haven’t done in what feels like years.

He made a reservation at one of my favorite restaurants. We enjoyed a lovely meal with even better wine. We decided to go to one of the places downtown where we had one of our first dates and closed off the day with ice cream and coffee. It has also been amazing to watch my son finally get to see his parents happy.

We have been going to his soccer games together and having little family lunch dates. So, life at home has been everything I imagined life with my husband would look like.

However, it seemed like everything was too good to be true because, on a random Saturday after spending the afternoon at a playdate with my son, I got a chilling message from my sister: “Read it, and delete it! Take the car, and go to the nearest coffee shop. You HAVE TO SEE the truth about your husband.”

I followed my sister’s instructions and drove to the coffee shop. I could not think of what this big secret my sister wanted to reveal was, but as I drove, memories of our past filled my mind—how we met in college, our dreamy beach wedding, and the birth of our son.

When I arrived at the coffee shop, I saw my mother-in-law (MIL). I saw her walking out of the car and looking around as if she was trying to see if someone was watching her. I could not put together why she was there with my husband, so I texted my sister to give me more information.

My sister was already aware that I would be confused, so she quickly responded and told me she was on the way to explain everything. My heart continued to race because I still did not know what any of this meant.

She eventually came and sat in my car. She mentioned that she found it suspicious that my husband was suddenly attentive and loving but she did not want to say anything because she did not want it to look like she did not want me to be happy. Instead, she asked her husband, who works as a police officer, to do a bit of digging.

There was one time when my husband took my car to work; he had said that he wanted mine because it was smaller and he would be traveling for work. I didn’t think much of whether that was suspicious or not because he had taken my car a few times before, but on that day, my brother-in-law saw him at a gas station looking like he was inspecting the car.

He thought his movements were suspicious and believed he was planting something on my car. So, my sister gave him the go-ahead to spy on my husband and check if there were bugs or anything of that sort planted on the vehicle.

After much speculation, my sister had a strong hunch that my husband’s behavior might have been triggered by his new position as a COO at the family company. My brother-in-law was right; there were several bugs planted all over my car, so he took them and listened to the conversations.

My sister brought the recordings to me. I listened to their conversations, which brought many things to light. It turned out that after all these years, my MIL never trusted me and thought I was only married to my husband for the money. But that was not the only shocker.

My husband seemed to believe everything she was saying because they were discussing financial documents and meetings with lawyers, planning for a future where I was not included. It was as if they were characters in a dark play, and I, unknowingly, had been given the lead role.

I did not even wait for my husband to explain I packed my bags and took my son. I was completely heartbroken but I left him a note:

“I can’t believe you pretended to care about our marriage just to catch me in an imagined lie. Well, I hope you enjoy your life with all your money and your mother. If you did not imagine me in your future you can forget about my son too.”

The night I left, the house was silent except for the sound of my suitcase wheels clicking on the hardwood floor. I paused in the doorway of our son’s bedroom, where moonlight spilled across his peaceful face.

I felt sad that I was not only disrupting his sleep but his life. I felt even angrier at my husband for believing that money was more important than our family, which we worked so hard to build.

I have been living with my mother. I find myself sitting alone in her garden, thinking about my own childhood and how life had a funny way of playing out. I am back here, watching my child play where I used to play as a child.

My sister visits often to comfort me and tries to tell me that things could have been worse, but I still can’t wrap my head around how my life changed just as I thought it was coming together again. On the other hand, my husband has been apologizing and calling me daily. He keeps saying that he just got caught up in the “foolishness.” My MIL has also apologized and tried to invite me to family gatherings, but I still cannot get over the past.

I see that my husband is remorseful, but he betrayed my trust. We currently do not live together, and I think any chance of a reconciliation will take time and my trust will need to be earned again. But on some days, I wonder if this marriage is even worth fixing.