My husband went on a business trip to another city for a month, and I decided to move his favorite cactus in a pot to another place, but accidentally broke it while carrying it. My hair stood on end from what I saw inside…

John Anderson. My husband. My vision darkened, the room swam before my eyes.

How is this possible? John has a child. A child he never told me about. And a woman.

This Sarah, who is she to him. I mechanically opened other documents. Marriage certificate between John Anderson and Sarah Miller dated May 15, 2009.

Contract for the purchase of an apartment in their joint names. Insurance policy for all three. John, Sarah and their son David.

It was like a punch in the gut. John is married? He has another family? A child? But how is this possible? After all, we’ve been married for 6 years. I frantically compared the dates.

Marriage to this Sarah was concluded in May 2009. And our wedding with John took place in September 2017. It turns out that at the time of our wedding he was already married? All these years I was.

Who? A mistress? A second wife? A being with no official status. My head was spinning from the abundance of information and emotions that overwhelmed me. But I forced myself to continue studying the contents of the flash drive.

In the next folder I found photographs. Dozens, hundreds of photographs. And in all of them was she.

Sarah. Sometimes alone, sometimes with the child, sometimes. With John.

Here they are all three on a beach. Here they are celebrating some birthday. Here is a Christmas morning at kindergarten, proud parents filming their son’s performance.

Ordinary family photos. Just like the ones John and I have. Only in these photographs, another woman was in my place.

I didn’t know what to think. How did John manage to lead a double life? How did he manage to divide his time between two families? And most importantly, why did he do it? In the third folder I found videos. I clicked play on the first file, and John’s face appeared on the screen.

He was looking straight into the camera, and there was some alertness in his gaze. «If you’re watching this video, Sarah, it means something went wrong,» he began. «I want you to know.

I love you and Davey more than anything in the world. Everything I do, I do for you. If something happens to me, there are all the necessary documents in the box.

Bank accounts, real estate, insurance. Everything is in your and our son’s name. You’ll be safe.

I promise.» The video ended, and I continued to stare at the screen, not believing my eyes and ears. Loves more than anything in the world.

And what about me? Where do I fit in this picture of the world? I opened a few more videos. Some had ordinary family moments. The boy’s birthday, some trips, home gatherings.

In others, John again addressed the camera, talking about some affairs, about potential danger, about the need to be careful. He spoke incoherently, used some hints, clearly afraid to call things by their names. I scrolled to the end of the folder and came across a video dated last month.

Just a few weeks ago. In it, John was standing in some room that looked like a hotel room. «Sarah, I’ll be delayed in Miami for a couple more days,» he said.

«Things aren’t going as smoothly as I’d like. Kiss Davey for me and tell him dad will be back soon. Miami.»

But John told me he was going to Chicago for a meeting with partners. He lied to me. However, after everything I’d seen, this deception seemed like a trifle.

I closed the video and leaned back in the chair. Complete chaos reigned in my head. I couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that the man I’d lived with for six years, whom I trusted, whom I loved, had been leading a double life all this time.

He was a husband to two women, a father to a child whose existence I didn’t even suspect. How is this possible? How did he manage to divide his time between us? I tried to remember how often John was away from home. Business trips.

He was constantly going on business trips. Sometimes for a few days, sometimes for a week, and sometimes for a month. I never questioned the necessity of these trips.

His job required frequent travel, and I accepted it as a given. And now it turns out that these business trips. Or at least some of them.

Were nothing more than time spent with the other family. This thought was so wild, so incredible, that I couldn’t accept it. I opened the folder with documents again and began to methodically review them.

Maybe I misunderstood something. Maybe there’s some other explanation. But the more documents I reviewed, the more obvious the picture became.

John had another family that I knew nothing about. Among the documents, I found a lease agreement for an apartment in Boston. The apartment was rented in the name of Sarah Miller, even before my wedding with John.

And judging by the renewal dates, she still lived there. In Boston? Just a few hours drive from our city. I felt nausea rising in my throat.

I needed fresh air. I turned off the computer, pulled out the flash drive and went to the window. Opening it wide, I took several deep breaths, trying to calm down.

What should I do now? How to react to such a discovery? My first impulse was to immediately call John and demand explanations. But I restrained myself. In this state, I was unlikely to be able to have a constructive dialogue.

Moreover, it might be better to figure it out myself first, gather as much information as possible before confronting him. My gaze fell on the clock. Almost noon.

I had spent several hours at the computer, not even noticing how time flew by. My stomach treacherously growled, reminding me that I hadn’t had breakfast yet. But the thought of food caused revulsion.

How can I think about food when my life has just shattered into thousands of shards, like that ill-fated cactus pot? The pot. I completely forgot about it. The soil was still scattered on the floor in the bedroom, and the poor cactus lay on its side.

I needed to clean everything up, but I had no strength for it. Instead, I returned to the computer and inserted the flash drive again. This time I decided to carefully study all the files, all the documents, to get a complete picture.

Among other things, I found bank statements. The accounts were opened in the name of Sarah Miller, but regular deposits came from John’s card. The amounts were quite significant…