When Claire’s husband of eight years accidentally sends her a screenshot exposing his affair, her world shatters. But instead of crumbling, she teams up with an unlikely ally, his mistress, Mia. Together, they orchestrate the ultimate revenge…

Life has a funny way of flipping the script when you least expect it. I thought my marriage to Leo, my husband of eight years, was built on love and trust.

We had two beautiful children, a cozy home, and a life that seemed picture-perfect. But one random Tuesday afternoon shattered that illusion.

It all started with a single screenshot.

Leo texted me a list of online purchases he’d made for the kids. It wasn’t supposed to be anything extraordinary—just the usual school supplies, new shoes, new lunch bags, and so on.

But at the very bottom of the screenshot was something he clearly hadn’t meant for me to see: a purchase for a bouquet of 71 red roses, set to be delivered to an unfamiliar address.

My stomach churned uncomfortably, and my hand, holding a smoothie, shook.

“Oh, you horrible cheater!” I screamed at my phone.

I raced home from the gym, running into our home office and opening Leo’s laptop. He was supposed to be away for the week on business, so I knew he wasn’t going to barge in and see what I was doing.

But I was looking for answers. Who was the woman getting 71 red roses from my husband?

I scoured through his browsing history and eventually found something. There it was: a booking for a luxury spa resort. Two people, and an added request for a king-sized bed, scheduled for the exact dates he told me he’d be away on a “business trip.”

While I was at home juggling two kids, laundry, and sleepless nights, he was planning a romantic getaway with his mistress.

Wow. You lying, cheating scum of the earth.

The betrayal hit me like a tidal wave. I locked myself in my bedroom, buried my face in the pillow, and sobbed until my chest ached.

As I cried, memories of the past eight years flooded my mind. I thought about how we met. How Leo spilled coffee on my shoes at the bookstore and bought me a new pair as an excuse to see me again.

I thought about his proposal on a rainy beach, when he knelt in the sand, soaking wet, holding a ring he’d nervously hidden in his sock all day.

I thought about how proud he’d been when our first child was born, the way he held our daughter, Summer, like she was made of glass.

“I’m going to love you forever,” he had said.

How had we ended up here?

The tears eventually stopped, replaced by something colder and sharper. Anger. I wasn’t going to let this break me. I wasn’t going to let Leo destroy the life I’d built for myself and our kids.

I opened his laptop again, this time looking for the woman’s information. His laptop synced his phone’s contacts, so there would be something to find. It wasn’t hard to find, actually.

Her number was saved under “M.L.”

And one quick search on social media later, her identity was confirmed. Her number included.

I dialed her number, my foot tapping loudly against the wooden floor.

“Hello?” Her voice was soft and hesitant.

“Hi, my name is Claire, and I’m Leo’s wife.”

There was a pause, and then a shaky breath.

“What?” she asked, sounding like someone had pulled the rug out from beneath her feet.

“His wife. The mother of his two children. The woman he’s been married to for eight years.”

The silence on the other end spoke volumes. Then, in a trembling voice, she confessed.

“He told me he was single… I had no idea, ma’am.”

“But you’re with him now?” I asked.

“We’re at a spa,” she said. “Not far from town.”

“Can we meet?” I asked. “I think we need to talk.”

“He’s holed up in the room,” she said. “A work meeting. I’ll leave now and convince him that I have something to take care of and that I’ll return, so that he doesn’t leave with me.”

“Good. Do it.”

The next day, I met Mia at a coffee shop overlooking the beach. She was even younger and prettier than I expected, which, I’ll admit, stung. But the moment she sat down across from me, I saw the same pain and betrayal in her eyes that I felt in mine.

“I swear, I didn’t know,” she said.

And then the tears began.

“Leo told me that he was divorced. And that it had been a clean break on both sides. He said that there were no kids involved, but he was living with his mother, who was attached to his ex-wife. That’s why I couldn’t go over to his place. Goodness. I am so stupid.”

Hearing her, seeing her raw expression, my anger dissipated.

I reached across the table and grabbed her hand.

“You’re not stupid. Leo’s the liar here. He’s the disgrace. You’re just as much a victim as I am.”

We sat there for hours, talking, crying, and even laughing through our shared anger. Anger toward Leo, not each other.

By the end of it, we’d formed an unexpected bond. And hatched a plan.

A few days later, Leo came home from his trip. Mia hadn’t gone back, but it seemed that he wanted to enjoy the spa. He was tense, annoyed, and snappy as heck.

I’d sent the kids to their grandparents for the weekend, knowing what was about to go down.

He dropped his bag by the door and barely looked at me. I busied myself with preparing the roast lamb for dinner.

“Hey,” he muttered.

“Hey,” I said, slicing up the cloves of garlic. “Rough trip?”

He sighed heavily.

“You have no idea.”

I tilted my head, feigning curiosity.

“Why? What happened, Leo?”

He glared at me.

“What happened, Claire?” he shouted. “I’ll tell you what happened. Someone put me up for auction online. For one dollar.”

I bit back a laugh.

“Really? That’s… unusual.”

“Oh, don’t play dumb, Claire!” he snapped. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. That listing said I’m a ‘cheating, lying man who juggles two women and uses work trips to hide my affairs.’ And you know what? My boss saw it! The whole company saw it! I got fired because of your stupid joke!”

I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow.

“I thought you deserved it. It wasn’t stupid, if you think about it.”

“You ruined my career!” he shouted, his face red with anger.

“No, Leo,” I said firmly. “You ruined your career when you decided to cheat on your wife and lie to your girlfriend. This is just the fallout.”

He opened his mouth to argue, but I held up a hand to stop him. Knife in hand, too.

“And by the way, the auction? That wasn’t just my idea.”

I turned toward the hallway and called.

“Mia, you can come in now, love.”

His face turned ghostly pale as Mia walked into the room.

“Mia?” he stammered.

“Yes, Leo,” she said, her voice icy. “It’s me. The woman you lied to. The woman you made a fool of. And do you remember what I do for a living?”

Leo shook his head.

“You just happened to make a fool of a divorce lawyer,” Mia said.

She held up a stack of papers.

“These are for you. Claire and I think it’s time you officially became the single man you’ve been pretending to be.”

I couldn’t help but smirk.

Mia and I burst into laughter as Leo grabbed the papers and stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

“More roasted lamb for us,” Mia said, sitting down at the kitchen counter.

Now you’re probably wondering about the auction. Let’s take a step back:

It was a stroke of brilliance. Mia and I had entered Leo into a fake bachelor auction, supposedly to raise money for a local animal shelter. The description was as biting as it was hilarious:

“For just $1, you can own the lying, cheating husband who juggles two women while pretending to be a devoted father of two. Bids come with a warning: he’s great at work trips but terrible at honesty.”

We thought it would stay small, but someone shared it online, and it went viral overnight. Thousands of comments, hundreds of shares. By morning, Leo’s boss had seen it.

The company, concerned about its reputation, called him in while he was on his way back from the spa. And they fired him on the spot.

After he was gone, Mia turned to me with a grin.

“I can’t believe we just did that.”

“Believe it,” I said, raising a glass of wine. “To new beginnings.”

“To new beginnings,” she agreed, clinking her glass against mine.

That weekend, Mia and I left the kids with my parents and headed off on a trip together. Somewhere sunny, warm, and far away from the mess Leo had created.

Who would’ve thought that the woman I once saw as the enemy would become one of the best friends I’d ever had? And you know what? My kids love her.

And honestly? I wouldn’t have it any other way.