My Husband Left Me and Our Six Children for a Fitness Trainer – I Didn’t Even Have Time to Think About Revenge Before Karma Caught Up With Him

I got up before I could fall apart again. I worked through breakfast, lunchboxes, missing socks, and a missing shoe that somehow made two kids grumpy.

I was pouring milk a few hours later when my phone rang.

Mark, Cole’s coworker, the one my kids trusted enough to climb on like a jungle gym.

I pressed the phone to my ear. “Mark, I can’t —”

“Paige,” he cut in. His voice was sharp and controlled, but underneath, there was panic. “You need to come. Now.”

“Mark, I can’t—”

“Where?” I stopped pouring. “What’s going on?”

“I’m at the office,” he said. “Cole’s in a glass conference room. HR is here. Darren’s here too.”

“What did Cole do?”

Mark hesitated for a moment. “The company card. It got flagged.”

I gripped the edge of the counter. “Flagged for what? I didn’t even know he had access to it.”

“Hotel stays. Gifts. All tied to the trainer from the on-site gym. Alyssa. She’s a vendor under our wellness contract, and compliance has been auditing Cole’s expenses for weeks. They didn’t know it was an affair until last night. They just knew he was bleeding money.”

“What’s going on?”

My stomach turned.

“The company phone plan flagged him,” Mark continued. “Then the charges matched the same dates. They don’t need romance rumors. They have receipts.”

I closed my eyes. “And why are you telling me this?”

Mark exhaled. “Because Cole thinks he can spin it. He called you ’emotional.’ He said that he could always come back home because he knows how to ‘handle you.'”

I looked at the breakfast table, at the kids milling around, deciding what to do with their day.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I have six children, Mark. Leah is 12. I can’t hide this from her.”

“I know,” he agreed. “That’s why you need to come.”

I pressed mute. My youngest tugged at the hem of my shirt.

“Mommy?”

I crouched down and met her eyes. “Go sit with your brother, baby. I’ll be right there, okay?”

She nodded and padded off, dragging her stuffed bunny behind her.

I unmuted the call. “Fine. I’m coming.”

“I can’t hide this from her.”

I hung up and dialed Tessa from next door. She picked up after one ring.