In every family, the members have at least some secrets from each other. Some small and insignificant, and some so damning it could tear a family apart…
When Sara becomes increasingly suspicious of what her husband Mark is doing behind her back, she crosses every previously established boundary to find the evidence she needs to prove her suspicions.
But when she finally comes across a photo that seemingly gives her all the answers she needs, she is shocked by the unbelievable reality of the situation and sees no other option than to file for a divorce immediately…
Getting into Marks computer
Sara grabs the crumpled-up piece of paper on which Mark wrote down the password to his computer. She hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but felt like she had no other choice. She has to see what is on these photos and…
The photo
After a little bit of searching, Sara finds the folder she was looking for. She takes a deep breath and opens it. A wave of surprise and confusion hits her. This was not what she expected to find. She clicks on one of the photos and then she suddenly sees it…
“How could he?!”
She can’t believe it. She never thought Mark was capable of something like this. How could he do this to their family?! Tears are starting to stream down her face…
But to better understand Sara’s extreme reaction, a bit of backstory is required…
Meet the millers
At first glance, the Millers seem to be a relatively normal American family consisting of Mark and Sara, and their 2 young children. But while the family may seem normal now, they definitely haven’t always been. A lot went on beneath the surface nobody knew about…
Meeting at a young age
Sara has been together with Mark since she was only 15 years old and thus the pair have kind of grown-up together it seems. After they met, They got really close really quickly and there was a good reason for that…
Where they first met
Sara first met Mark when she and a couple of friends went to hang out at an old warehouse where a lot of young people were squatting. This was a local spot that often had parties going under the police’s radar and was thus very popular in the small town.
Mark kept his distance
By that point, Mark himself had been living at the warehouse for only a couple of weeks. When Sara and her friend, along with some other people, arrived, he was very quiet at first and didn’t look for contact. He sat alone outside of the building most of the time that night.
Only 16 years old
The other squatters that had lived in the warehouse much longer told Sara and her friends that this had been the case ever since he got there. They weren’t a fan of his antisocial behavior but weren’t going to send a 16-year old away who had no place else to go…
Sara was interested in Mark
The more time Sara was spending at the warehouse and the later it got that night, the more interested she got in Mark. Something about his looks and mysterious demeanor seemed to really draw her in. She felt like she couldn’t keep her eyes off him and made her move…
Just the two of them
Sara decided to take Mark apart and away from the group to see if he would become more talkative when he was one on one. The warehouse was pretty big so they had a lot of space to just wander around and talk. And Sara wasn’t disappointed by her making this move…
Secretive about his past
When it was just the 2 of them, Mark quickly dropped his shy demeanor and he actually seemed to be really interested in Sara. They had a good and long conversation, all while Mark didn’t reveal much about himself. But he did give Sara a little bit of information…
Moved from across the country
Apparently, Mark relocated to this town from somewhere across the county and had no intention of ever going back. But he didn’t want to say why this was or where he came from exactly. At that time, Sara didn’t ask more questions about it, but maybe she should have…
Falling in love
When Sara got home, she could not stop thinking about Mark. He didn’t leave her mind for days on end and wanted to see him again as soon as possible. They started to meet up often and quickly fell in love. But it would prove to be far from a perfect relationship…
Meeting Sara’s parents
Sara eventually even took Mark home to meet her family and her parents also quickly took a liking to the shy, but a polite young man. But they were caught off guard when Mark explained his situation and knew that had to do something to help him out.
Worried for Mark
Sara’s parents didn’t like the idea of a 16-year-old boy squatting in an old warehouse with a load of strangers. After a lot of deliberation and Sara convincing them she really loved Mark, they made a big decision that would save Mark from his precarious position…
Living with Sara’s parents
They took Mark into their home and in the time that Mark lived with Sara at her parents’ house, their relationship really started to blossom. Soon after moving in, Mark found a side job and was able to afford to go to photography school. Something he had always dreamed of doing.
Graduating and finding work
When he finally got his photography degree about 3 years later, he was gifted a great camera by Sara’s parents and with it, he quickly found a lot of work as a freelance photographer, building quite a good reputation for himself.
Buying an apartment
He started to earn increasingly good money and it didn’t take long for the pair to be able to afford a down payment on a small apartment in which they could live and start building their life together. Everything seemed to be fantastic for the young couple. But was this actually the case?
Something was bugging Sara
The couple were slowly building up their lives together over the next couple of years, there were still some things that were starting to bug Sara. Something that Sara has had trouble with from the very first moment that she met Mark up to the present day…
Mark’s mysterious past
By the time she and Mark had been together for years, but he was still very secretive about his past and it was starting to worry Sara more and more. What could he be hiding from her or what was so difficult for him to talk about?
Not wanting to talk about it
Sara had asked him to tell her more on multiple occasions but was always met by the same kind of reluctant responses. Mark claims that he doesn’t have a family anymore and that it hurts too much to talk about everything. He just wants to forget about it all…
Accepting the situation
At this point, Sara had just accepted it as the reality of the situation. Mark had been this way ever since she knew him and he was probably never going to change. But luckily, this secretiveness was one of the few flaws Mark had in her eyes and she could live with it. At least for now…
Getting married
When the pair had been in a relationship for about 7 years, had their first child together, and now had another one on the way, they decided they were ready to get married. Sara hoped that she would maybe finally meet some of Mark’s family at the wedding…
Mark’s family is absent
But, maybe not to Sara’s surprise but definitely to her disappointment, Mark had only invited his friends to the wedding. And it was also only the friends he had met in the time that she knew him. Not a single person was there that had known Mark from before he moved to the city at the age of 16.
The family was flourishing
But overall, this didn’t really bother Sara that much. They had a great wedding with or without his family and they had it fairly good together in general. Not just emotionally or romantically, but also financially. Mark was making some big steps in his professional career.
Never turning down a job
In all the time that had passed sinds Mark graduated as a photographer, his reputation had only gotten bigger and better and he now had a plethora of well off customers willing to pay him handsomely for his services. And what also helped, was that Mark was very willing to make “any” kind of photos…
Sara got somewhat uncomfortable
Sara was of course very happy for Mark personally but also that this success meant that money was never a concern for the growing family. But there were some aspects of Mark’s work that Sara got less and less comfortable with the more he did it…
Flying all across the country
The first thing was that Mark often flew all across the country for his work, which meant that he could be away multiple days leaving Sara alone with their son and later their baby daughter. Sara was a full-time mom at the time so she could handle it, but missing Mark so often became increasingly difficult for her.
Photo’s of a different nature
And on top of that, Sara also wasn’t all too happy with the kind of pictures Mark was making at that time. Most of his assignments were fairly unspectacular like big sporting events or photoshoots with models. But some other photography jobs were of a very different nature…
Risque Photo’s
Mark was getting a lot of assignments over the years where he was shooting photos for magazines that could be classified as a bit more risque. Sara had seen some of these pictures and she couldn’t help but feel someone uncomfortable with Mark making these kinds of photos.
Sara disliked this
Sara felt jealous and sometimes even a bit insecure about this all. She always heard stories about what could happen between photographers and their models. She knew Mark was not like that but still found it difficult to shake the thought of the possibility…
Trusting Mark
But even though Sara’s worries were not going away, she felt like they were not serious or significant enough for her to complain to Mark about it. These photoshoots often paid particularly well and the positives far outweigh the negatives for her. Plus, she still trusted Mark…
Something unfortunate happens
With two kids around the house and her being unable to work because she has to take care of them, it means they can’t just turn down assignments because she doesn’t like those kinds of photos. And this is especially true after one day something very unfortunately happens…
Trying to buy groceries
Like she does every week, Sara is buying the weekly grocery items and some other things that caught her eye at the supermarket. When she went to pay for them, she knew she spent a lot more than normal, but she still never expected that this would happen at the register…
Sara’s card gets declined
When she attempted to pay, her card declined. The machine stated that the reason for this was “insufficient funds”. Sara was stunned. This had never happened before and she knew there had to still be plenty of money on the card. She tried it a few more times but nothing changed.
Mark had withdrawn all their money
Sara had to put the cart with groceries away and decided to call the bank, asking for an explanation. They quickly checked the records and found that just that morning all the money in their spending account had been withdrawn. And it was withdrawn by Mark without stating a reason…
An investment opportunity
Mark is currently on one of his frequent trips, so Sara immediately calls him to ask for an explanation. Mark tells her that he had found a great investment opportunity after talking to some people at the photo shoot and that he quickly needed the cash before somebody else beat him to it.
This struck Sara as odd
The only way he could get the money quick enough was by taking it out of their spending account. He had already put in an order for some money to be transferred back into it from their savings account, but it hadn’t gone through yet. A good explanation, but it still struck Sara as odd…
Not interested in investing
Mark had never shown an interest in investing before. They had always had the money for it, but Mark didn’t want to have to constantly be busy with it and Sara had no clue about how she could manage something like that. Besides, there was something else really strange about this “investment”…
An unknown start-up
All Mark could tell Sara about it was that it’s a start-up in a very early stage and that not a lot was publicly known about it. This meant that there wasn’t anything about the company published online or somewhere else, according to Mark. This set off a lot of alarm bells for Sara…
Becoming very suspicious
After this moment, Sara became a lot more vigilant about the things Mark told her. The money going missing would turn out to be the beginning of a lot of other strange events and finds that started making Sara more suspicious and worried about what Mark was doing.
Mark often traveled to the same place
Sara started noticing that some of Mark’s travel stories didn’t add up. He always told her that he flew all over the country and almost never to the same place. But when Sara “coincidentally” oversaw Mark flying history, she noticed he went to one particular airport awfully much. Why would he be lying about that?
Why would he lie about this?
Could he have a customer there that Mark didn’t want Sara to know about? But what could be so special about that customer then? Or could there be something else going on? Maybe something not related to photography at all…
Less romantically interested
What also started to happen more and more, was that when Mark actually was home, he seemed less interested in being romantic or doing other things with Sara. While this used to always be one of the first things on his mind when he got home from a long trip…
Sara’s friend fears the worst
At first, Sara thought this might just be part of being in a relationship for a long time. But when she talked to some of her friends about it, they seemed a lot more worried and the only explanation they could come up with was Sara’s worst fear…
The final straw
With Sara becoming almost completely engulfed in her worries and doubts, something happened that seemingly pushes her over the edge. Something that seems to tie all the pieces of information she found so far together and left her with only 1 explanation…
A late-night call
Late at night, when Mark was on another one of his trips, the home phone rang. But when Sara went to answer it and stated her name, the line was immediately disconnected by the caller. Sara found this strange and quickly noted down the unfamiliar number.
Searching the number online
After trying to call the number back a couple of times and getting disconnected before the second ring every time, Sara went to google with the phone number to see if she could maybe find out more about who was calling her at this time of night and made a shocking discovery…
It’s from the city Mark visited so often!
Sara quickly discovered that she was unable to trace the exact number due to it not appearing in any search she performed. But when she did find out was that the area code match with the city Mark flew out to so often! This was the final straw for Sara…
Sara had to get answers
She had always made a point that she wanted to respect Mark’s privacy as much as possible, but enough was enough. There were too many red flags and she had to find out what was going on. So Sara went to the only place she could think of to get answers…
Mark’s home computer
Sara went to try and log in on Mark’s home computer. It has a password that Mark had never revealed to her. He probably assumes that Sara doesn’t know it, but months ago she had found a crumpled piece of paper on the ground on which it was written.
Full of photos
She unlocks the PC and is immediately confronted by countless neatly organized folders full of pictures. For a second Sara is overwhelmed by the sheer volume, but then she composes herself. She knows exactly where to start searching…
Looking for specific dates
Sara has the recently updated list with Mark’s flying history saved on her phone and starts searching for photos dating from a couple of days after Mark’s trips to the city he so often visited. That same city Sara had gotten a call from the previous night. But Sara was surprised by what she found…
Not finding any photos
Going from old to new, Sara couldn’t find any photos from these specific periods. Sara knew that one of the first things Mark would do after returning from a job was to put the new photos on this computer. So that must mean he didn’t go on these trips to take photos at all…
A suspicious folder
But then Sara finally stumbles across a folder she was looking for. It was dated just after Mark’s most recent trip to the city. With her fingers shaking in anticipation, Sara clicked open the folder. She felt like she was prepared to see anything. Anything, but not this…
Photos of Mark with another family
All of the photos that are stored in the folder are of Mark. But not just of Mark alone, but of him with another family! Another wife and 2 children! Sara had never seen these people before and couldn’t believe what she had just discovered. “It can’t be true…”
So many questions
She knew that Mark had been up to something, but she could have never guessed that he would have another family on the side. When? How? Why? Did that family know about her? Could this potentially explain everything? Sara went into a blind panic…
Waiting until he gets home
All Sara wants to do is confront Mark and ask for an explanation. She wants to scream at him and tell him everything she thought about him but she can’t. Sara has to wait until he gets home the next day as this just cannot be done over the phone.
Wanting a divorce
That night Sara doesn’t sleep for a second. All she can think about is her life completely falling to pieces. The man she had devoted her life to for more than 7 years had been living a double life. She knows she has to leave Mark and file for divorce…
Bringing the kids to a friend
When Marks gets home late in the afternoon the very next day, Sara is waiting for him. She made sure that the kids are with one of her friends for that day. She didn’t want to have them here for this. They shouldn’t have to see their parents like this…
Mark is caught off guard
With Mark completely unaware of what Sara found out, he gets confronted with everything the moment he sets foot in the house. He tries to convince her that she is wrong and that he can explain it, but Sara is not having any of it. She is blinded by her rage.
Sara is about to leave
Her bags and those of the kids are already packed. Mark is informed that Sara will file for divorce in the morning. When she marches in the direction of the front door, Mark hesitates for a couple of seconds, but then he yells something that stops Sara in her tracks completely…
A twin brother
“I have a twin brother,” Mark yelled. Sara turns around and her first instinct is to get even angrier that Mark would dare to use such a ridiculous excuse. But then he claims that he can prove it and he pulls up the exact picture on his phone, pointing to the hand of the man…
Missing a finger
The man in the picture is clearly missing a finger, something that didn’t catch Sara’s attention the first time she saw it. Was it possible that Mark was speaking the truth? With the both of them having calmed down a bit, they sit down and Mark starts explaining everything…
He is telling the truth
It turns out that Mark actually has a twin brother, named Eric, who had lost his finger at a very early age due to an unfortunate accident with a lawnmower. Mark had never told Sara about him before and there was a good reason for this…
His twin Eric was a bad egg
When the brothers were growing up, Eric, unlike Mark himself, turned out to not be a big fan of the so-called “straight and narrow”. He often got himself into trouble from a very young age and this meant the brother clashed a lot. But Eric was not the only one behaving like this…
Eric was just like their parents
Mark’s parents were also very involved in many practices that would do well never to see the light of day. From an early age, Mark knew he had to get away from his family to avoid becoming like them. He left when he was 16 with nothing more than a backpack. In search of a new life.
Eric had landed in jail
In the years after Mark had cut ties with his family, Eric’s situation went from bad to worse and it eventually landed him in jail just a couple of months ago. He was charged for being a repeat offender and sentenced to 5 years behind bars.
Mark decided to help him
Eric took this as a moment of self-reflection and decided he wanted to turn his life around. He knew that there was only one person that could help him with this and that was Mark. He called him up from jail and after a lot of deliberation, Mark agreed to help.
Paying Eric’s bail
Mark had to keep him helping out Eric a secret because he still didn’t want Sara to know about his family in any way shape or form. He was afraid she would seek contact with them. The money that went missing was used to pay Eric’s bail and to help him get back on his feet.
Mark secretly visited Eric often
After bailing his brother out of jail, Mark went to visit Eric a couple of times to see how he was doing and further help him out adapting to a better life away from the bad path Eric was previously on. And all the effort Mark was putting into this quickly started to pay off.
Eric gets his life together
Within mere weeks of being released, Eric had found a job as a garbage man. And not only that, but he also met a woman with who he fell head over heels in love. The woman was divorced and already had 2 kids of her own, whose presence turned out to be just what Eric needed.
A newfound family
On Mark’s most recent trip to see his brother, he decided to do a photoshoot with Eric and his new family. The call Sara had gotten the previous night was from Eric who wanted to ask if Mark could send a specific photo to him. But Eric had apparently been drinking and forgot he wasn’t supposed to call to the house.
Sara wants to meet Eric
Sara had a difficult time processing all the information she was getting. But Mark seemed to have a proof for everything he was claiming. There was now only one thing left to do for Sara; she had to meet Eric. Finally, she was going to meet somebody from Mark’s family…
Everything gets resolved
The much-anticipated meeting goes over pretty well. Mark, as well as Eric, are very apologetic for keeping this all a secret and while Sara is definitely still upset about it, she does kind of get it. She thinks Mark was probably right in thinking she would attempt to seek contact.
Everything gets resolved
Mark and Sara promise that they will no longer keep any secrets from each other and the 2 families actually start to build up quite a good relationship over the next couple of months. And the picture that had Sara almost filing for divorce is now hanging prominently in Eric’s living room.
*This is a made-up story for entertainment purposes. The photos that have been used are stock photos.
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