I honestly don't know how to write this without sounding controlling or insecure, so I'm just going to lay everything out and let people judge for themselves. I'm 35, my wife is 35. I work in private equity and she works in interior design and fashion. We've been together since we were teenagers, married for six years, and we have two kids. We're financially comfortable and, until recently, I'd say our relationship was pretty solid. I've always trusted my wife. She's attractive, takes care of herself, has always had a very active social life, and I've never been the husband who tells her she can't go out or who she can be friends with. She has the same close group of friends she's had since childhood. They go out for girls' nights, parties, dinners, etc. once or twice a month. I've genuinely never had a problem with that. She has her own life and I've always thought that's healthy. About three months ago, she went to a music festival with her friends. Their group ended up meeting another mixed group of people, and that's where she met a guy named Ryan. Ryan is probably in his late 30s. He's divorced, wealthy, and owns an interior design company. Normally, none of that would bother me. My wife works with successful men all the time, so I'm not naive about her industry. They exchanged numbers and followed each other on Instagram. At first, it apparently became mostly professional. Ryan introduced her to someone who eventually gave her a huge interior design project worth six figures. Ryan is also involved in the project, so they've been working together for the last couple of months. My wife's company is actually her own company. It's medium-sized, maybe 3-4 employees. I've helped her build it in a lot of ways over the years, financially and otherwise, but I've deliberately stayed out of her business decisions because it's her career. I understand why she's excited about this project. Ryan has made connections for her, introduced her to important clients and helped her professionally. I don't want to take that away from her. The problem is how personal everything seems to have become. Ryan invited her to a party at his house. She went, and I wasn't invited. At the time I thought it was strange but didn't make a huge deal about it. Later, he invited both of us. I honestly didn't go. My wife told me I shouldn't feel uncomfortable about the wealth difference and that he wasn't trying to show off. She wanted me to come with her, but I decided not to. Then, about a month later, he invited my wife to another party without me. Itold her I wasn't comfortable with her going. She went anyway. That really bothered me. Not necessarily because I thought something sexual was happening, but because I felt like my feelings didn't matter. Since then, there have been a lot of work lunches, dinners, launches and other events. Usually it's my wife, Ryan and her team. Sometimes it's just the two of them. Friday evenings seem to be particularly common because Ryan and her team will often go out for meals after work. My wife says it's completely normal because they're working on a major project together and Ryan is an important professional contact for her. Maybe it is normal in her industry. I honestly don't know. But from my perspective, when my wife is regularly going out to dinner with another man, talking to him every day, going to his parties and spending time with his social circle, it doesn't exactly feel like a purely professional relationship anymore. About a month ago, I actually booked a table for us on a Friday night. I told her around 4pm that I'd pick her up. She said something along the lines of, "Sorry, we've already planned to have dinner with my team tonight. We can go tomorrow if you don't mind." I know technically she didn't do anything wrong. But it hurt. I felt like I had made plans with my wife and she chose this other group instead. After that I kind of stopped asking her to go out with me because, honestly, I didn't want to feel like I was competing with her work/social life. Then there's his family. Ryan's sister and brother have both been around my wife's office because of the project. My wife has become very close with his sister. They go shopping together, they've taken each other's kids out for fun days, and his sister has even been at our house. My wife has basically developed a whole new friendship circle through Ryan and his family. And I'll be honest, I don't like it. I don't like Ryan. I don't like his siblings. And I don't like how quickly they've become such a big part of my wife's life. It has reached the point where I feel like an outsider in my own wife's social life. Now Ryan's sister has invited both of us to her birthday, along with a 2-3 day trip to Sotogrande next week. Ryan will obviously be there too. I told my wife I'm not going. I also told her that I'm not comfortable with her going either. She thinks I'm being unreasonable because this is an important professional and social circle for her, and she says these relationships are benefiting her career. I understand that. What bothers me is that whenever we talk about Ryan, she talks about how much he's helped her professionally, how he's introduced her to important clients and how important he is for her career. And I can't lie, sometimes that gets under my skin because I've supported her company for years in ways that she doesn't really mention. But I've never wanted recognition for it, so maybe that's unfair of me. The thing that really got to me was a picture from one of Ryan's parties. There was a group photo, and my wife and Ryan were standing next to each other. His hand was around her waist. Maybe that means absolutely nothing. Maybe that's just how people pose in their social circle. But seeing another man with his hand on my wife's waist made me feel awful. I've already told my wife that I'm uncomfortable with how close they've become. She says she understands my feelings, but this is important for her career and professional life. She says the friendship is benefiting her and that I'm making it bigger than it is. Maybe I am. I don't want to be the husband who controls who his wife talks to or where she goes. I also don't want to accuse her of cheating when I have no actual evidence of that. But I also don't think I'm required to pretend I'm completely comfortable with this. I don't want another man becoming one of the most important people in my wife's daily life, taking her to lunches and dinners, inviting her to parties, involving her in his family/social circle, and having his hand around her waist in photos.