Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Worst story of cheating - but have I over stepped?

261 replies

CUniverse · 15/12/2020 23:56

This is a very long story, I will start with the back story as condensed as possible.

I became pregnant after 1 year whirlwind relationship with someone I split up my previous relationship for. I was living Amsterdam at the time where he is from, but moved back to the UK 6 months in.
When I found out I was pregnant, I stayed in the UK, and he was saving money to move with me and we were due to live there.
He arrived when I was 6.5 months, everything was great and we were happy. It turned out though that the 3000 euro he had supposed to have saved for us and baby, he gambled away on online poker so he came empty handed. I funded everything.

Slowly, he started to become recluse, and disappeared after work instead of coming home so that he could find places to play poker, in casinos or online.
When I discovered this, I tried to urge him into GA, he went a few times, but eventually he was suicidal and depressed so I recommended he return back to the Netherlands. Our daughter was 1 by this time.

He went back, and after 3 months decided that he wouldn't return back to the UK, he hated it and missed his friends and family. Therefore the plan was to move there with our daughter. We did this, but it took me a year, long story.

He promised he had stopped gambling and was in a good place. Within weeks of arriving he went straight back into gambling, and also speaking to other women. During this time he was emotionally abusive and even struck me 3 times. I had an abortion because of how badly he treated me. The final straw was the fact that he slept with someone one random night, so I broke it off.
I was determined to stay in Amsterdam but eventually would find somewhere else and move out into my own place with my daughter, then suddenly he found a new girl, one week after I broke up with him on tinder. He told me he was in love with her instantly and that he wanted me and our daughter to leave the house for a week, so that she could move in and work from our place for a few days. This was within 3 days of meeting this girl on tinder. I refused to allow this, and he verbally abuse me to the point where I had to flee the country with our child. He knew we were leaving but he didn't care.

Within 6 weeks, he had broken up with the tinder girl and was begging from to come back, saying that he was depressed and didn't know who he was back then and wanted to give us another go. Of course I objected. For a whole year he tried everything, gave up gambling, became selfless instead of selfish and really showed me he was ready. So I told him I would consider returning mostly for our child.

By May 2020 we were locked down together in Amsterdam and I was working from home there and became pregnant. We were happy about it and he thought it was just what we needed to finally cement the return of our relationship.
I was reluctant to put a label on us though and said I needed time, because I was traumatised from what happened between us before. Especially the physical abuse. But he really seemed like a changed man, and in fact, he had a terribly childhood, so we put it down to that, and he said he would get therapy to address his issues.

In August we went on vacation everything was wonderful, and by September, something changed.

I went back to London for a couple weeks and I sensed something was off. I asked him outrightly, if he was seeing someone else while I was in London still.
He told me no.
I arrived in Amsterdam a week later, and checked his phone while he slept. It was almost completely clean, except he left a tiny piece of evidence, along with blonde hair all over the house and I managed to get a confession out of him after pressing him for a few days.
He had met the girl 3 weeks earlier and was sleeping with her. He told me he did it because I wouldn't go publicly official to our friends and family with him. He felt neglected and stressed after a year of trying to get me back.

I made up my mind there and then that I would get my revenge for him doing this too me again. In addition, he slept with her without protection and slept with me too, before the confession thus putting my health at risk which I couldn't forgive.

This is where it gets twisted.

I told him id forgive him and stay, for the sake of our kids and that I loved him. This was a lie, I was just plotting how to get him back.
Things went great the following weeks, I was acting the part of loving and forgiving girlfriend very easily. At some point I caught him on WhatsApp with the girl ( he had told me they had cut contact). She was pursing him, crying etc.. saying she was in love with him and heartbroken that he had too end it with her.
I took a huge step evading his privacy after this and I managed to install his WhatsApp on my laptop, so I was practically spying on every convo he was having. Eventually I told him he should meet up with her one final time and end it because i had to travel back to the Uk and I didn't want him to see her while I was gone.. or more like, I wanted to test if he would, knowing I would be able to see their convos.

When they met up he came back and asked me if I would consider a 3 way relationship with the two of them. Me being the primary. I told him I would consider it when returned from London.
Of course I had no intention to do so, but just wanted to see this girl face to face, (sick I know) so we all met up, discussed things, and well it was painful, but at the end, I told them they were not to see one another while I was away and I would consider the 3way after I had the baby.

While I was there, I was still connected to his WhatsApp as I mentioned and saw they had met 3 times. Which he lied about to my face.

Upon returning though, he ended it with her and said he wanted to focus on his family. Due to the fact that he met up with her while I was away, again displaying how little he respected me, I was driven even further by seeking revenge, so much that I didn't let on that I knew anything. So all these months of knowing what he has been up to, he is none the wiser.

The current situation is that he wants for sure that I move here permanently to Amsterdam once baby is born (in London) with our other child and we buy a new house, and start a fresh... however, of course, there is no way in hell I can do this after all this deceit. I cannot believe how badly I have allowed myself to be treated.

So, because I told him I had forgiven him, I was finding it impossible to go back on my word without admitting that I was spying the whole time. So I have been creatively (insanely) thinking of other ways out... of ways that will allow me to break up with him and him not having any power to force me to stay.

One night, after not checking his actual phone for a long time, I saw he had a dating app installed on his phone, but only once. after 6 consecutive days of checking, I didn't see it anymore. But I initially did check his phone because he was acting weird again all of a sudden.
So, I decided to re install the app I saw while he slept, and then I saw he was speaking to multiple women for 6 months, but had not met any of them. This inspired me to make a fake profile, with photos of a friend of mine he doesn't know.
He matched with my profile and is planning to meet up with this girl on Friday ( I am going back to the UK tomorrow for Christmas)...

Now, if you have gotten this far you may think this is the craziest story ever (and I have missed some crazy bits out)...and may be thinking I am insane for staying and more insane for spying...however, when you're with someone who won't let you go, it is so so so very hard to get out. Especially as his family are all so adamant that I give him chance after chance, and he guilt trips me constantly with his issues and tells me I am the only person who can make him happy. I know I have over stepped by spying on him this intensely, but, I became desperate. It has been a horrible few months being pregnant and dealing with all these revelations that I have made myself privy to by having so much access to his privacy.

I expect to be scolded and told how wrong I am and that I have overstepped, but, for the first time in months I finally feel like I can throw this at him (planning to meet the girl on the app) and he will accept that I can no longer stay with him after this and give in. I don't know how I will expose the fact that I know he has planned to meet a girl, but at this point, I just need to get out.

OP posts:
Tiny2018 · 16/12/2020 07:16

OP I have been where you have.
At the beginning of my last relationship, I knew something was off. My partner was often not emotionally present, was critical and unexcited, and took his phone everywhere with him. I was convinced he was still seeing his ex. I would often ask him who'd text and occasionally he would tell me the truth, it would be a message from her, but a message that was clearly part of a conversation. For almost a year he deined having anything to do with her, but I knew it in my gut.
Where once I was a bouncy, fun little think, I became paranoid and suspicious. It ate up my every thought. We argued constantly about it, I told him repeatedly I KNEW he had unfinished business with her. He made me feel like a total loon, told me it was all in my head, there's nothing going on, my friends all think I'm crazy, could I please just drop it? It drove me literally to the brink of madness, to the point I almost checked myself into the city Mental Health Ward, but I bumped into a friend on the way and he talked me out of it.
After having too much of the arguing and my mental health being at an all time low, I ended things and left town.
I returned after three days. He and I had messaged intermitently while I was away and he asked to see me. We had a lovely afternoon at the park, he walked me home, but he seemed nervous. Before he left, he dumoed it on me that the day after I had left town, he spent the weekend with his ex. To say I was enraged was an understatement. To my shame, in response to all the gaslighting and subsequent hurt, I kicked him.
I wish I could say it ended there but it didn't.
He dicked around for a few years, I know he continued his doggish ways, though have no proof. I stalked hom in SM to attempt to ease my paranoia, to have proof to present to him that I knew what he fucking game was. Slowly I started to hate him. I had invested so much in him and he couldn't see it, how could he not see it?
I started to care less and less, and he grew up and started to care more, until it was clear to anyone that saw us that he truly really loved me.
He began to really put in some effort. He tried absolutely everything to make me happy. I'm not going to go into detail about how I subconsciously (and sometimes consciously) punished him over the remaining years, but lets say it wasn't pretty. I wanted him to hurt as he had hurt me, I wanted proof over the years of his misdeeds so that I would never feel crazy again. I made his life an utter nightmare
He's now a totally different man from when I met him, but he's broken.
He'll heal and meet someone new and be happy, or he wont, I couldn't either way.
I'm happy without him. I look back and realise I became a monster. After I got rid of him, bits of myself came back and I am pretty happy these days. But I look back with regret at how much time I wasted. I should have walked away early on, not spend years tying myself up in knots trting to fix things, uncover his lies and punish him. What a total waste of time.
You're still very much in the 'need him to see what he's doing to me stage' so this is likely fruitless. We cannot force people to learn, they need to learn for themselves. It is the univereses job to deal with Karma, not ours, and I am well aware that I now have a huge dose to deal with at some point in the future due to how I handled my shitshow.
All you are doing atm is appearing more and more psychotic and though you know and understand the resaons why (he's driven you to it, right?), not everybody can understand this.

BluntAndToThePoint80 · 16/12/2020 07:18

I’d echo the posters concerned about the legality of what you are doing and The Hague Convention... have you looked into this at all or are you too busy trying to fuck about and have your “revenge” rather than trying to safeguard your children from a violent addict ?

Laburnam · 16/12/2020 07:20

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

IdblowJonSnow · 16/12/2020 07:28

Struggled to get quite to the end but FFS, life is way too short for this. Leave him and don't look back. I would also try to avoid him being in your kids' lives. He's not fit.

I'm not sure why this has gone on for so long, ot must have sapped so much mental energy from you.

Toilenstripes · 16/12/2020 07:30

You’re an absolute mess. What about your poor children?

Feminem · 16/12/2020 07:35

Good on you for your strength and determination OP. I imagine this plan of yours has been keeping you going. Why should you let him hurt you and use you? You have taken back control and I imagine the adrenaline has kept you strong.
Now you have all this evidence, park it and move on. Leave today. Let him arrive at his date on Friday then end it, and focus on you & the baby & DD. If you can, cancel his travel booking after you leave/after Friday (without his knowledge). He has taken up too much of your life. Make it about you from today. X

MrDarcysMa · 16/12/2020 07:44

Op I don't know what you're trying to achieve here but you sound quite unwell. Think of how this is damaging your children. Stop.

Nomorepies · 16/12/2020 07:46

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ on the poster's request

TheRealHousewife · 16/12/2020 07:47

My goodness @CUniverse you are a mother! Why? Just why? There will be no happy ending with this gut. Isn’t all the time, energy and manipulative behaviour you’re investing in this person distracting you from care giving and nurturing your children.

TheRealHousewife · 16/12/2020 07:48

Guy*

DumplingsAndStew · 16/12/2020 07:49

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

tenlittlecygnets · 16/12/2020 07:49

He can't refuse to allow you to leave. You just have to want to leave enough.

This 'relationship' is an absolute shit show. You have to end it for your dc's sake. Leave, come back to the UK, and block him on everything.

Then do the Freedom Programme so you can raise your bar for future relationships.

Morgan12 · 16/12/2020 07:50

If this is real you have actually managed to make me feel sorry for the lying cheating husband.

FreshfieldsGal · 16/12/2020 07:52

Please don't continue with your plan to get back at him. He doesn't sound like he'd be bothered anyway tbh.
When back in the UK I would seek legal advice regarding residency, parental rights, etc.
Put your efforts into finding and creating a safe, happy home for you and your children. Don't give him any more headspace!

MichaelMumsnet · 16/12/2020 07:54

Hi all, and thanks for the reports. We've had a look behind the scenes and we don't have concerns at the mo. Thanks to all who have provided help and advice to the OP so far, hopefully it will be useful.
We'll let the thread run for now and please do continue to report anything that you think breaks the Talk guidelines.

GracieLouFreebushh · 16/12/2020 08:03

I think it might be worth writing a letter (once you're back in the uk!) to outline all the reasons you're leaving as he sounds like he minimises and chooses to forget all that happened. You seek to focus on the cheating but the violence, drugs and gambling to me are more important. Keep a copy of the letter and use this to share with family if you have difficulty discussing what has happened.

I also wonder how much his family knows - is it worth sending a copy to them and making it clear they are to keep out of it and that you will not communicate and they should not try to influence you to go back.

You sound quite helpless in the way you speak about him and his family being in control and influencing you to go back but you need to be strong and cut contact with them if needed. Be firm in telling them what is happening - you are in charge of yours and your dcs future! You decide it's over, therefore it is over!! Good luck in planning your new life x

Hoppinggreen · 16/12/2020 08:07

Sounds like you like drama to me
I don’t imagine your poor children enjoy it as much.

MzHz · 16/12/2020 08:14

@CUniverse “Why should she get off Scot free?”

She’s not, she’s supposedly stuck with him. That’s punishment enough

You’re in this absolute car crash of a situation because you want to be.

You have one job, to protect your kids - your family

You don’t need to speak to him even, just kick his sorry gambler, cheating, snorting arse to the kerb for once and for all.

If you spend a single day more in this shit, it’s on you.

He’s making you look beyond stupid. Now you know, and others know, and more will know if you don’t get out of this, people won’t have the sympathy you need them to have to help you get through this.

If you can’t put your own self esteem first, put your kids first and think about what you’re going to say to them in 10 years time when they work out what a monumental dick their dad is and why didn’t you get them away from it all.

Worse still, they grow up thinking this is what a man does, or what a partner looks like and youll be watching them relive this awful life.

This is the motivation I needed when I left my awful ex

And my ex although awful and abusive etc etc, he wasn’t a patch on the completely awful ‘man’ you’re putting up with.

Don’t be an idiot for another second longer. It’ll be the best Christmas gift you’ll ever get

crowsfeet57 · 16/12/2020 08:22

FFS grow up.

Stop playing stupid games, end this farce of a relationship and get back to the UK.

If his mother is already advising him of his rights, then she is on to you and if he could claim your children are 'ordinarily resident' in Amsterdam they could demand that you return them.

You really need to get back to the UK and get urgent legal advice. And as I said at the start stop playing stupid games because reading your post, in all honesty, I wouldn't trust either of you with a hamster let alone children. Your children need at least one adult parent.

Applesonthelawn · 16/12/2020 08:41

You realise I hope that you are going to have to work very hard to raise two children totally on your own for the next few years? He will have no money to give you, it'll be impossible to track him, you'll have to detox yourself from this appalling mess so you mustn't be falling in with someone else, and by far the most important, there are soon to be two very small children who need love, care, stability, at least one parent whom they can 100% rely on.

Drop him like a stone. No explanations necessary. You don't even need to mention the spying. You owe him nothing so stop wasting your time with conversation and guilt. Just gather your babies and leave (or kick him out) and think about how you are going to be the best parent possible to them for the next few years.
Give up on men all together until you get yourself stable, with a source of income coming in that all three of you can live off and expect that to be about 5 years. You've really got your work cut out just to get that done so waste not one single ounce of energy thinking about him, ever again.
He's a loser. The sooner it's over the better. It should have been over years ago.

boilinthebagrice · 16/12/2020 08:48

This sounds extremely immature. Are there really people in real life who act like the OP?
You need to leave him, move back to the UK and focus on your children. Enough with the drama and the toxicity.

Donkeeey · 16/12/2020 08:58

I think I've read all your posts, but apologies if I have missed something. You say this has been going on for 7 years, and you got pregnant after a year. That means your daughter is approx 5+ depending on the accuracy of your timeline, with another due in Feb (and an abortion in between).

Stop being so selfish, plotting and playing games and think of your daughter and new child. You have shipped her here and there for her entire young life. Where does she go to nursery? Where is the safe consistency in her little life? Stop thinking about what YOU WANT and how to get back at him and some random woman and think about what your DAUGHTER NEEDS.

Cut all contact, go down the legal route for maintenance, stop all this ridiculous calculating drama and start being a mother! And please, in any future relationship, use some contraception!

NoddyWithAVoddy · 16/12/2020 08:59

Boomerang.

duckinatruckwithmuck · 16/12/2020 09:01

Wtf did I just read?! How old are you? Grow up, take back your dignity and start focusing on what the best interests for your children are. This is so messed up.

lucywho123 · 16/12/2020 09:02

1 - he doesnt love you
2 - I cannot believe you let yourself get pregnant again by this gambling cheat
3 - grow up and think about your childrens futures, he is not going to change

All of the above are said in the kindest possible way but FFS. You are a parent. Time to put your big girl pants on now and walk away. For good