After Working 4 Jobs to Pay her Husband’s Debts, she Overheard Him Brag About His Personal Slave – Part 2

If you can prove you didn’t consent to them, you’re not responsible. Really? Really? And if he’s been taking money from joint accounts without your knowledge to support an affair, that’s financial infidelity. We can use that in the divorce. Divorce. The word hung in the air. Naomi had been married for 8 years. She had promised forever, but forever couldn’t include being someone’s slave.

What do I do now? Naomi asked. Patricia pulled out a checklist. First, you separate your finances. Open a new bank account in your name only. Start depositing your paychecks there. Don’t tell Derek. Won’t he notice? Probably. But by the time he does, you’ll be ready. Patricia continued. Second, you gather evidence.

Every text message, every receipt, every bank statement. Document everything. Times, dates, amounts. The more evidence you have, the better. I took photos last night of credit card statements I found in his office. Good. Keep doing that. But be careful. Don’t let him catch you. What if he gets angry? What if he tries to stop me? Patricia’s expression turned serious.

Do you feel safe in your home? Naomi thought about it. Dererick had never hit her. He had never threatened her. But he had manipulated her. He had lied to her. He had used her. I don’t know, she admitted. If at any point you feel unsafe, you leave. You go to a friend’s house, a hotel, anywhere. Your safety is more important than anything else.

Patricia wrote something on a business card and handed it to Naomi. This is my cell number. You can call me anytime. Naomi took the card. Her hand was shaking again. How long will this take? She asked. Depends on how cooperative Dererick is. If he fights, it could take months. If he agrees to settle, could be faster. But Naomi, you need to prepare yourself.

This is going to be hard. He’s going to be angry. He’s going to try to manipulate you. He might promise to change. He might cry. He might blame you. I know. Do you? Because from what you’ve told me, you’ve spent 3 years believing his lies. It’s easy to fall back into old patterns when someone you love is hurting.

I don’t love him anymore. Naomi said and realized it was true. I don’t think I have for a long time. Patricia nodded. Then you’re already halfway there. The meeting lasted an hour. When Naomi left, she had a plan. Stepbystep instructions on how to take her life back. It felt overwhelming, but it also felt possible. She sat in her car and opened her banking app.

She found the nearest branch and drove there. 20 minutes later, she had a new checking account and savings account in her name only. She transferred the $800 from the joint account into her new account. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. Then she drove to the call center for her afternoon shift. The day passed in a blur. Angry customers, complicated problems, the same scripts over and over.

But Naomi’s mind was somewhere else. She was making lists, things to do, things to gather, places she could stay if she needed to leave quickly. At 7:00, she went to the restaurant. The dinner rush was brutal. Every table was full. The kitchen was backed up. Orders were coming out wrong. Naomi ran back and forth, apologizing, fixing mistakes that weren’t her fault, smiling even though her feet were screaming. At 10, she clocked out.

She should have gone to the cleaning job, but she couldn’t. Her body had hit its limit. She texted her supervisor that she had a family emergency and couldn’t make it tonight. Then she drove home. Dererick’s car was in the driveway. The house was lit up. Naomi sat in her car for a long moment, gathering her courage. She had to go inside.

She had to pretend everything was normal. She couldn’t let Dererick know that anything had changed. She put on her mask and walked through the front door. Dererick was in the kitchen making himself a sandwich. He looked up when she came in. Hey babe,” he said, smiling. “You’re home early. I got off early from the cleaning job.” Naomi lied.

They didn’t need me tonight. You want a sandwich? She almost laughed. He was offering her a sandwich made with groceries she had bought with money she had earned. How generous. No thanks. I ate at the restaurant. Okay. He took a bite of his sandwich. Hey, I was thinking maybe this weekend we could do something like a date night.

We haven’t done that in a while because we can’t afford it. Naomi thought because I’m working 7 days a week to pay your debts. Sure, she said. That sounds nice. Derek smiled. Great. I’ll make reservations somewhere. My treat? Your treat? With my money. Naomi excused herself and went to the guest room.

She sat on the bed and pulled out her phone. She opened her email and started writing. A message to her mother explaining everything. A message to Brenda thanking her for the lawyer referral. A message to the hospital requesting to drop down to part-time hours. She was taking steps, small steps, but steps nonetheless. At midnight, Derek knocked on the guest room door.

“You coming to bed?” he asked. “I’m really tired. I think I’ll just sleep here. You’ve been sleeping in here a lot lately. The bed is better for my back.” Naomi lied. All the physical work, you know. Okay. He paused. Love you. The words felt like knives. How dare he say that to her. How dare he pretend.

Love you too, she said because she had to. Because she wasn’t ready yet. But soon she would be ready. And then Dererick would learn what it meant to lose everything. 3 days later Naomi was cleaning Dererick’s car. He had asked her to do it. Said it was disgusting. Said he would pay her $50. $50 from her own money given back to her as payment for more work.

But she said yes because she needed an excuse to search the car. It was Sunday afternoon. Dererick was at the gym. He went every day spending two hours working out, another hour in the steam room. Time he could have spent working. Time he could have spent helping her. Naomi started with the trunk. Fast food bags, empty water bottles, gym clothes that smelled like they hadn’t been washed in weeks.

She threw it all away and moved to the back seat. More trash. A receipt from a jewelry store dated 2 weeks ago. $450 for a bracelet. Naomi took a photo of the receipt and put it back where she found it. The front seat was worse. The center console was full of gum wrappers and parking stubs.

The glove compartment had old insurance cards and a bottle of cologne. Expensive cologne. Naomi had never smelled it on Derek at home. She was about to close the glove compartment when she saw it. A phone, not Dererick’s iPhone. This was an Android and older model tucked under the insurance papers. Naomi picked it up. The screen lit up.

No password, just a home screen with a few apps. She opened the messages. The most recent conversation was with A. And the messages made Naomi’s stomach turn. A miss you already, baby. Derek, miss you, too. Counting down until Friday. Hey, what time can you get away? Derek, noon. I’ll tell her I have a job interview. Hey, oh, you’re terrible.

What if she actually believes you? Derek, she always does. She’s too tired to question anything. Hey, poor thing. Working all those jobs. Derek, I know, right? But it keeps her busy and it keeps money coming in. Hey, you’re going to hell. Derek, worth it if I get to see you. Naomi scrolled up. Weeks of messages, months.

They had been together for 2 years, just like the earlier texts indicated. They met at a bar. Derek told Amber he was an entrepreneur. He told her he was successful. He told her he was separated from his wife. All lies, but Amber believed them. Naomi kept scrolling. She found photos. Derek and Amber at restaurants.

Derek and Amber at the beach. Derek and Amber in hotel rooms. In some photos, Amber was wearing jewelry, expensive jewelry, the same jewelry from the receipts Naomi had found. Amber was young, mid20s maybe. She had long red hair and a bright smile. She looked happy. She looked like someone who thought her life was going exactly the way it should.

She had no idea she was dating a liar who funded their relationship with his wife’s money. Naomi took photos of everything, every message, every photo, every piece of evidence. Then she put the phone back exactly where she found it and continued cleaning the car. Her hands were shaking, her chest felt tight, but she kept working. She vacuumed the seats.

She wiped down the dashboard. She cleaned the windows. By the time Dererick got home from the gym, the car looked brand new. “Wow,” he said, walking around it. “This looks amazing.” “Thanks, babe.” “No problem,” Naomi said. He pulled out his wallet and handed her two 20s in a 10. “Here, for all your hard work.

” Naomi took the money. Her money given back to her like a tip. “Thanks,” she said. Dererick went inside to shower. Naomi sat in her own car and looked at the photos on her phone. Message after message of Dererick and Amber planning their future. A future that included Naomi’s money but not Naomi.

She thought about confronting him, walking into the house and throwing the phone at him, screaming, demanding answers. But that wasn’t the plan. Patricia had been clear. Gather evidence, separate finances, make a strategy, then strike. Naomi opened her new banking app. She had been depositing her paychecks into her new account for 3 days now. She had $1,100 saved.

It wasn’t much, but it was growing. She had also made an appointment to see a therapist. First session was tomorrow. Patricia had recommended her, a woman who specialized in financial abuse and manipulation. Financial abuse. That’s what this was. Naomi had looked it up. The patterns were all there. Derek controlling the money.

Dererick creating debt. Dererick isolating Naomi through exhaustion. Dererick making her believe she was responsible for his problems. Classic abuse and Naomi had fallen for it completely. Her phone buzz. A text from Derek. What do you want for dinner? I’m thinking pizza again. Pizza he would order with her money while she ate leftovers. Naomi texted back.

Whatever you want. Then she opened her photos and looked at the pictures from Dererick’s secret phone again. She studied Amber’s face. The woman looked so happy, so carefree. Did Amber know about the debt? Did she know Dererick didn’t work? Did she know he had a wife at home working herself to death? Oh, Amber thought Dererick was successful.

Amber thought Dererick had money. Amber thought she had won some kind of prize. Naomi felt a flicker of something like pity. Amber was being lied to just as much as Naomi had been. Maybe not in the same way, but lied to nonetheless. But Naomi wasn’t going to warn her, wasn’t going to reach out, wasn’t going to help.

Amber had made her choices. She had chosen to be with a man who said he was separated. She had chosen to accept expensive gifts without questioning where the money came from. She had chosen to laugh about Naomi’s exhaustion. And soon, Amber would face the consequences of those choices. Because when Naomi left, when she stopped paying Derrick’s bills, the money would dry up, the nice dinners would stop, the jewelry would stop, and Dererick would have to tell Amber the truth, that he was broke, that he was in debt, that he had been using his wife to

fund their relationship. Naomi wondered how long Amber would stick around after that. Not long, she suspected. Dererick came back outside, his hair wet from the shower. Pizza should be here in 30 minutes. You want to watch a movie? Sure, Naomi said. She got out of her car and followed him inside.

They sat on the couch together. Dererick picked some action movie. Naomi pretended to watch, but she wasn’t paying attention. She was thinking about her plan, about the evidence she had gathered, about the new bank account, about the therapist appointment tomorrow. She was thinking about freedom. Halfway through the movie, Dererick put his arm around her.

The gesture felt wrong, invasive, like he had no right to touch her anymore. But Naomi didn’t pull away. Not yet. Soon, she told herself. Very soon, when the pizza arrived, Dererick paid with cash. Naomi’s cash from the joint account he still had access to. She ate one slice. Dererick ate six. At 11:00, Naomi said she was tired and went to the guest room.

She locked the door and sat on the bed with her phone. She looked at the photos from Dererick’s secret phone one more time. Then she sent them all to Patricia with a message. More evidence. Found his phone. He’s been planning meetups with her during times he told me he had job interviews. Patricia responded immediately. This is excellent. Keep it safe.

Don’t confront him yet. Naomi set her phone down and lay back on the bed. She stared at the ceiling and listened to the TV in the living room. Dererick was still watching movies, still living his comfortable life, but his time was running out and he had no idea the storm that was coming. The therapist’s office smelled like lavender.

Soft music played from hidden speakers. The woman behind the desk was in her 50s with kind eyes and a calm voice. I’m Dr. Helen, she said. Patricia told me a little bit about your situation, but I’d like to hear it from you. Naomi had thought she would feel embarrassed talking to a stranger about her marriage, but instead she felt relief.

This was someone who would listen without judgment, someone who wouldn’t tell her she was overreacting or being dramatic. She told Dr. Helen everything, not just the facts, but how she felt, the exhaustion, the confusion, the way Dererick made her feel like she was never doing enough. the way he twisted every conversation to make her feel guilty. Dr. Helen listened.

She took notes. When Naomi finished, she set down her pen. “What you’re describing is called financial abuse.” Dr. Helen said, “It’s a form of control where one partner uses money to manipulate and dominate the other. Often the victim doesn’t realize what’s happening because it develops slowly over time.

That’s exactly what happened,” Naomi said. At first, it was just helping him with one debt, then another. Then it became normal for me to work and him not two. And he isolated you through exhaustion. When you’re working four jobs, you don’t have time to think clearly. You don’t have time to question what’s happening.

You’re too tired to see the manipulation. Naomi felt tears building. I feel so stupid. How did I let this happen? You’re not stupid. You’re human. You loved him. You trusted him. Those aren’t weaknesses. But Dererick exploited those qualities. That’s on him, not you. The session lasted an hour. When it ended, Naomi felt lighter.

Dr. Helen gave her homework. Write down every time Derek made her feel guilty or responsible for his problems. Document the patterns. Naomi drove straight from the therapist’s office to the hospital for her shift. She was down to part-time now, 3 days a week instead of six. The hospital had been understanding.

Her supervisor said she looked like she needed a break. Brenda caught her at lunch. They sat in the cafeteria eating salads from the vending machine. You look better, Brenda said. Less like a zombie. Naomi laughed. Thanks. I think Patricia told me you’re doing everything right. Building your case, getting evidence. I found his secret phone.

He’s been using it to communicate with his mistress. Brenda’s eyes widened. Are you serious? Completely serious. Two years of messages, photos, plans to meet up, all while I was working. That man deserves everything that’s coming to him. I just want to be free, Naomi said. I don’t care about revenge.

I just want my life back. But that wasn’t entirely true. She did want Dererick to face consequences. She wanted him to understand what he had done. She wanted him to feel even a fraction of the pain she had felt. That evening, Naomi skipped her restaurant shift. She had quit that job yesterday. Now she was down to two jobs, part-time at the hospital and part-time at the call center.

She still did the cleaning job two nights a week for extra money. With her free time, she went to the public library. She had borrowed a laptop from work and set herself up in a quiet corner. Then she got to work. She created a spreadsheet. Column one, Derek’s debts. She listed every credit card, every loan, every bill she had been paying.

Next to each one, she listed the balance and the monthly payment. The total made her sick, $97,000. Column two, evidence. She listed every piece of documentation she had. Bank statements showing transfers from joint accounts to Dererick’s personal account, receipts for jewelry and hotels, text messages with Amber, photos of them together. Column 3, timeline.

When each debt was created, when Dererick stopped working, when he told her he needed help, when she took on the second job, the third, the fourth, the pattern was clear. Dererick had created these debts himself through gambling and poor choices. He had never intended to pay them back. He had always planned to use Naomi, and it had worked for 3 years.

Naomi saved the spreadsheet to a USB drive. She made three copies and hid them in different places. One in her car, one in her locker at the hospital, one in a safety deposit box she had opened at her new bank. She wasn’t taking any chances. If Dererick found out what she was planning, he might try to destroy evidence.

She had to be ready. Next, she opened a new document and started writing. A list of things she needed to do before she could leave. Save three months of expenses. Find an apartment. Change all her passwords. Tell her mother. Serve divorce papers. file a police report about financial fraud if possible. She was on step one.

Her new bank account had $2,200. Her monthly expenses once she stopped paying Derrick’s debts would be about $2,000. She needed 6,000 saved before she could leave safely. At her current rate, she could save about 800 a week now that she had quit two jobs and was depositing everything in her own account.

That meant she needed about five more weeks. Five more weeks of pretending. Five more weeks of living with Derek. Five more weeks of wearing the mask. She could do it. She had survived 3 years. She could survive five more weeks. Naomi worked at the library until it closed at 9:00. Then she drove to the office building for her cleaning shift.

The work was mindless, which she appreciated. It gave her time to think. She had called her mother yesterday and told her everything. Her mother had cried. She had said she knew something was wrong, but didn’t want to pry. She said Naomi could come stay with her anytime. But Naomi didn’t want to run to her mother.

She wanted her own place, her own space, a fresh start that was completely hers. At 11:00, she finished cleaning and drove home. Dererick was asleep on the couch again. Naomi walked past him to the guest room. Her phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number. Hi, is this Naomi? This is Amber. We need to talk. Naomi’s heart stopped.

She stared at the message. Read it again. How did Amber get her number? Another text came through. Dererick gave me your number a long time ago. In case of emergency, but I just found out he’s still married. You told me you were separated. Is that true? Naomi’s hands shook. She didn’t know how to respond. Part of her wanted to tell Amber everything, to tell her exactly what kind of man Dererick was, to warn her, but another part of her remembered the text messages.

Amber laughing about Naomi’s exhaustion. Amber accepting expensive gifts without question. Amber choosing to believe Dererick’s lies. Naomi typed back, “We’re not separated. We’re very much married and you’re welcome to him.” She hit send before she could change her mind. Three dots appeared immediately. Ember was typing. I had no idea. I swear.