At My Husband’s Corporate Party, Our Daughter Screamed, ‘Mommy, Look! That’s the Lady with the Worms!’

I believed Mark and I would stay together for life. For seven years, our marriage felt solid—connected, affectionate, always in sync. After two difficult years trying to conceive, our daughter Sophie finally arrived, and life seemed perfect.

By the time Sophie was four, Mark’s career was thriving, and we attended his promotion party. That night, Sophie tugged at my arm. “Mommy, that’s the lady with the worms!” she said, pointing to Tina, a coworker who’d always been a little too close to Mark.

My stomach twisted. Sophie added, “Daddy said not to tell you.”

Later, Mark brushed it off, giving clumsy excuses about curlers and laptops. But his guilt was obvious. The next day, I confronted Tina at a café. Calmly, she admitted it: she and Mark had been waiting for me “to be out of the picture.”

I stood up. “You can have him.”

I filed for divorce quietly. Mark moved in with Tina, exhausted and unhappy. Sophie refuses to visit if Tina is around. As for me, I’m healing—returning to my passions, spending quality time with Sophie, and reclaiming my life.