"We weren't both betrayed," I said. "You cheated on me for two months. The fact that the person you cheated with was also lying to you doesn't make you a victim here." I told her she had 48 hours to get her stuff out.
She started crying harder, saying she had nowhere to go, that she needed time to process this. "You can process at a hotel," I said. "Or call one of your girlfriends from all those nights out. I'm done."
The entitled behavior that followed was something else.
Update One.
The 48 hours came and went. Victoria didn't move out. Instead, she dug in like a tick. Thursday morning, she acted like nothing happened.
She made breakfast, tried to kiss me goodbye when I left for work. I dodged it and reminded her she had 24 hours left to pack. "Baby, we need to work through this together," she said. "We're both victims of Garrett's manipulation."
"No, we're not. Move out, Victoria." When I got home from work, she'd rearranged the furniture and lit candles everywhere. Rose petals on the bed.
She was wearing lingerie I'd bought her for her birthday. "I choose you," she announced like she was doing me some huge favor. "I realize now that what we have is real. Garrett was just a mistake."
I walked right back out and crashed at my buddy Derek's place. Texted her that she now had 12 hours. Friday morning, I got a call from my sister Natalie. Victoria had contacted her.
Contacted my pregnant sister. "Your psycho ex just messaged me on Facebook," Nat said. "She's claiming I stole Garrett from her and that they're soulmates. Is she insane?"
I explained everything. Nat was furious. Not at me, at both Victoria and Garrett. Turns out this wasn't Garrett's first rodeo.
He'd cheated before, early in their marriage, and they'd done counseling. Nat thought he'd changed. "I'm done with him," she said. "But your ex is delusional if she thinks she has any claim here."
"She knew he was married." "She said she didn't know." "His Facebook says married. His Instagram has family photos. She knew."
Friday afternoon, I went back to my apartment with Derek and another friend to make sure Victoria left. She's there with three suitcases and her best friend Chloe, who immediately starts attacking me. "You're throwing her out when she's at her most vulnerable. What kind of man does that?"
"The kind whose girlfriend cheated on him for two months," Derek said before I could answer. God bless Derek. Victoria then dropped this bomb. "I'm pregnant."
Everyone froze. She's holding a pregnancy test showing two lines. "It's yours," she says, looking at me with tears in her eyes. "From before Garrett. We could be a family."
I looked at the test. Something seemed off. "When did you take this?" "This morning."
"Can you take another one? Right now? I'll buy it." Her face changed. "You don't trust me?"