Sophie was always thought of as a simpleton. Shed been married to David for fifteen years. They had two children together: thirteen-year-old Emily and seven-year-old Jack. Davids infidelity was practically an open secrethe first cheated on their second day as husband and wife, with a waitress at the wedding reception, and after that, the list became endless. Sophies friends tried to warn her, but she just smiled sweetly and kept quiet.
Sophie worked as an accountant at a toy factory. According to her, the pay was barely enough to scrape by, but the workload towered over her. She often worked weekends and sometimes shed be so swamped with quarterly or annual reports that she wouldnt even sleep at home.
David, meanwhile, earned a healthy wage. But as a housekeeper, Sophie left much to be desired. No matter how much money was given, it seemed to vanishthere was hardly ever food in the fridge, and meals usually consisted of simple pasta and sausages or maybe a pot of vegetable soup. That was their life. The whole neighbourhood would whisper in shock each time they spotted David with yet another new flame. He often waltzed home as sober as a judge but with a detached air about him.
What a fool Sophie is. Why does she put up with such a cad? people would mutter.
On Jacks tenth birthday, David came home and announced he wanted a divorce. He claimed to have fallen in love again, and his family just didnt suit him anymore.
Sophie, dont take it badly, Im filing for divorce. Cold as a fish, you areand you cant even run a house properly.
Alright then, Ill agree to the divorce, said Sophie.
David nearly fell out of his chair. Hed expected fireworksa blazing row, floods of tears. But Sophies calm unsettled him even more.
Fine, just pack your things, I wont get in your way. Leave your keys under the doormat, Sophie replied.
She flashed David a quiet, almost knowing smile. For a moment, David thought it strange, but visions of his new, happy lifewithout kids and the wife hed grown tired ofsoon replaced his doubts.
The next day, he brought his new girlfriend back with him. Looking under the doormat for his key, it was nowhere to be found. That put him in a sour mood.
Never mind, Ill change the locks. Simple enough, he muttered to himself and tried his key in the door. It wouldnt fit. He rang the bell. The door was opened by a burly man in slippers and a dressing gown.
What do you want, mate?
This is my flat, actually, David stammered, somewhat uncertainly.
You sure about that? Got any paperwork to prove it? If you do, lets see it.
David didnt have the deeds with him, of course, and the man refused to let him in. Then it hit Davidhis passport must have his address. He frantically searched and finally found it.
Here, my passport, and theres the address.
The man in the dressing gown took the document, flicked through it with a smirk, and handed it back.
When did you last look at this booklet? he asked.
Feeling a cold sweat, David opened his passport to the address page and blanched. There were two stamps. One for residence, and another, dated two years ago, showing hed been removed from the register.
How had that been allowed to happen? He didnt dare argue with the burly man. Deciding to call Sophie, he realised she wasnt answering her phone. Frustrated, he resolved to wait for her outside workonly to discover shed left the toy factory a year ago. Their daughter had gone off to university abroad, but Jack surely should still be at his school. Yet, when he went there, he learned Jack had transferred to another school the previous year, and for confidentiality, those records werent shared if the father didnt already know.
Utterly defeated, David sat on a park bench, head in his hands. How had things turned out this way? His quiet, mousy wife had managed all of this turmoil behind his back. And how had she managed to sell the flat? Never mind, hed sort it in court soon enoughone week until divorce day.
David arrived at court angry and determined to expose Sophie as a fraud and recover his property. But all was revealed during the proceedings. Hed forgotten that two years ago, when besotted with a woman named Miranda, hed signed over full power of attorney to Sophie. Sophie had needed his signature for school forms and other sundries for Emilys applications and wouldnt stop pestering him, so, on a solicitors advice, hed simply given her the authorityremoving himself from everything he owned.
Hed lost everything, was out on the street, and the cruelest cut was when Miranda, learning he had no flat, disappeared from his life.
Oh, well, at least when she claims child maintenance, Ill give her nothing. Teach her a lesson, he thought bitterly. But even here, he was thwarted. Rather than a maintenance summons, he received a court letter contesting his paternitythe children, it turned out, were not biologically his.
On their wedding day, Sophie had caught him cheating with the waitress. Something inside her snapped, and though she didnt fully understand how, she decided to take her revenge, but in her own way. First, she chose revenge by betrayal. Then she started saving every penny David gave her, hiding it away. The household ran dry, but she kept their children well cared for at her mothers, who tried to reason with her.
Meddling with revenge will ruin you and scar the children, her mother warned.
But Sophie, driven and relentless, pursued her plan. She later had DNA tests doneeven though she already knew the truth about her childrens parentage.
David was floored; he felt the sting of losing his home less keenly than this revelation. The children he thought were his own, werent.
Never underestimate a woman you have wronged; when pushed too far, even the quietest soul can become formidable. In the ruins of his pride, David learned belatedly that those you take for granted often hold the greatest power over your lifeand that betrayal, in any form, never pays.
