At the dump I found the mattress, barely holding back my urge to vomit from the stench.

My suspicions were burning inside me — why would he need this piece of trash? I pulled out a knife and sliced the fabric.

Dense bundles spilled out. In my hands were stacks of money, carefully wrapped in plastic. Hundreds of bills, tens of thousands of dollars.

I froze, unable to believe it. He hadn’t just been deceiving me with another woman. All this time, another life had been living beside me — secret, double. The money had been hidden literally under our bodies, while I broke my back on his “favorite” mattress.

I returned home with a bag full of cash and a new thought: I am no longer a victim. He had hidden all that wealth from me, but now it was in my hands.

The betrayal had destroyed our marriage, but that mattress revealed the truth. He lost everything. And I — finally found my strength.