My Wife Drained Our Son’s College Fund and Fled With Her Lover – Then My 10-Year-Old Son Spoke Up and Said…

“I didn’t want it to be true. I kept hoping Mom would stop, that maybe she was saving it somewhere else for a surprise or something. But then I read her texts with Blake about buying plane tickets to Portugal, and I knew she was leaving us“.

I pulled my son into a hug, this brave little kid who’d been carrying this terrible secret, trying to protect both of us from the truth. We sat there for a long time, and I didn’t know what to say. How do you explain to a child that his mother had chosen money and another man over her own family?

The front door opened unexpectedly. Jessica walked back in, and I could hear her footsteps heading toward the kitchen. Tyler and I exchanged a glance, and I quickly closed the laptop.

“Andrew,” Jessica called out. “I forgot my work ID. Need to grab it quick“.

I walked out to meet her, trying to keep my expression neutral. She was rummaging through her purse, didn’t even look up at me.

“Everything okay?” she asked absently.

“Fine,” I managed. “Tyler and I were just working on some homework“.

She found her ID badge, glanced at her watch.

“I really need to run. See you tonight, maybe“.

After she left, Tyler tugged on my sleeve.

“Dad, I did something else“. “What do you mean?“.

He pulled up another folder on the laptop, this one labeled Plan B. Inside were more files, documents I couldn’t immediately identify.

“After I figured out what Mom was doing, I started learning about financial fraud,” Tyler explained, his voice taking on that too-adult quality again. “I watched a bunch of videos about protecting money and digital security, and I found something interesting“.

He opened a PDF document. It was a bank statement, but not ours. The account belonged to Jessica Mitchell, her private account where she’d been moving our money. The current balance showed $127,043.

“That’s Mom’s secret account,” Tyler said. “But here’s the thing, Dad. 3 days ago I did something“.

My stomach dropped.

“Tyler, what did you do?“. “I created a cryptocurrency wallet,” he said, pulling up another screen. “Then I used Mom’s laptop when she was sleeping and accessed her banking. She keeps all her passwords in a notes app on her phone and I already had access to that“. “I initiated a transfer from her secret account to the crypto wallet“.

I stared at the screen, not fully understanding what I was seeing: numbers, codes, transaction records.

“You stole the money back?” I asked, not sure whether to be horrified or impressed.

“Technically, it was our money,” Tyler said. “She stole it first. I just moved it somewhere she can’t get it“. “The crypto wallet is in your name, Dad. Well, sort of. I used your information but a different email address I set up. Mom won’t be able to trace it or reverse the transaction“.

“The transfer completed this morning,” he continued, speaking faster now. “She probably hasn’t checked her account yet, but when she does, she’s going to see that $127,000 is gone, all of it. And there’s no way to get it back because cryptocurrency transactions are permanent“.

I sat down heavily in my desk chair. My 10-year-old son had just described committing what sounded like multiple felonies, all to protect our family from his mother’s betrayal.

“Show me everything,” I said finally. “Every screenshot, every transaction, every piece of evidence you collected“.

For the next 3 hours, Tyler walked me through his investigation. He’d been methodical, documenting everything with timestamps and details. The text messages showed Jessica and Blake planning their escape, talking about starting fresh in Portugal where the cost of living was cheaper. They’d discussed selling her car, closing her credit cards, disappearing completely once they had enough money.

The financial records showed the systematic theft. Jessica had been careful at first, moving small amounts, probably testing whether I’d notice. When I didn’t catch on, she got bolder. The final transfer of $40,000 had happened just 48 hours ago.

“There’s more,” Tyler said, pulling up another folder. “I also found out about Blake“.

Blake Sutherland was 33, worked as a personal trainer at the gym where Jessica had supposedly been taking evening fitness classes for the past year. He had a criminal record, fraud charges from 5 years ago that resulted in probation. He’d been married twice before, both marriages ending badly with accusations of financial abuse.

“Mom has terrible taste in men,” Tyler said with the blunt honesty only a child can deliver.

That evening, Jessica came home around 9:00 p.m., later than she’d said. She looked flushed, excited about something. Tyler and I were sitting at the kitchen table, both of us pretending to work on homework.

“Hey, you two,” she said, her voice artificially bright. “Sorry I’m so late. Dr. Richardson needed extra help with the quarterly reports“.

“No problem,” I said, keeping my voice even. “How was your day?“.

“Busy, exhausting“.

She poured herself a glass of wine, drank half of it in one swallow.

“I’m going to head up for a bath. Long day“.

After she went upstairs, Tyler whispered,

“Should we tell her?“. “Not yet,” I said. “Let’s see what happens when she checks her account“.

We didn’t have to wait long. Around 11 p.m., I was in bed pretending to read when I heard Jessica’s voice from the bathroom.