The Birthday Lie That Nearly Broke Us My name is Julia, and I’m 32 years old. For five years, I thought I was happily married to the most loyal man in the world—my husband, Mark. We didn’t have much, but our small house with its creaky wooden floors always felt warm and alive. Every corner held laughter, every sound felt like love. I never imagined that one small slip of paper could almost destroy everything. It started the night before my birthday. Mark came home late from work, looking tense.

We were the couple everyone admired — the couple people pointed at and said, “That’s what love looks like.” But one unforgettable game night shattered everything. What started as an evening of laughter and silly fun ended with one word that changed my life forever. Hi, I’m Avery, 33 years old. For years, I truly believed I was living in a fairytale marriage. People often told me, “You two are perfect together.” I believed them — or maybe I just wanted to. My husband, Luke, 35, and I had been

The Halloween Payback I was bone-tired — the kind of tired where you forget if you’ve brushed your teeth, fed the dog, or even eaten. My days blurred together ever since the twins, Lily and Lucas, arrived. Don’t get me wrong, they were my whole world, my tiny miracles. But raising two newborns mostly alone was hard. Nights bled into mornings, and mornings into chaos. Sleep had become a myth I no longer believed in. Halloween was just around the corner, and while the neighborhood buzzed with excitement, I could