{"id":196,"date":"2026-06-25T07:55:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T07:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reallifestory.online\/?p=196"},"modified":"2026-06-25T07:55:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T07:55:30","slug":"my-husband-chose-her-and-took-his-family-along-for-the-ride-i-chose-myself-instead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reallifestory.online\/?p=196","title":{"rendered":"My husband chose her and took his family along for the ride. I chose myself instead."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"s-head-large s-head-has-sep the-post-header s-head-modern s-head-large-b has-share-meta-right\">\n<div class=\"post-meta post-meta-a post-meta-left post-meta-single has-below\">\n<h1 class=\"is-title post-title\"><strong>PART 2<\/strong><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ts-row\">\n<div class=\"col-8 main-content s-post-contain\">\n<div class=\"the-post s-post-large-b s-post-large\">\n<article id=\"post-63703\" class=\"post-63703 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail category-moral category-moral-stories\">\n<div class=\"post-content-wrap has-share-float\">\n<div class=\"post-content cf entry-content content-spacious\">\n<p>On Monday morning, I entered Margaret Reed\u2019s office with my hair pulled back tightly, flawless lipstick, and a stomach heavy with poison.<\/p>\n<p>Not actual poison.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-4\"><\/div>\n<p>Not yet.<\/p>\n<p>That would happen later.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret was in her late sixties, refined, piercing-eyed, and utterly impossible to scare. She had managed my father\u2019s business matters for twenty-five years and had been there when he transferred majority control of Hartwell Designs to me.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PART 2 On Monday morning, I entered Margaret Reed\u2019s office with my hair pulled back tightly, flawless lipstick, and a stomach heavy with poison. Not actual poison. Not yet. That &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>My husband chose her and took his family along for the ride. I chose myself instead. - REAL LIFE STORY<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reallifestory.online\/?p=196\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My husband chose her and took his family along for the ride. I chose myself instead. - REAL LIFE STORY\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PART 2 On Monday morning, I entered Margaret Reed\u2019s office with my hair pulled back tightly, flawless lipstick, and a stomach heavy with poison. Not actual poison. Not yet. 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