My Boss Used Me to Get Back at His Wife—In the End, He Lost Everything

At 35, I wasn’t looking for love at the publishing company where I worked. Six years of showing up early, staying late, and keeping my head down had earned me a senior editor position and nothing else.

My apartment was quiet except for the occasional meow from my cat, Hemingway. My weekends were predictable. And my heart… well, I’d locked that away after my ex David left me for his college sweetheart.

But then there was Nathan… my boss.

Nathan occupied the corner office with the glass windows and jaw-dropping view of the city skyline. He was 42, with salt-and-pepper hair that somehow made him more attractive. And his smile had a way of lighting up the entire conferenc

“Amy,” he’d say, leaning against my door frame at 5:30 p.m., jacket slung over his shoulder. “You’re burning the midnight oil again.”

I’d look up from my manuscript, push my glasses back, and try to ignore the flutter in my chest. “Just finishing up!”

“You work too hard.” His eyes would linger on mine a moment too long. “Don’t forget to have a life.”

Easy for him to say. He had everything—a successful career, confidence, and Priscilla, his elegant wife who occasionally swept through the office in designer clothes that probably cost more than my monthly rent.

I wasn’t about to be the office cliché… the single woman pining after her married boss. I buried those feelings so deep I almost convinced myself they weren’t there.

Until the night everything changed.

“Can I close this door?” Nathan stood in my office entryway, looking unusually tired. It was past six, and the office had emptied out long ago.

“Sure.” I saved the file I was working on. “Everything okay?”

He sank into the chair across from me. “Not really.” He rubbed his hands over his face. “Priscilla’s leaving me.”

“Oh.” My heart did a strange little leap that I immediately felt guilty about. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s been coming for a long time. We’ve been living separate lives under the same roof for months.”

He looked up at me. “You know what she said? She said I was more invested in this company than I ever was in our marriage.”

“That’s not fair. You’ve built something incredible here.”

“Have I?” His eyes met mine with an intensity that made my breath catch. “Sometimes I think I’ve just been running in place.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I offered what I had… a sympathetic ear and a cup of terrible office coffee. We talked until the cleaning crew came through. And something shifted between us that night… something I couldn’t name but felt down to my bones.

“Thanks for listening, Amy.” He stood to leave, gently squeezing my hands. “You’re special, you know that? I don’t know why I never saw it before.”

I should have known better. But when Nathan started stopping by my office more frequently, bringing me coffee from the fancy place around the corner and asking my opinion on things beyond work, I let myself believe.

***

Three weeks after our late-night conversation, he asked me to dinner.

“Just colleagues,” he clarified, with a smile that suggested otherwise. “I could use the company.”

One dinner became two, then three. By the fourth, his hand found mine across the table.

“I’m falling for you, Amy. And it scares the hell out of me.”

My heart hammered against my ribs. “You serious? What about Priscilla?”

“We’re filing for divorce next month. It’s over, Amy. Has been for a long time.”

A month later, he wasn’t hiding anything. His hand would brush mine in meetings. He’d bring me into conversations with the executive team, valuing my input in ways he never had before. The office noticed. Of course they did.

Melissa from accounting cornered me in the break room. “So… you and Nathan, huh?”

I busied myself with the coffee maker. “We’re seeing each other.”

“Brave move, dating the boss.” Her tone made it clear what she really thought. “Especially with his divorce not even finalized.”

I wanted to tell her it wasn’t like that. That we’d connected over real things—books, dreams, and vulnerabilities. That when he talked about the future, he included me in it.

“Move in with me,” Nathan said one night, as we lay tangled in his sheets in the luxurious downtown apartment he’d moved into after leaving the family home. “Just for a while. See how it feels.”

“You sure?”

“Never this sure!”

***

Two weeks of domestic bliss followed.

I woke up to Nathan making breakfast, discussed plans for the weekend, and talked about trips we should take. He even mentioned kids once, casually, like it was a given that we had a future together.

“I’ve never felt this way before,” he told me, stroking my hair one night. “With Priscilla, everything was so calculated. This feels real.”

I believed him. God help me, I believed every word.

Until the call came on a Tuesday afternoon. I was at my desk, reviewing final proofs for our spring catalog.

“Hey, can you come up to my office?” Nathan’s voice sounded strange and distant.

I found him standing at the window.

“What’s going on?” I asked, closing the door behind me.

He turned, and I knew something in his eyes had changed.

“Priscilla and I talked last night. We’re going to try… again.”

Everything around me blurred for a second. “WHAT? What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry, Amy. It’s complicated. We have history, shared investments…” He wasn’t even looking at me anymore, just focused on some point beyond my shoulder. “I had your things packed up from the apartment. My driver will take you to your house tonight.”

Just like that? As if the past months had been nothing but a fever dream?

“Look at me,” I demanded. “At least have the decency to look me in the eyes.”

When he finally did, there wasn’t even remorse there. Just impatience, like I was at a meeting that was running long.

“I thought…” I couldn’t finish. What had I thought? That I was special? That I was loved?

“I’ll have HR sort out any awkwardness at work,” he said, as if we were discussing a botched print run. “No need to make this personal. Let’s handle this like adults and just… move on.”

I walked out without another word. Pride was all I had left.

***

Marcus from design called me that night. We weren’t close, but he’d always been kind, with a quiet smile that reached his eyes.

“You okay? I saw you leave today. You looked…”

“Destroyed?” I laughed bitterly. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. And you should know something.”

What he told me turned my heartbreak into something darker. Apparently, Nathan had been overheard talking to his golf buddy in the executive bathroom.

Something about “giving Priscilla a scare” and “showing her what she’d be missing.” Something about “that editor who’s always had a thing for Nathan.”

My heart shattered when I realized I was just a pawn in his marital chess game.

“He never filed for divorce, Amy,” Marcus added. “I checked the public records. Maybe they planned to. Maybe she was going to leave him. I don’t know. I was… just worried about you.”

I hung up and screamed into my pillow until my throat was raw.

I almost didn’t go to work the next day. But something cold and determined had settled in my chest overnight. I applied my makeup with surgical precision, chose my most flattering dress, and walked into the office ten minutes late… just enough to ensure everyone would be at their desks.

Nathan was in the open kitchenette with several department heads. And there was Priscilla, elegant as ever, enjoying pastries. It was unexpected, yes. But the outcome would be… EPIC!

I walked straight up to them, wearing a ghost of a smile.

“Good morning, everyone,” I said, my voice carrying across the suddenly quiet space. “I just wanted to share some news.”

Nathan’s head snapped up, his eyes narrowing.

I pulled a small plastic stick from my purse and held it up. “I’m pregnant.”

The silence was absolute. I could hear the HVAC system humming overhead.

“AMY??” Nathan gasped. “Are you out of your mind? Let’s talk privately.”

“Why? I thought it was important to be transparent with colleagues. Isn’t that what you always say in staff meetings?”

Priscilla’s face had gone completely still, her eyes moving between the pregnancy test in my hand and her husband’s reddening face.

“This is ridiculous,” Nathan sputtered. “You’re making a scene over nothing.”

“Nothing? Is that what I am to you now? NOTHING?”

Something snapped in him, and his careful executive veneer cracked wide open.

“You want the truth? Fine!” His voice rose with each word. “I never loved you! I used you to wake Priscilla up and show her what she’d be risking if she left me.”

Gasps echoed around us and Priscilla’s knuckles went white around the edge of the pastry tray.

“You think I was going to let her walk away with half my company in the divorce?” He declared, jabbing a finger in his wife’s direction. “Half of everything I built? I wasn’t about to let that happen!”

I almost felt sorry for him. He’d revealed himself so completely and he didn’t even realize it.

Priscilla set down the tray with deliberate care. Without a word, she walked to the elevator and was gone.

I followed shortly after, ignoring the stares, whispers, and the hand Marcus tried to place on my arm in support.

***

The next few weeks passed in a blur. I took sick leave and ignored the calls and texts from coworkers. News filtered in through the grapevine—people started quitting, clients pulled projects, and Nathan was trapped in his own mess. He showed up late, left early, and snapped at anyone who dared question him.

And then, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, my doorbell rang.

Priscilla stood there, somehow looking even more elegant in jeans and a simple sweater than she had in her designer outfits.

“May I come in?”

I stepped aside, too stunned to speak.

She settled on my couch, declining my awkward offer of tea. “I filed for divorce,” she said. “And I’m taking control of the company.”

“Our prenup had a morality clause. Nathan was always so worried about my potential indiscretions, he never thought about his own.” A smile ghosted across her lips. “And it turns out I own fifty-one percent of the company shares. Always have. My family’s money funded the startup.”

I didn’t know what to say. Why was she telling me this?

“Are you really pregnant?” she asked suddenly.

I shook my head. “No. I bought that test at the drugstore that morning.”

To my surprise, she laughed. “Brilliant!”

She stood and approached me, her expression turning serious. “I’ve restructured the executive team. Nathan’s out. And I need someone who understands editorial, has integrity, and isn’t afraid to speak truth to power.”

She extended her hand. “Will you come back? Director position, double your previous salary, reporting directly to me.”

“Why would you want me, of all people?”

“Because you were brave enough to burn it all down when you discovered the truth. That’s exactly the kind of person I want beside me while I rebuild.”

Six months later, the company thrived under the new leadership. Priscilla and I developed an unexpected friendship born of mutual respect and the unique bond that forms between two women who have loved and lost the same unworthy man.

I ran into Nathan once at a café across town. He’d aged years in months, his confident swagger replaced by slumped shoulders and darting eyes.

“Amy?!” he said, approaching my table hesitantly. “You look… good.”

“Thank you.” I didn’t invite him to sit.

“I heard the company’s doing well.” His attempt at a smile failed miserably. “Priscilla always was the smarter one.”

“Yes! She was.”

He nodded, shifting uncomfortably. “I’m sorry. For everything. I was… I wasn’t myself.”

“No,” I said, gathering my things. “You were exactly yourself. That was the problem.”

As I walked away, I felt nothing but a quiet satisfaction. Some people use others as stepping stones… as pawns in their personal games. But here’s the thing about pawns—sometimes they cross the entire board and transform into something powerful.

And sometimes, they’re the ones who end up saying “CHECKMATE..!”

Here’s another story: When Thomas accuses a young dishwasher of stealing and searches her bag in front of everyone, he thinks he’s caught her red-handed… until he sees what she’s really hiding.

This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.