I’m a 24 years old girl. I know my father has had an extramarital affair for a few years, and he doesn’t know that I’m aware of it. He has a good reputation in society and works in a respectable profession. I’m not sure exactly when the affair started, but I first noticed something when I was around 18. I believe it began much earlier. I couldn’t gather the courage to tell my mom, and even if I had tried, she wouldn’t have believed me.
Instead, she would’ve tried to convince me that everything I knew was just a misunderstanding. My father is a serial liar and lies very convincingly, so I didn’t try to tell her. But after a few years, he met a new colleague who introduced him to a man who supplies escorts, and he started visiting them frequently. I couldn’t stop myself and tried to tell my mom. As expected, she initially tried to convince me otherwise, and when she eventually confronted my father, he lied as usual.
In the meantime, he learned how to delete messages and pictures, so I couldn’t prove anything. Then I got married and moved to a different city. Whenever I visited my parents, I always wondered if he was still doing all of that. Recently, I overheard him talking to that colleague in code language. I still managed to understand what they were talking about. As soon as I got the chance, I checked his phone and found pictures of escorts and their prices sent by that colleague.
This time, I took a screenshot and sent it to my phone. Now I’m not sure if I should tell my mom or not. I’m disgusted by my father’s behavior, but I didn’t make a big issue earlier because I have a younger sibling, and I didn’t want them to learn about all this. But now, I’m really stressed and terrified thinking about how my mom would react. She is very innocent yet contributes so much to the household financially.
At the same time, I worry that this colleague might be sharing this information about other people too, and if someone catches my father doing such things, our family could be shamed in society. I’m torn between the consequences how badly it could affect our lives and the heartbreak my mom would suffer. I won’t be staying for long, so I won’t be able to console her. I don’t want her to go through the pain and agony all alone. I’m feeling helpless. What should I do?
Question: Should I tell my sibling?
Option 1: Yes
Option 2: No
Option 3: Tell mom, but not sibling
Option 4: Don’t tell anyone