After I Faked My Pregnancy, I Sent My Fiancé To Jail

Before my boyfriend and I even talked marriage, I hit him with the news: my parents wanted a $200,000 dowry. His face dropped. I was just about to cheer him up with the news that they were also planning to give us $1 million as a wedding gift.

Later on, he pretended to be cool with it but then went online to trash talk me, even boasting about making sure I'd get pregnant before we tied the knot.

He figured once I was pregnant, I'd have no choice but to marry him. And he could dodge the dowry.

I was ready to just dump him and leave, but then I accidentally uncovered evidence of his crimes.

I scoffed and called the police. "Hello, I'd like to report a crime."

1

Zack Wood and I had been together for six years. At the start of the year, we began considering marriage. Everything was great, except when it came to the dowry.

When I told Zack he needed to come up with $199,999 for the dowry, his face dropped.

"Jasmine, paying your parents this dowry feels like they're selling you to me. They're modern and educated, so they wouldn't really do that, would they?" Zack said, trying to smooth things over.

"What? Just because my parents want a dowry, that means they're selling me?" I thought to myself.

Little did he know, my parents planned to gift us five times the dowry amount.

Zack thought he had me convinced when I stayed silent. "Plus, you know I've been saving up for a car. I can't really afford such a big dowry right now. How about $100,001? It's a special number, like you're one in a hundred thousand, right?"

I was seething. "Then we're not getting married. Marry your car."

Seeing how upset I was, Zack quickly tried to make amends. "Alright, alright, $199,999, and I won't cut any corners. Jasmine, if marrying you means no new car, so be it."

Anger sharpened my mind, and I saw right through Zack's sweet talk. He was clearly just placating me, trying to manipulate me. And I wasn't about to fall for it.

I snorted. I scoffed. "So now it's my fault you can't afford a car? Doesn't marrying someone else require a dowry too?"

I was beyond angry. It felt like I was seeing the real Zack for the first time ever.

Zack scrambled to apologize. "No, no, that's on me. I'll make more money in the future to give you a good life, babe.

Don't be mad. Stay over tonight, okay?"

I looked at him, and nodded slowly. "Then you better talk to your parents about the dowry soon."

2

I thought Zack and I had the whole dowry thing sorted, so we could just get on with wedding plans. But then, my bestie Yvette Brown showed me a post that really showed me who Zack was.

"Jasmine, check out this post. I think Zack might have written it. A lot of what's mentioned lines up with your stuff," Yvette told me.

"No way." I doubted her at first, thinking Yvette was blowing things out of proportion, but curiosity led me to check it out myself.

The post read: [Guys, I'm dating this girl who's an only child from the city. She's asking for a hefty dowry, like hundreds of thousands of dollars. What should I do?]

[Just seal the deal. Get her pregnant.] someone commented.

The original poster replied specifically to this: [She's hell-bent on condoms every time. I've tried talking her out of it, but no luck. Any ideas?]

[Got a needle? Just poke a hole through it.]

[That's an investment, man. She's an only child. Marry her and her family's fortune is yours.]

[Man, inheriting someone else's fortune would be sweet!]

The comments were disgusting.

I went over the details of the post thoroughly. As Yvette pointed out, so many details matched up with my life: only child, same major, same region, and even our ages. Plus, it talked about the exact dowry discussion we had recently and his car obsession. Everything matched.

I went to the poster's profile, which had loads of other posts.

Most were faceless selfies, but the build of the person looked a lot like Zack.

Scrolling through his posts about cars and selfies, one post in particular grabbed my attention.

[I gifted my girlfriend a fake designer bag I snagged online. She's totally in love with it. Scored her first night without a hitch.] boasted the poster.

[I'm so jealous!] commented someone.

[Women always fall for flashy things.] another added.

The post had a picture of a bag and a romantic dinner set up. That picture clinched it for me: the poster was Zack.

3

That day was our third anniversary. Honestly, designer bags had never been my thing. As long as a bag could hold my stuff, I was good.

When Zack gave me the bag, my first thought was it was a waste of money. But then I felt happy. Someone had really thought about me, and spent money on me, which was pretty sweet.

I chided Zack for splurging. "What's with buying this? Got the receipt? We should return it."

Zack had figured I'd react like that. "I knew you'd say that. That's why I tossed the receipt, the box, all of it. No store would take it back. Even if you tried to sell it, it wouldn't fetch much. I just wanted you to have the best, babe."

Back then, I thought Zack was being so thoughtful.

If he hadn't thrown everything away, I definitely would've tried to return the bag. It never dawned on me that there wasn't a receipt because the bag was a fake, just a couple hundred dollars.

I really cherished that bag, barely ever taking it out. That was probably why I never caught on that it was a knockoff.

"But I just got you a pair of shoes. They don't even come close to what you spent on the bag," I said, feeling a bit embarrassed but still I presented my gift.

"How can you say that? It's the thought that counts, not the price," Zack said, all smiles as he looked at the shoes. You put so much thought into this. It means way more than any gift I gave."

Later, as Zack had hoped, I ended up giving him my first time later. But what I hadn't realized was that Zack thought I was with him because of the bag, not because of the love we shared over three years.

4

Zack and I didn't live together, but I sometimes stayed over at his place. After reading that post, I rushed over to Zack's rented place and went straight to the bedroom to dig out the condoms.

I checked the condoms with my phone's flashlight. My heart dropped.

I thought, "So the post was his after all. It was posted last month, so Zack must have already started his plan to get me pregnant. These condoms had tiny holes in them, practically invisible unless one looked closely." Just thinking about being tricked into getting pregnant made me feel sick.

When Zack came home and saw pale face, he asked, "What's wrong, Jasmine?"

His voice alone made me feel sick, both physically and emotionally. I couldn't hold back and ran to the bathroom to throw up.

Zack came after me, patting my back, saying, "What's wrong? Did you eat something bad?"

His words sounded caring, but I could detect the excitement in his voice. He must have thought I was pregnant.

"I didn't eat anything bad," I replied coldly.

Zack seemed to guess what was on my mind. "Are you pregnant?"

"Pregnant?" I shoved Zack. I didn't hold back, and he fell down on his butt.

"Jasmine, don't freak out, but you're kind of acting like you might be pregnant," Zack said.

I got up, went into the bedroom, grabbed the condoms, and threw them at Zack. "So you think I'm pregnant because you tampered with the condoms, huh?"

Zack looked shocked, too polished, like he'd rehearsed his reaction. "I didn't do this," he said as he picked up a condom and examined it closely, his face turning pale. "I swear, this wasn't me."

"If not you, then who? Me?" I snapped.

5

I tried to leave, but Zack grabbed my arm. "Come on, we've been together for years. Just hear me out, okay?"

Zack whipped out his phone. "I'm calling my mom. She's the only other person who's been here besides us."

I didn't buy any of Zack's excuses, but the call connected before I could protest. He switched to speakerphone. "Mom, the last time you were at my place, did you mess with anything in my nightstand?"

"Oh, you figured it out? Did Jasmine get pregnant?" Zack's mom, Maria Wood, asked over the phone.

"Mom, what the heck is going on?" Zack demanded.

"Look, Jasmine and you have been together for years. I just wanted grandkids sooner rather than later. And since you're getting married, why bother with condoms?" she said.

Zack angrily ended the call and turned to me. "Jasmine, I swear I didn't know about this. I'm not that kind of person. You've got to believe me."

"Not that kind of person? If I hadn't seen your posts online, I would never have thought you were!" I snapped.

"What posts?" Zack looked genuinely confused.

"Such a great actor," I thought.

I took out my phone to find Zack's posts for proof, but they were all deleted. I hadn't taken any screenshots, leaving me without any evidence.

As I struggled to find proof, Zack kept on, "Jasmine, I really don't mess around on those forums. You've got to believe me. It's all a big misunderstanding. If you're feeling off because you're pregnant, and that's normal. I wouldn't love you any less."

I couldn't figure out why Zack was so convinced I was pregnant. Probably because I'd been nauseous, and he took that as confirmation. He had no clue that it was just the thought of him that was making me sick. Instead, I wanted to see what he'd do next, now that he thought I was pregnant.

6

I told my parents I wanted to break up with Zack, but they thought I was just throwing a tantrum. After all, Zack always seemed so nice to me, and without any proof, my parents were skeptical of my accusations.

Zack wasted no time in calling his parents over. He wanted to discuss marrying me with my parents directly. I didn't stop him because his explanation about the condoms didn't add up, and I was convinced he was the one behind those online posts.

As expected, Maria sat down and immediately gave me the cold shoulder, which was a total 180 from her usual attitude.

My dad wasn't happy either, but he still brought up the wedding.

Maria forced a smile and said, "Frankly, Zack and Jasmine should have been married by now. And what better time than now, with double the reason to celebrate?"

My parents looked puzzled. "Double the reason? What do you mean?"

Ignoring my parents, Maria went on, "With everything going on, let's skip the initial dowry plan. How about $10,001 for the dowry? It shows Jasmine is one in ten thousand."

My parents' faces fell, and they were too upset to respond. Yet, Maria continued, "And there's really no need for any dowry jewelry."

My dad said angrily, "We don't care about the dowry money or jewelry, but your attitude is really troubling us." He looked at Zack, who was just sitting there eating, not joining in. "Zack, do you agree with your mother?"

Zack finally nodded.

Furious, my parents stood up, grabbing me to leave. "Then this wedding is off."

Zack jumped up to block them. "Mr. and Mrs. Cooper, Jasmine is pregnant. We've got loads of expenses coming up with the wedding. It's not that we don't want to meet your dowry expectations. We just can't afford it right now."