'After I turned down a guy at a bar, he spent 10 years plotting to destroy my life.'

A simple rejection at a university bar set in motion a decade-long revenge plot that would ultimately shatter a woman's marriage and tear her family apart.

In a series of Reddit posts, a 38-year-old has detailed how her brother-in-law's festering resentment led to a betrayal that turned her life upside-down.

The story began when the woman was approached by a man who asked her out during her university years.

"He called me the c-word and said I was shallow," the woman recalled, describing the man's reaction after she turned him down. At the time, her friend brushed off the incident, saying they were just "harmless comments from a drunken guy who got rejected".

And to the woman who posted the story, it certainly seemed that way. "Other than those comments, I never felt uncomfortable during my uni years because he never bothered me again."

A surprise reintroduction.

Nearly a decade had passed when she encountered the man again, this time introduced by her younger sister as her new boyfriend. "I didn't even recognise him at first," she admitted — but the man hadn't forgotten her. 

"He was visibly annoyed that I didn't recognise him and called me a liar."

Despite some initial discomfort, her family accepted him, and he eventually married her sister. "The family was skeptical at first, but he seemed to treat my sister right, and she seemed happy," she shared. 

The man appeared to have moved on, becoming a loving husband and father. But beneath the surface, old grudges remained.

The woman at the centre of the story eventually got married herself, and some comments around this time hinted that her brother-in-law still held a grudge. 

"He said I was still as shallow and superficial as I was in uni," she recalled him saying. At the time, she took it as a joke — but in hindsight, she says, "when I found out the truth and started thinking back, looking for red flags, this was probably a big one".

The woman kept the peace for the sake of her family. However, the situation soon took a more sinister turn.

"My husband came home [one day] and accused me of cheating, and he had evidence," she shared. "[A] guy contacted him and he had nudes of me on his phone."

The man claimed he hadn't known she was married at first, but contacted her husband as soon as he found out. And despite her protests and explanations, her husband didn't believe she was innocent.

"Nothing I said or did made my husband believe me. He left me and our divorce is pending."

The truth comes out.

The truth began to come to light when the man who sent the photos reached out to the woman, confessing to his role in a plot that was apparently orchestrated by none other than her brother-in-law. 

"He sent me conversations, endless conversations my brother-in-law had about me for years. He has never forgotten that I, in his words, 'didn't even give him a chance and only judged him by his looks'".

The brother-in-law had harboured resentment for years and had meticulously planned to ruin her life it seemed.

"They planned this attack and my brother-in-law somehow got access to my photos," she explained. 

The woman was left devastated and uncertain of what to do next.

"I'm not sure if I should tell my ex or not. I am very heartbroken that he didn't believe me. I love him very much, but I'm not sure if I can forgive him for not believing me. But he is a victim in this too, so maybe he needs to know for closure."

A family torn apart.

In the days that followed, her situation grew more complicated. Her husband returned, wanting to talk and eventually apologised for not believing her.

But when he confronted her brother-in-law, despite her asking him not to, the situation escalated. "My husband went and did it anyway and he had a huge fight with my brother-in-law. He denied everything, of course, so my husband blasted him on social media and made an apology for believing rumours about me."

The fallout was immediate.

"My sister was angry with me, and my parents were confused and shocked. I have talked to my parents and told them everything now, and they believe me, but they agree that I should have [spoken] to my sister before hell broke loose."

The sisters didn't talk for a while, the OP said, but they did finally get back on speaking terms, shared the OP: "She seemed just very hurt and questioning her entire marriage, and who can blame her?"

Despite this, the brother-in-law's manipulation seems to have continued. "Something changed, and it probably had to do with her husband giving her an ultimatum," guessed the woman at the centre of the drama. "'Divorce or cut your family off.' She chose her marriage."

The woman was deeply upset by her sister's decision. "It broke my parents and me, but I don't think we can do anything about it. It is her own choice even if we believe it is coerced," she explained. In the end, her sister cut ties completely. 

"She wrote us telling us to forget she and her children existed and that they will take legal action if we ever tried to contact them."

As the dust settled, the woman reflected on the damage done. Her marriage couldn't be saved, despite her husband's attempts to reconcile. "I wish he knew me better, like I thought he did," she said. "That I would never do such a thing and cheat on him.

"I started dating a new guy a few weeks before all this started, after over a year of me not even being able to leave bed," the woman continued. "He has seen all of this unfolding and he's been very patient and supportive. I think I have a real shot at happiness now.

"At least he knows everything and is well prepared in case my brother-in-law isn't done with me yet."

Feature Image: Getty.