'When my best friend told me her body count, she accidentally exposed a dark secret.'

Finding out your partner has cheated is one thing but discovering it happened with your BFF is the stuff of nightmares.

Sharing her story with the podcast Everybody Has A Secret, Steph led with the smoking gun: "Last week, my best friend admitted to me that she had sex with my husband at his buck's party," she said.

Yikes.

After being married to her husband Tom for 18 months, she made the awful discovery while on a night out with a group of girlfriends. And it completely blindsided her.

"I had absolutely no idea that there were any issues in our relationship let alone that he was capable of this level of deception," she shared in her submission.

On top of that, Steph believed that her best friend Maddie was also a loyal companion in her circle. "She was the maid of honour at our wedding," she said. "We have been best friends for two decades."

As Steph explained, she, Maddie and a group of their friends were out one night when the conversation moved on to sharing their 'body count' — AKA how many people they've slept with. 

As Maddie's best friend, Steph already knew how what that number was — which is why her ears pricked up when Maddie said something different to what Steph was expecting.

"Maddie has been with her partner for three years so I knew that hers hadn't changed," said Steph. "However, when it was her turn, she said 19 instead of 18.

"As soon as she said 19 I corrected her — 'No, your count is 18,' I said across the table. She drunkenly said 'No, mine is 19.'"

Watch: Woman discovers her partner is cheating via literal receipts. Story continues below.

Something was amiss, but Steph assumed Maddie had simply accidentally revealed she had cheated on Jack.

"She clearly realised at that moment her mistake because she tried to pathetically backtrack but she was too inebriated to do it convincingly," Steph said.

"In this moment I thought she probably just exposed herself for cheating on her partner Jack and was embarrassed."

Unable to shake what had been said, Steph decided to pull Maddie aside and get her to open up.

But she said out was 10 times worse than Steph could have imagined.

"She burst into tears and did not make any sense," said Steph. "She kept saying, 'it was a mistake, it was a mistake.' And I was just so confused.

"Then she suddenly managed to spit it out. The person she cheated with was my husband, Tom."

Shocked, Steph slapped her face and walked out.

Reeling from the admission, Steph began trying to pull together the missing pieces. She's gathered that the entanglement went down on the night of her husband's buck's party. "She won't tell me why or how she ended up there and I clearly remember on the night of his buck's [party] because I'd asked her to come over and hang out with me because I was feeling anxious," she said.

"She evidently lied by telling me she was busy and had to work that night instead." 

Ever since the girls' night when everything came to light, Steph has been making plans to cut both parties involved out of her life, but Maddie is still trying to rebuild the friendship.

"I would pry for more details but honestly I can't stomach talking to her again," said Steph. "Maddie has been blowing up my phone begging for forgiveness, and most of all not to tell her partner, Jack, what she did. I haven't replied and don't plan to ever."

Steph ended her story saying that she plans to leave Tom when he returns from a work trip. "I haven't told Tom that I know," she said. "This has all happened while he has been away on an international work trip and I'm sure as hell not doing this over the phone. 

"I will be leaving him. I've already called our real estate agent to break our lease. I am absolutely broken but I would like to let him see that in all its fury. He's not going to get away with this via a phone call or text message."

Of course, it didn't take long for people to jump into the comments section when the story was shared on TikTok, everyone offering up their two cents on how Steph should go about dealing with the situation.

One person suggested doing it via a cake, which is equal parts brilliant, shady and delicious. "'I do. I did. I’m done.' Printed on a cake. A picture of a broken heart 💔 with a pic of his face in one half and best friend’s face in the other," wrote one user.

Another had some practical advice on how to end the relationship, saying, "See a lawyer, transfer your $ out, pack his stuff, change the locks. Tell all his friends and family and the partner of the ex friend."

Suggested another, "Let him come home to an empty apartment with papers on the counter and ghost him. Traumatise him back bestie."

Whatever Steph ends up deciding, her next move, she said, would be moving in with one of her friends — hopefully one that doesn't do her dirty like her supposed bestie.

Feature Image: Canva.