One of the more difficult relationships we may have been life is with our in-laws. Sometimes, it can even get so ugly that they can break up the family.

The mother-in-law in the following story took things to an even greater level because she wanted to break up the happy couple, which included her son. She was willing to go to any means to do so, including paying cold hard cash.

What do you do when your mother-in-law steps out of the lines this much? You figure out a way to get even forever.

This is not my story. This was told to me by a woman I knew from work several years ago; she’s a very sweet nurse.

Nurse graduated from nursing school and decided with her friend to move to one of the cities that was listed as having “the most eligible bachelors” from some publication. She moves and starts dating her future husband.

Future Husband’s mother is a viper and decides Nurse is not good enough for her family. The happy couple eventually get engaged and future mother-in-law is having none of it. Tries for several months to break them up; tries to convince Nurse to go back where she came from and simultaneously tries to gently convince her precious son that Nurse may not be good for him.

To add some more context to this situation, this MIL is pretty nasty to Nurse but hides it well to other people, always making sure she’s super (fake) sweet to everyone when others are around.

Finally wedding plans are set so MIL gets desperate. She gets Nurse alone with a “generous” offer: leave fiance and never come back in exchange for $10,000 (note: this was almost 30 years ago so I guess it was kind of a s**tload of money for most).

Nurse is so sick of this woman’s s**t and is incredibly insulted. However, she’s intelligent and maintains her composure. Nurse accepts the offer.

Nurse takes the money, does not leave, and gets married anyway. Nobody else knows about this.

MIL cannot say or do anything about it without exposing herself to her family as a horrible person.

Nurse and husband are still happily married; their kids are grown; husband still has no idea this went down.

MIL has suffered silently for almost 30 years.

Edit: two people pointed out (thank you!) that $10K 30 years ago would roughly translate to $21K today. Confirmed sh**load of money (to me, a lowly peasant).