Hi, I'm Jim Nettles and this is my story.

I guess if you're happy you ignore what's really going on around you. Then by accident you discover your wife is cheating on you and your world turns to shit. I thought my 18 year old daughter and her friends were sneaking into the basement drinking my homemade beer. Instead the camera I installed in the basement caught my wife's boyfriend fucking her and drinking my beer.

JT and I are members of a beer club here in Atlanta, and he discovered his wife of 25 years had been cheating on him for over 24 years. He told us his story at one of our beer club meetings. One thing he said I ignored was to take off your 'rose colored glasses' and examine your marriage. Karen and I have three children and have been married almost 28 years. Life was great.

Karen is the only child of Ben and Alice Thompson. She came from a life of the rich and famous. Karen may be 49 but she could pass for 35.

I'm not sure if I was raised middle class or not, but I was raised in a loving family. I grew up in a small town outside of Atlanta, I'm the younger of 2 boys. I grew up next door to my grandparents, and my father worked at my grandfather's hardware store. My brother Ken and I worked at the store after school and on weekends. Ken went to Georgia Tech and is an electrical engineer for a paper company in South Carolina. Following my big brother's lead I went to Georgia Tech as a computer science major.

Every small town has a rich kid and Joey was ours. Joey and I've been best friends since we were 3. While I attended Georgia Tech Joey attended Emory. I set Joey up with dates when he visited me and he returned the favor when I visited him. Karen was one of my blind dates at Emory. She was the only blind date Joey set me up with who I called for a second date. As seniors we spent as much time together as our schedules would allow.

One thing I knew: I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this woman. However, there was one problem I needed to address before asking her to marry me. I was taught by my grandparents and parents to work hard and provide for my family. Karen came from money and never worked a day in her life. My pride wouldn't let me live off her parents. If she agreed to marry me we'd be on our own without assistance from her parents. Thank god she agreed.

When I was old enough to work my dad insisted I save 10% of everything I made for my future. I did use part of my savings to buy Karen an engagement ring.

The day after I asked Karen to marry me we went and told her parents. Karen and her mother were excited and started planning the wedding. Karen's dad and I left them alone. We went into his study and he asked my about my plans after graduation. I told him I'd accepted a job with a large corporation here in Atlanta. He seemed pleased we would be close by and he knew the executives of that corporation. About 2 hours later we said our good-byes and left.

Karen and her mother would have 14 months to plan the wedding, and I'd have a year to concentrate on my career.

Three months after we told Karen's parents our plans, Ben invited me into his study. He told me he liked me and knew Karen loved me but as a father he had to protect his daughter and family. I sat there wondering what in the hell he was talking about. He handed me a document and said it was a prenuptial agreement he wanted me to sign. I could hear my father's voice "never sign anything without reading it, asking questions, seeking advice and thinking it through before signing."

He sat and waited on me to finish reading the agreement. The agreement stated if our marriage failed within the first 5 years I'd receive $100,000 and wouldn't be entitled to any other assets from Karen or her family. Every 10 years the money limits increased and capped at $5 million on our 25th wedding anniversary. I sat there looking at him with my mouth open trying to decide how to respond.

After a few minutes I told him, "Sir, I love your daughter and plan to spend the rest of my life loving her. However the business side of me understands where you're coming from. I'll take this with me and think about it."

He said, "Good. I'll wait on your response."

My father is always the first person I go to for advice. So I went to see him. Dad took his time reading it through twice before saying "Jim, we both know why Ben wants this agreement and the way it's written it only protects his family. My question is what do you want out of this marriage and what do you want to protect from them?" We discussed my goals, feelings, dreams and long-term future with Karen.

Dad said, "I've always operated on the belief if you ask me to give up something then you need to give up something as well. Ben's attorney is looking out for the Thompson's, which he's paid to do. He sees you as a country boy with nothing to lose and a lot to gain. You and I both understand why he wants this agreement. Ben believes you love Karen now, but he's worried about something happening later. If you or I were in his place we'd be doing the same thing."

He paused, then said, "Jim, a marriage fails for several reasons. This prenuptial states any reason. Being together in college is one thing and being a married working couple is something else. Can you and Karen work through the rough spots? You may discover you can't live together, because of your jobs, or your friends, or money, or lack of money, parents or anything else. Do you want Ben's money because your marriage didn't work out? What would end a marriage that would make you want his money?"

God, I'm glad I went and talked with Dad. I called my brother Ken and got his feedback and it basically sounded like I was talking with Dad again. After talking with several other people I trusted, I knew the changes I'd make to the prenuptial and how to discuss them with Ben.

On our next visit to see Karen's parents I asked Ben for a few minutes of his time. He looked at me, saying, "Let's go into my study and give these ladies time to discuss the wedding."

As we entered the study I pulled out the prenuptial agreement Ben had given me. "Sir, I've given this a lot of thought and I'd like to make a few changes." He got ready to say something, paused, then nodded his head telling me to continue.

"I understand and can appreciate your position. I'm marrying your daughter because I love her. So, what I propose is: 1) The first 10 years of the marriage you deposit $100,000 into an investment account. You and I will determine together where the investment of these funds go. We'll meet once a quarter to discuss this. I feel this will give us a chance to bond with each other. 2) If the marriage fails, then you keep the money. Karen and I'll split assets we acquired during our marriage 50/50. This excludes assets we acquire from you or my parents. 3) If this marriage ends in divorce because I committed adultery then you keep the money and Karen gets 100% of the assets we acquired during our marriage, this excludes assets we acquire from you or my parents. 4) If this marriage ends in divorce because Karen commits adultery then I get the money and 100% of the assets we acquire during the marriage. Once again, this excludes assets we acquire from you or my parents. 5) Karen and I will get total control of the investment account on our 43rd wedding anniversary." I paused giving him time to think.

A smile crossed his face he leaned back in his chair and said "Son, your offer is very interesting. It shows you love my daughter. Your offer clearly indicates you're not interested in Karen for her money. Your proposal to jointly manage the investment fund is truly creative. I agree this would give us something to do together plus I stay in control for 43 years. What I don't understand is you not wanting to split anything in case of adultery. I have two questions first why 43 years and please explain the adultery split?"

"The answer to 43 years is easy, Karen and I'll be 65 years old and the money will be used for retirement." He laughed and nodded his head for me to continue. "If the marriage fails because we try but can't work out our differences then everything is even. We gave it all we had to make it work why punish the other person. Now, if either of us commits adultery then that's something we're doing on purpose and a marriage can't survive the betrayal and distrust left in its wake. Marriage is the joining of two to make one. Our mission is to be true to each other for the rest of our lives. If Karen is unhappy with me she can ask for a divorce, then she can see anyone she wants to. I'll be true to Karen and the only way for me to seek revenge is if she commits adultery while married to me. Does this answer your questions?"

"Yes, son, you answered my questions. I'll have a new agreement drawn up for your review. Let's go join the ladies."

A few weeks later we brought Karen in and explained the prenuptial agreement to her. Karen was surprised to find out this had been going on and never considered it a possibility. Karen looked up after reading it and asked "Jim are you ok with this?"

"Yes, Karen."

She took time to reread the agreement. "Jim, why 43 years? And what's this about adultery?" Laughing I responded, "Your father asked me the same thing. In 43 years we'll be 65 years old. Consider it our retirement fund." Karen sat there smiling.

"If we work at making our marriage work and fail, then we divorce and move on knowing we tried. Adultery is done on purpose, going behind someone's back, lying about where you've been and who you were with. I can't conceive anything more devastating or dishonest to a marriage. If I'm not good enough for you or you feel the need for someone else, then ask me for a divorce. I'll not be disrespected nor will I be a cuckold. I love you and I'll be true to you and ask the same from you."

We had a great wedding and a fantastic honeymoon.

We've been married almost twenty-eight years and have three children.

Dan is our oldest at 26 and was named after my father. He is working for one of Ben's companies where Ben is grooming him to take over the family businesses. He's been accepted in an MBA program starting this fall.

Benny is 25, loves the outdoors and joined my dad after graduating from college. As you can see Benny is named after Karen's dad. My dad's very happy to have someone in the family take over the farm and hardware store. My brother and I left the farm as soon as we could.

Amy, our surprise child, turned 18 three months ago and has me wrapped around her little finger. She's the best athlete of our children and has accepted a full scholarship to play soccer at UNC next year.

After the boys left for college I converted the basement game room into a brew pub. Karen and I like to entertain, and the pub has become very popular with our family and friends.

For a few months I've suspected someone of stealing my beer. No, I don't take inventory—it's just a feeling. While packing a few beers for a beer club meeting I couldn't find any bottles of IPA. Frank Jones was at the meeting that night and I told him I thought my 18 year old daughter was sneaking my beer from my pub.

"Do you let your daughter drink beer?"

"No. I let her have a taste if she wants to."

"What makes you think it's her?"

"The beer seems to disappear when I travel out of town. It can't be Karen. I've never seen her drink a whole glass of my beer; she prefers wine. The boys like my beer. When they visit I send them home each with a case of beer. That leaves Amy and her friends."

"Well, I can install a motion controlled surveillance camera in the pub and you can bust her with the tape."

"What a great idea. Can you install the camera tomorrow morning while Amy is in school?"

"Will 11 am work?"

"Thank you. I'll see you at 11 am tomorrow."

Frank arrived right on time and he had everything installed within 15 minutes. He spent another 20 minutes teaching me how to operate it. "Are you going to tell Karen about the camera?"

"No, she'd probably slip and tell Amy about it."

"So, when's your next trip?"

"I'm going to Cleveland next week. I leave on Wednesday returning on Thursday."

"Have a safe trip and let me know if you get her on tape."

We left the system turned on and went to lunch.

For the next two weeks every time I went into my pub, I drank a beer and checked the tape. The only people caught on tape were the cleaning crew that comes in Tuesday and Friday mornings and me.

I didn't get home from Cleveland until 1am Friday morning due to a two hour flight delay. I spent Friday at the office. Friday night Karen and I had dinner with her parents and then attended a play. Saturday we had a barbeque at our house. Sunday after church we visited my parents. When we got home I went to sleep in my easy chair.

Monday night, when Karen was at a meeting and Amy was at soccer practice, I checked the tape.

Five minutes into watching the tape my world fell apart. I expected to see Amy and her friends. Instead I saw Karen enter my pub holding hands with Jerome. Jerome, his wife Diana and daughter moved into the neighborhood about 8 months ago. Jerome's daughter Nicole and Amy quickly became close friends. I went numb seeing my wife bent over the arm of my favorite chair getting fucked by Jerome. How long I sat there staring at the screen I don't know. It wasn't until I realized I was watching tape from Saturday's barbeque that I snapped out of my daze. Damn I wish I'd installed audio recorders along with the camera. My shock turned into anger then rage. Dad had always stressed working through problems with a clear head instead of letting anger control you. Do your homework, gather your facts, understand your problem then decide how to handle the problem. People make stupid decisions when angry. I needed hard facts.

While the tape was rewinding I took several deep breaths trying to calm down and watch the tape again. It's obvious this wasn't their first time. They fucked in several positions before it ended with Jerome shooting off in Karen's month. After she licked his cock clean she got up and got him a beer. They set there talking while the son of a bitch drank my beer. Before he could finish the beer Karen was on her knees sucking his cock. Once he was hard he fucked her again. While Jerome was getting dressed Karen got him another beer and she dressed while he drank the beer. The son of a bitch fucked my wife, drank my beer and took my bottles.

I stopped the tape and called Frank. He answered on the third ring.

"Frank, its Jim Nettles. Do you have a few minutes?"

"Yes. Did you catch your daughter stealing your beer?"

"No. I caught my wife fucking a neighbor and I need your professional services."

"I'm sorry to hear that. What do you need?"

"Everything! Can we get together sometime tomorrow?"

"Hang on let me get my Daytimer... How about 4 o'clock tomorrow?"

"Great I'll see you then. What do I need to bring?"

"The tape, his name, address, phone number, work address, Karen's schedule and when you'll be out of town again. See you at 4."

Thank goodness Karen wasn't home yet, which gave me time to get control of my emotions. About an hour later Amy came downstairs letting me know she was home. We walked upstairs where she told me about her next soccer game. I assured her I'd be there.

I'm not one to hide from problems, so I decided to stay up and wait on my slut wife to get home. I still wonder if she was at a meeting that night or if she was out getting fucked. Oh well, I thought, Frank will find out.

At 3:55 I walked into Frank's office ready for battle. He told me he was sorry to hear about Karen cheating on me. I said "I've talked with JT and he told me how you and Mike Ford handled his case. You're the expert. What do you recommend?"

"I know about the prenuptial agreement and you have all the evidence you need to prove adultery. What do you want?"

"I know, but I want to know everything about Jerome, his past, his wife, and his family. I want to know when he shits and where. I want him followed 24/7. I want to know what he does, who he sees, how he makes money and what he values most in his life. The son of a bitch will pay for fucking up my life. Not only do I want him followed I want Karen followed 24/7 as well."

"That will take time and manpower to gather all the information you want. I'll get my staff started on this first thing in the morning. I recommend we install cameras and recorders in all rooms of your house as well as Karen's car."

"Good idea. I wish we had audio from last week."

"So when's your next trip?"

"Three weeks from today. I'll be out for four days this time."

"Great. We should have enough information for you by then. Did you bring the tape?"

"Yes. I brought what you asked me to bring."

"When can we get in your house to install the new system?"

"Karen plays bridge on Thursday mornings. How long do you need?"

"We'll need at least two hours."

"Ok. I'll meet you at my house on Thursday at 9:30."

When I left Frank's office I felt better just knowing something was being done. Now all I had to do was wait.