Resubmitting to elaborate on the 'fuck up'

I met Carol in the Spring of 2005 when we were assigned to work on a joint project. There was an instant connection and we immediately started dating. Like any couple, we had our share of arguments though nothing serious. In 2010 I proposed to Carol while at Disney in Florida. We were both 25 and felt ready to take the next step. We set the date for August 2013. This would give us enough time to safe money, plan, and arrange for Carol's family to all come into the Boston area for the wedding. Although we both attended college in the city, Carol was from South Carolina and much of her family still lives there.

We submitted final payment for the wedding the last week and July. It felt so good make that last payment. Our wedding was only three weeks away! I had to travel once more for work prior to the wedding (something I had done at least once every 6 weeks for the past year or so). I took a 9:40 flight out of BOS and sat at BWI airport waiting for my connecting flight. I took out my iPad and noticed something odd. There were messages in the Messages app. Odd. At the time I didn't use iCloud. Carol must have signed in to her account.

I go to disable the account and a message pops up from "Randy" about meeting up. It's past 11:30pm. My heart sinks. I nearly have a panic attack in the middle of the terminal. Although there was no reply (that I saw) I began looking through previous messages that turned out to be pretty incriminating. Carol had been cheating on me and I found several references of 'dates' from another guy and her taking to her friend and their relationship as well as her doubts about getting married and comments about 'getting partying out of her system' before our wedding. I couldn't believe it.

The next two days were a blur. I found myself at the hotel bar each evening drinking until I nearly blacked out. Each morning putting on a happy face while I met with clients meanwhile inside I was dying. On the flight home I knew I had to confront Carol. I landed in Boston early in the afternoon and took a taxi home. Nothing seemed out of place but it no longer felt like the loving place I left a few days earlier. Carol got in and I confronted her. She broke down admitted it and begged for forgiveness. We agreed to seek relationship help and she promised it would never happen again.

Fast forward to Friday. Our executive VP of Brand was in town and we (he, myself and a few others) went to lunch at a hotel downtown. As we say at the table, something caught my eye. It was a butterfly hairpiece. One like Carol got when we went to the Bahamas the year before. In fact, it was the one Carol got. She was there with a guy. They sat on the same time of the table.

I excused myself and walked over to the table. The look on her face I will never forget. She was shocked. He was confused when I say across from her and asked how there lunch was. He introduced himself and asked who I was. "You didn't tell him about me, sweetie?" I said to Carol. Nothing. Not a word. So I told him how I was her fiancé and he couldn't have been more surprised. Carol began to cry hysterically. The waiter came over and inquired if everything was ok. I told him it was fine and told him she was my whore of a girlfriend and i had caught her cheating on me earlier that week and again today. He didn't know what you say.

I returned to the table and excused myself again. I told my co-workers I wasn't feeling well and had to leave. I would later find out several knew what had happened. I left and returned to the apartment we shared. I have no idea where Caroln was. I packed my car with as much as I could and left. Never to return.

Carol called several times that afternoon, evening and for the next day or so. She text messaged me, sent FB messages. I had nothing more to say to her and didn't want to hear what she had to say. I spent the weekend looking for a new apartment. I ended up staying at a hotel room for almost 2 weeks before I could move into the new place.

On Monday I decided to notify our wedding guests that the wedding was canceled. I wrote a nice letter with screenshots of some of Carol's texts and printed almost 100 copies along with addresses labels. I spent 2 hours stuffing letters into envelopes, sticking labels to envelopes and putting on the stamps.

Pouring those letters into the blue mailbox outside of the hotel gave me pressure and some closure. It was satisfying knowing that her family, her friends, and co-workers would know of her sluttery.

I was served about 2 weeks later while at work. Carol's dad was suing me for libel. He was demanding $35,000, much over the limit for small claims. His justification was that I committed libel against his daughter which caused severe anguish and also that by canceling the wedding, her family were out the money for flights, hotels, and so on. Additionally he claimed I violated his daughter's right to privacy by reading/distributing the texts and it was embarrassing for him as his business partners (who were invited to the wedding) learned of 'intimate details of his family situation' and it negatively impacted his career. He also wanted the $5000 back that he gave us toward the ceremony. I'd spend the next 9 months in an out of court.

My employer actually provides legal council as a benefit so I didn't have to pay out of pocket. We went to a pre-trial conference and his lawyer offered to settle for $17,500. I didn't take the deal.

Went to court and the judge ripped Carol's dad and his lawyer a new one. It was found that he had no standing to bring the case. He said the "libel" was unfounded because the texts were her own words. Also said that the $5000 was a gift and that Carol's dad could not sue because he was embarrassed.

I also got scolded by the judge and told that my outlet was creative but not healthy and I should seek counseling .

TL;DR caught gf cheating. Called off wedding by sending copies of her scandalous texts to wedding guests. Former g/f's father sued me. Judge scolded me.

EDIT: fixed some autocorrect mistakes