A wealthy, high-profile married businessman was secretly having a passionate affair with a beautiful Italian woman. Everything was going smoothly until one evening, she dropped a bombshell: she was pregnant.
Terrified of a public scandal that would ruin his reputation and strip him of his fortune in a divorce, the man immediately scrambled for a backup plan. He offered her a massive, lump-sum payout if she agreed to return to Italy immediately, have the baby in secret, and stay there to raise it. He also promised to faithfully send substantial monthly child support checks until the child’s 18th birthday.
Seeing no better option, the woman agreed. However, she raised an important question: “How will you know exactly when the baby is born so you can start sending the checks?”
The man thought quickly. “To keep my wife from getting suspicious, do not call me or write a letter. Just send a simple postcard to my office with the word ‘Spaghetti’ written on the back. I’ll know exactly what it means and handle the finances.”
Nearly nine months passed. One evening, the man came home from work to find his wife standing in the hallway, looking completely bewildered. She held a postcard in her hand.
“Darling, this arrived in the mail today,” she said, squinting at the card. “It’s postmarked from Italy, but it makes absolutely no sense. It’s the strangest thing.”
Trying to play it cool, the husband’s heart leaped into his throat. “Oh, it’s probably just a weird marketing gimmick from one of my international clients,” he stammered, snatching the card from her hand. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll look into it later.”
He walked into his study, closed the door, and flipped the postcard over. As his eyes scanned the short message, his face instantly drained of all color, his knees buckled, and he collapsed unconscious onto the rug.
The postcard read:
“Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti. Two with meatballs, one without. Send extra sauce.”
