My Teen Son Is Blackmailing My Rich Ex-Husband

I just found out my 15-year-old son has a secret bank account with over $10,000 in it, and he got every single cent of it by blackmailing my ex-husband.

I’ve been struggling as a single mom for the last three years. My ex-husband completely abandoned us financially, constantly claiming he was "broke" and couldn't pay child support, while he literally moved into a massive house with his new 24-year-old wife. I’ve been working two jobs just to keep food on the table and pay for my son's school gear.

Yesterday, my son left his iPad unlocked on the kitchen counter while he went to the bathroom. A notification popped up from a banking app showing a balance of $10,400. I knew he didn't have a job, so I panicked thinking he was selling drugs. When he coming out, I confronted him. He went pale, but instead of crying, he sat me down and calmly explained everything.

Turns out, about a year ago, my son was staying at his dad's house for the weekend. His dad went out "to the grocery store," but left his laptop open. My son saw a chain of incredibly explicit messages and videos from another woman—meaning his dad was already cheating on the new young wife. My son downloaded all the videos to a flash drive, went downstairs, and told his dad that if he didn't pay him a monthly "allowance" of $1,000, the videos would be sent to the new wife, her parents, and his dad's boss.

My ex-husband has been paying his own teenage son hush money every single month for a year just to keep his secret.

My son looked me dead in the eye and said, "Mom, I was going to give it to you for Christmas to help with the rent, I just needed to get it past ten grand first."

I am absolutely paralyzed. On one hand, I am terrified that my 15-year-old child is acting like a literal mafia extortionist. On the other hand, my ex-husband is a piece of shit who starved us while hiding his money. Do I tell the new wife? Do I take the money? What the hell do I even do?