“It was the same with everyone. The same love songs, the same pet names, the same date night spots, the same EVERYTHING. In a ten-day period, he cheated with 3 people. He played it off as him being drunk and stupid. I believed it at the time. I didn’t tell friends or family. ‘If I can’t even make a marriage work, what else will I fail at?!’ I kept it private, until things began to boil.”

‘He lit my insides on fire. So, I did it. I married him. My body signaled that something was off. I pegged it as nerves. I didn’t know about the pools of women.’ Woman breaks free from abusive relationship

‘He was gentle, humble and funny. But he perfected deceit. The counselor urgently told me to take my kids and ‘get out while you still can.’
“I sat on the stairs thinking, ‘surely he will get sick of yelling at me at some point.’ He didn’t. So I locked myself in the bathroom. He broke the door down.”