He Spent Two Years Mocking How Tired I Looked While I Paid Every Bill. He Never Mentioned Whose Name Was on the Mortgage

I was hormonal.

I was imagining things, being dramatic, losing perspective, not thinking straight.

It is a small, constant erosion, being told that your accurate perception of your own life is a symptom — and it works, over time, because eventually you start to wonder.

Maybe I am overreacting.

Maybe it isn’t as bad as it feels.

Maybe the exhaustion has warped how I see him.

That doubt is the finest tool a man like Trent owns, and he had used it on me for years to keep me quiet and uncertain and easy to manage.