54: The Frustrating Part Of It All

Camilla "No doubt about that. So, can you please keep on telling us about this whole marriage stuff between you and Shaw?" Maria asked. "Of course, yeah. He was a scumbag," I told her. "He'd bring these women into our home, flaunting them in front of me as if to prove that he no longer cared about our marriage or my feelings. It was a twisted power play designed to break me down and make me feel like I was nothing. And for a while, it worked. "I started to doubt my own worth, wondering what I had done to deserve such treatment. Shawn had a way of twisting things, making me feel like I was the one to blame for his actions. He'd say things like, 'If you had only been more supportive,' or 'Maybe if you had tried harder, I wouldn't have strayed.' His words were like poison, seeping into my mind and making me question everything." Maria shook her head in disbelief. "That's classic gaslighting. He was manipulating you into believing that you were the problem when, in reality, it was his