“Now you’ll never marry my son!” my mother-in-law laughed, setting my wedding dress on fire. I wiped my tears, smiled coldly, and said, “Enjoy destroying that dress, because the wedding was never the real trap.” Her face went completely pale when I made one quick phone call…

temple. “Ours just burned away the dead weight.”

Chapter Six: The Architecture of Repair

Margaret’s rehabilitation was not a cinematic montage of tearful breakthroughs; it was a grueling, clinical trench war.

The therapist Richard selected was a terrifyingly competent woman whose professional biography featured terms like systemic narcissistic uncoupling continue reading …