Chapter 14 - The Cracks in the Parasite Tree
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Through mutual acquaintances in the Milwaukee healthcare network, news about Brandon and his family occasionally trickled back to me over the next year.
Without my substantial nursing income and my willingness to step in and solve every financial emergency, the Morgan family had completely fractured.
The loss of the duplex had destroyed the relationship between Brandon and Lucas. Lucas blamed Brandon for dragging his company into a fraudulent dissipation lawsuit, while Brandon blamed Lucas for cutting a deal with my attorney and giving up the building.
Liam, who had depended on regular 'emergency loans' from Brandon to cover his credit card debts and failed business ventures, fell into severe debt and was forced to sell his car.
Susan, who had lost a significant portion of her savings to satisfy her share of the financial restitution judgment, was forced to downsize out of her home into a small rented apartment.
And Brandon... Brandon was still bitter.
A mutual friend told me that at a dinner party, Brandon was overheard complaining to anyone who would listen that I was a "cold-hearted, disloyal woman" who had "abandoned him the moment things got tough" and "destroyed his family's dreams."
When my friend told me that story over coffee, I didn't get angry. I just smiled.
Narcissists will always rewrite history to make themselves the victim of the story. They will blame the storm, blame the wind, and blame the sea, but they will never admit that they were the ones who drilled holes in their own boat.
Brandon thought that by slapping my mother and giving me a cruel ultimatum, he would force me into submission. He thought seven years of marriage would make me too weak and too afraid to walk away.
He didn't realize that when he forced me to choose between my mother and my marriage, he wasn't trapping me.
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He was setting me free.
He forced me to look at the monster standing in my living room before I wasted another seven years of my life feeding his ego.
