Читать книгу Stolen Identity - Carmen María Montiel - Страница 7

Marriage can be the safest relationship or the most dangerous one. Toward the end of my marriage, I knew I was living the second option, but colud not dare do anything about it.

Domestic violence is a silent killer. It happens behind closed doors at home. In fact, every nine seconds a woman is the victim of domestic violence. In my case, killing me was too obvious! The next best thing was burying me alive by sending me to prison.

Like most women, I did not know I was a victim of domestic violence. The abuser starts with a combination of mental and psychological abuse to destroy the victim’s self-esteem and confidence first, then progresses to physical violence.

My abuser husband was able to diminish me with years of emotional, psychological, physical and substance abuse. He thought he finally had me out of the way, so he could enjoy life as he wanted, spending our money and indulging his sex addiction.

But despite being nearly destroyed, I managed to retain my dignity even while being forced to allow him to lead a double life as a respected family man with a successful medical practice and a husband who cheated on his wife with prostitutes, often in their own home.

I loved my husband and worked hard to build a family and our business. I never imagined he could hurt me, much less try to destroy me. Like most abuse victims, I never thought when he hurt me that it was intentional. After every assault, I recreated the incident to see what I did that caused him to react violently.

Stolen Identity goes beyond domestic violence to expose how difficult it is to recognize abusers, even for the authorities. This is the story of an abused immigrant woman who had no place to go or hide. A Catholic who believed in family and fought to save it for her children’s sake. In the end, however, because of her children, she had to get out of that vicious marriage to save herself.