My experience with a sociopath and long road to recovery

Hello all
I’ve been lurking and reading here for a couple of years. Thank you all for the education and sharing of your experiences. I’ve learned a lot and, in fact, could have written many of your stories verbatim. I apologize in advance for the length of this post.

I met Bill on an online dating site in October 2013. I was struck by his quoting of a favorite author of mine in his dating profile. He was very good looking, muscular, and sexy. I never thought he would be interested in me but sent a message just to remark upon his literary reference. Before I knew what hit me, we were going strong. He was charming, loving, very intelligent, and interested in the same things I was.

I let him move into my home within 3 months and all was wonderful. Within two weeks, he was threatening to leave on a nearly weekly basis. He’d get upset over the tiniest thing and it would escalate to him screaming and ranting and verbally abusing me every time, no matter how conciliatory I was. No matter whether he was upset about something I had said or done. It made no sense to me. After his initial rage subsided, he would invariably sulk and give me the 24 hour cold shoulder. Once that was done, he’d behave as if nothing had happened. Wouldn’t talk about it even when I wanted to understand what “I had done wrong.”

When he was being “good”, things were wonderful and I thought I had found the perfect partner for me. We had some great times going camping or to the beach, working on photography together. He was fantastic company and we would sit on the deck at night and contemplate the universe and talk for hours. Sex was fabulous, as long as I didn’t ask for anything. He had fantastic stamina but would get angry and resentful if I asked him to do something like kiss my neck. He’d say, “Are you saying you don’t enjoy it?” If I tried to initiate sex, he said, “Am I on a schedule now?” I was always on his terms only. I was not allowed to ask for anything unless I wanted to be subjected to his attempts to make me feel guilty or ungrateful. So, I learned not to ask.

Shortly after we got together, I got a message from his wife. He had listed himself as ‘divorced’ on his dating profile and I had specifically questioned him on that point before we went out the first time. He promised he was divorced. He was not.
By that time I was completely head over heels in love with him and couldn’t picture my life without him. He convinced me that the marriage was over and that he had not lived with her or made love with her in two years. So, I let him stay.
I made excuses to myself for all his bad behavior. I saw the red flags and dismissed them one by one, convinced he was ‘misunderstood’, had had a ‘bad childhood’, etc, etc, etc.
During the entire time we were together, he texted with his ‘ex’ multiple times daily. WhenI confronted him over it, I was told that they were ‘just friends’ and he would never abandon her (the irony was completely lost on him). So, I had to learn to just ignore their constant chatter.

All this time, he left his phone on silent and kept everything completely locked down. Of course, if my phone was set to silent, he was convinced I was hiding something. About 6 months into our living together, a man messaged me on Facebook. He and I used to flirt a couple of years prior and he mentioned something that was said between us back then. I immediately told him that I was in a relationship and very much in love, married for all intents and purposes. He congratulated me and then made a flirty comment which I laughed off and changed the subject. Three days later, Bill found it because I’d left the message open on my tablet. I’d thought nothing of it and didn’t feel inclined to hide it. I was immediately accused of infidelity and he would not understand that I had not seen it as an important event nor felt wrong or tried to hide it. In my mind, I handled it and it was over. Sure, I should not have even answered the guy, but I offered no encouragement at all and told the guy I was involved and not interested in any sort of relationship.
That 10 minute conversation haunted me for the remainder of the three year relationship. Bill used it to berate me and treat me like a cheater. No amount of sincere apology or showing him unconditional love and desire made any difference.

He was always possessive and jealous. If I fell asleep during one of our multiple hour overnight texting sessions in the very beginning, he would accuse me of “having someone there.” After the found message incident, that all went into insane overdrive. No matter what he got upset about, it always came back to that conversation and that I was a liar. I cried and begged and tried to defend myself because I was terrified of losing the relationship, with him.

He left and went to stay with his ‘ex’ several times, then would have me come and get him after a few days. There was never any security in the relationship for me. I walked on eggshells.

He had no respect for the law. He had been in jail for assault in his early life. Had been in a lot of trouble as a kid. He wasn’t working when he came here, but claimed to be looking for work. It turned out that he had lost his license due to repeated DUIs and had walked out on his probation for same just before he came here. So, I was his chauffeur. But hey, I loved the guy. Lol
Eventually he stopped pretending to look for work. I am very well-educated but had to leave my job due to disability from fibromyalgia, so my money was very limited. And I found myself strapped due to the extra expense for his tobacco, beer, and trying to assuage his boredom by going places regularly.

We went through times of absolute happiness and harmony to the lowest lows of his screaming, ranting, accusing, and verbal and emotional abuse. Round and round the vicious cycle went.

All this continued from January 2114 until January 2016, when he finally went to work. The job was 80 miles away, and, you guessed it, I had to drive him there. I was expected to wait all day and be at the gate waiting when he walked out. I had dared to be two minutes late one day and endured 80 miles of being screamed at and accused on the way home. There was never any appreciation for the hellish days I went through doing that. I had to find places to wait; McDonald’s, Starbucks, other places I could find with free WiFi. Not long into this he began to accuse me of picking up men while he was working. As if.

I finally had enough, probably due to sheer exhaustion, and I began to stand my ground during his tantrums. This was March of 2016. He got angry because I wanted my grandkids to be able to stay at my house during their Spring break. By that point, he was making good money and we were supposed to be staying in a motel during his work week to save the drive. I suggested he get that room for a few days and let the kids enjoy staying with me at home. He got the room and then refused to come home. Within days, he was “in a relationship” with someone else. Someone who had a 30+ year career and family money. So much for me being ‘the love of his life.’
I was devastated, completely gutted that I meant no more than that to him. I was talking to a Facebook friend one day and as we shared ‘bad boyfriend stories,’ she began to ask me specific questions about him and his behavior. She was a licensed psychotherapist. At the end of her questions she hesitated then said, “Short of actually talking to him and considering the things you have said are true, I believe Bill is a textbook sociopath.”
I was stunned. And then I started researching what that meant. I came to believe she was 100% right. He ticks off all the diagnostic boxes, including conduct disorder as a child (according to things he told me himself).
I made the mistake of letting him come back twice, once the following September and once in January 2017. Each time, he came back full of promises that he had add a huge mistake by leaving me and that he wanted ‘forever’ with me. I bought it hook, line, and sinker. Each time, on the third day, he informed me that he missed his distractions (that Sugar Mama’s money provided) ofmpartying, drinking, lavish travels, etc. And she would obediently take him back.

He would contact me from time to time and I saw that as attempting to keep me on the back burner, just in case. Just like he was doing with his wife.

This past month, he showed up in my email again (Sugar Mama paid his bills and he emailed to keep her in the dark.) He started talking about things he missed here (not once did he say he missed me). I knew what he was doing, but I almost let him get his foot back in the door. I’ve grown and healed so much. I went through terrible depression for the last couple of years, my self-esteem bottomed out, and I became an almost complete hermit.
I finally decided last year that I didn’t want to live this way any longer and started seeing a therapist. She has helped me a lot.

But I have a soft spot for this man. I LOVED him and considered him family. His wife (they still haven’t divorced)let me know that Sugar Mama had caught him with someone else and had kicked him out. She warned me that he would probably be contacting me because he had no place to go. She had finally given up trying to get him back and had a new love so she’d told him he could not stay with her. And he did try to get me to take him back. He called me one day and as soon as I heard his voice for the first time in two years, I felt an intense rush of emotion and tears welled in my eyes. I knew I was in trouble. We talked for hours and it almost worked. I was toying with the idea of seeing him though I told him I would not take him back here.
But for each good memory and warm thought about him, I remembered several times when he had mistreated me or acted like a spoiled toddler. No matter how much I wanted to be with him (it IS like an addiction), I could not give up on the healing progress I have made.
I’ve come to relish living alone and am not sure I ever want to live with anyone again. I spent my entire life taking care of others and neglecting myself.
I was enjoying talking to someone who knew me like he does, but knew very well it was a very slippery slope. I could easily have said Yes to him coming back and would probably have enjoyed the heck out of him for the ‘honeymoon period.’ But then the real Bill would have re-emerges and I would have been stuck again.
He couldn’t keep up the charade or charm and made a comment referring to something being ‘suspicious’ because I had not answered his text for a couple of hours. In actuality, I had taken a nap. But it showed me he was still exactly the same. So, I let him know in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t going to see him EVER, nor would I talk to him.
I’ve blocked him on every conceivable site, blocked his phone number, blocked his email, and blocked his ex for good measure. She wanted to commiserate over him and would contact me to let me know what was going on. I don’t care what goes on with him anymore and do not need to be reminded of him.
I feel so much lighter now. I did not realize how much stress he had started causing me again until he was completely gone.
The point of this whole long thing is to let those going through it that you CAN recover. You are not stupid for falling for such a person, they are very good at their con games. Even though it may feel that you can’t live without them, I am living proof that you can not only live without their toxic presence in your life, you can thrive after they are gone. Sometimes it takes a long time. Sometimes you go backward. But always pick yourself up and move forward, never backward. Nothing good comes from going backward. You are stronger than you think!