Editor’s note: Lovefraud received the following story from a reader who we’ll call “Jenna.” At the end, she posts a document written by her sociopathic ex about the price of his soul, which provides a unnerving glimpse into how he truly thinks. Names have been changed.
I have spent the last 18 years dealing with a classic sociopath, a man who lies beyond my wildest imagination. I have come to believe that he isn’t just evil that is too easy an explanation. Evil people can’t help themselves; they can be “born bad.” No, this man chooses to be sadistic and mentally cruel. He can be “nice” when he wants to. He has a now four-year-old granddaughter who adores him and thinks her “Papa” hung the moon. If she ever sees on her own what he is, he will be her first broken heart.
He calculates his moves and sets up his victims over a long period of time — feeding off one woman after another, using the exact same pattern, until they no longer are sating his appetite for whatever it is he hungers for money, respect, ego gratification. I have never met anyone like this before. He enjoys what seems to have been his life’s work. He often said he “didn’t like women or children.” I should have listened.
I met him through work in April 1992. I was 44 years old, attractive and I thought relatively intelligent. My boss knew him from a previous job, considered him an associate, and brought him in to do some computer consulting. Looking back, my first impression was that he was focusing on me, trying to impress me. I should have heeded my bells and listened to my first impressions. He was knowledgeable about everything, charming, and I realize now he talked only about himself, his business plans, his big ideas. Going for lunches developed into a relationship. He was never pushy or all over me just the opposite.
Moves in
He moved in with me on January 2, 1993 after I had broken off with him because I thought he was playing me. I went away that Christmas alone, and when I came home, he was ensconced in my home, with the fireplace burning, two dozen long-stemmed red roses, a bottle of wine and a six-page handwritten letter about what a fool he had been and how much he “loved” me. The fool was me; I let him stay.
I had been on my own for a long time so I tried to establish some beginning boundaries. The first year we were together, he had to pay half the rent and half the living expenses, but slowly that morphed into us having joint accounts, and making decisions as a couple.
Within two months, he would fall asleep on the couch watching TV. I worked, he didn’t. He was trying to build a consulting business, but I think he did nothing most days. I’d come home and he’d be busy doing dishes that he had obviously just started, so it would look like he was busy.
No sex
Within six months, he withdrew sex. “I don’t know why” was his stock answer to every attempt to work through this. I thought maybe he had problems so I backed off and learned to live without a normal and healthy love life. It was step one in completely undermining my own self confidence, self image and willingness to walk away. I was mature, had not been committed enough to really work at previous relationships, so my mindset was, “I love this man and I am going to work at this.”
In 1994 he got a job that lasted four months. He talked me into starting my own business and I did freelance accounting. When he was fired from his job I was never able to find out why, but they let him go on a Tuesday and paid him only to the end of that day, which had to mean just cause. Knowing what I know now, no doubt he was inappropriate with female staff or maybe even male staff, because now I wonder about everything. Nothing was as it seemed.
August 1996 and he has just started his second job lasted six months, during which, I find out, he has been having an affair with the receptionist. He moved out March 1997 and came back begging me to give him another chance in May, saying he was nothing without me; he might as well go live on “skid row” because he would never be able to get off the couch again if I wouldn’t take him back. We had a business to consider he reminded me. He made love to me four times during the “take me back” stage. Soon as he was safely back, sex stopped, but he did come to bed at night. In later years, he would sleep in the living room, on the couch every night, in his clothes and only came downstairs to get a change of underwear, knowing that hurt me and was the exact opposite of what I wanted.
In business together
Over the years this scenario was repeated. In 17 years he held down four jobs, all of which lasted max six months. He talked me into going into business with him and we are 50% shareholders in a small home-based business that supported us from 1999 onward. I am seriously living to regret this, as I divorce and try to extricate myself from him. He talked on the phone a lot, and I did all the heavy lifting.
I had my life savings, which wasn’t much, but it bought us the home I live in now. We moved here in 1999. Yet another “job” he had, this time contracted through our company. He lasted five months in what was supposed to be a five-year contract.
I have to say that the privacy act and employer’s unwillingness to share information is a tremendous handicap to women in my position. Even as 50% owner of the company, no one is willing to tell the truth. If any one of the people who saw through him, anywhere along the line, had had the courage to tell me what my husband was up to, it would have opened my eyes. I was getting his side of the story only, and his best skill is, he is a honed and practiced liar. No matter how suspicious or concerned or questioning I might be, he could talk himself out of it, so I’d wind up giving him the “benefit of the doubt.”
Job in Florida
On April 21, 2009 my husband (he wanted to get married in 2003) left “on business” to take a consulting job in Florida. When he left, I prayed that this would be make it or break it. My health and spirit were so broken that his decision to take this job was almost a relief.
A month after he was gone I began to feel better physically, but such was my commitment to my marriage that I actually said out loud, what worried me was he would want to come back, and I wouldn’t want him to. I would feel obligated to take him back, even though I knew I was living in a toxic relationship. A counselor said to me afterwards that if you have a kind heart, cut people some slack and believe in God, and in doing unto others, you are custom made for this type of predator. They count on it! Your decency and your ability to love and forgive are the very tools they use against you.
First month, he web-cammed daily while I helped him get set up, furnish his apartment and paid his bills. He phoned me 10 times a day on his way down to Florida, saying how much he missed me already.
Cheating
The lies kept up until June 27, 2009 when he avoided an opportunity to web-cam home to see our 3-year old Granddaughter who was visiting. Everything began to add up. I spent all day July 1, 2009 trying to figure out how to hire a private detective in Florida. Turns out he had put himself on a dating site within three weeks of arriving there, and he had “grown an inch” from the time he left here. By August he was on Craig’s list as well and had grown yet another inch!
I had to take control of our business servers and over the course of the next few months I received emails from two women, who came after the one the private investigator filmed him with. His story to them he had been a widower for 40 years, had raised his two girls alone, his wife had been tragically killed in a car accident, t-boned when his youngest was just 2 months old. He had sacrificed himself to raise his daughters. Turned out I wasn’t the dead wife he was speaking of he was actually referring to his first wife, who is alive and well and who is still married to the man who really helped her raise the children.
Second woman who contacted me, did so because she had been told I was his “cousin” and I “worked for him” and she wanted to know if I was going to be helping her learn how to work for him. Both the women who contacted me were kind enough to send me the “ads” they answered, and photos of themselves and one even send me photos of them together, which I could have lived without.
My honesty saved the two women who connected with me, but every woman who crosses his path is at risk. I have come to see that he is like a reverse serial rapist. It is all about power and control, and once he assesses what you want and need most from him, in my case, warmth, love and affection, he withholds that from you. He apparently was quite lustful with the women he met on line and I wonder now, who was he cheating on me with during the 10 years we’ve been in this town? A man doesn’t go from being celibate for 17 years to suddenly being active. I now consider it a gift that he didn’t touch me at least I know my health isn’t at risk.
The document
Interestingly enough, in the “document” you read below, the woman referred to as “Marsha” is in fact his first wife (you know, the one who wasn’t killed in a car accident). The second woman he mentions, is the woman he cheated on “Marsha” with and left Marsha for. It would seem that none of us who came after mattered at all.
I found this document while searching his computer using the word “university” because he claimed to have a Bachelor of Commerce degree and I wanted to share that with my lawyer. This document, written by him on Oct. 1, 2005 at 7:30 pm, popped up. His oldest daughter’s birthday. The night after my 58th birthday. Two years and one month to the day after our marriage, and two months before he would “set me up” by putting me as sole director of our company, which as it turns out, has backfired on him, but it was part of a long-term plan he had and was slowly working on, a trap that would be used when he was ready to spring it.
I can tell you that when I opened this document, it embarrassed me to read it. I never knew this man at all. I have no doubt that I was in my office working, or making dinner, or cleaning up after dinner, while he sat in his office writing this. I can tell you that knowing what I know now, he doesn’t have “a soul to sell.”
I’m weeks away from my divorce being final. He has fought me every step of the way, threatening me, filing lawsuits against the company, using the business and my fear of losing my home and what little security I have left. He has harassed both me and my lawyers, gone out of his way to increase my legal fees, hoping to break me. He represents himself, and at every turn is foxier and more cunning than one could ever believe. Normal does not apply. I wonder what the women before me went through and know in my heart, they went through exactly what I am going through. I can’t wait to get rid of his last name legally.
He threw away his life and I need to be punished for that. I wasn’t supposed to find out. I was supposed to continue in the role I had played, the easily conned wife who kept knocking herself out trying to make her marriage work, while he kept his options open and explored for greener fields.
PS: Job in Florida lasted four months, then they let him go. I have no doubt he is trolling for his next food source as I write.
The Price of My Soul
- To return to Easter, 1956 when my parents moved.
- To have all of the knowledge that I have now and have had in the past.
- To be popular with both boys and girls. At school, in clubs and all other parts of my life.
- To excel in sports without injury, particular in hockey, track, football and baseball. To be good enough in football, baseball and track to attract quality athletic scholarships.
- To excel in school without undue effort. To receive the highest marks in every subject, to effortlessly complete all homework and assignments. To receive the highest possible marks on all tests and examinations. To be the valedictorian in both High School, University. To be first in my class in Graduate School.
- To have the inherent ability to make the right and correct choices regarding education, finance, investments and career.
- To be attractive, fit and athletic for my entire life. To live well in to my 90s and to be happy, contented and satisfied with my life. To die with no regrets.
- To never smoke or partake of non-prescription drugs. To always drink alcohol responsibly and never get drunk or impaired.
- To never have an illness and to be immune from all disease.
- To be hardworking, focused and disciplined. To be courteous to everyone. To be calm, soft-spoken and fair. To have, and experience, no prejudice.
- To be unusually attractive to all women, of legal age, regardless of age, race, color, marital status or religious beliefs. To have the inherent ability to communicate my interest to a particular woman and to have her feel a tingle in her loins and know that, by overtly contacting me, she will experience the most satisfying sexual encounter that is it possible to have.
- To have the inherent ability to bring women to the deepest orgasm possible at my whim and thought. To do so, if I wish, just by touch, by stroking, or by any other means that I wish. To have women become addicted to sexual relations with me. To be completely uninhibited in sex and to have each of my partners wish to be willing to try anything. To be able to bring my partners to orgasm orally, anally, vaginally and any other way I choose. To have them long for each way. To be able to bring women to multiple orgasms, including ejaculation, and to be able to experience multiple ejaculations, myself, within minutes of each other. To never lose this ability until my death.
- To never, either myself or a chosen sexual partner, experience a jealous husband, fiancé, lover or friend. To never end a sexual relationship in any way other than as enduring friends.
- To have women become so addicted to my sexual prowess and their satisfaction that they will do anything that I wish to continue the relationship. To have them recommend me to their women friends and to have those friends join us in the relationship.
- To have this attraction begin from the moment of puberty and, until I am of legal age, to have these relationships with women older than myself.
- To have these women pay me for my company until I have graduated from school and have become a wealthy person. It would be my expectation that, beginning at 13 years of age, I would earn $100 per week from each of my lovers and that I would have five lovers. I would expect my income to increase with each year until legal age.
- To have the inherent ability to save my money and to invest in the most profitable manner. To always know the correct time to buy stocks, bonds or other investments and to always know when to sell at the maximum profit. To never make a losing investment.
- To always know the correct time to create a new company or service and to always know the correct time to sell the investment. To never lose money in this manner. To always have prior knowledge of startup companies and to know which ones will succeed and which ones will fail. To always know the optimum time to cash in the investment.
- To be financially well of by the age of 18. To be a millionaire by the age of 20. To be a multi-millionaire by the age of 25. To be a billionaire by the age of 30 and to be the richest man in the world by the age of 40. To remain so until my death.
- To be asked to mingle in the highest levels of society all over the world. To be politically astute and to have political influence worldwide.
- To never marry and to never have children. To die, peacefully and happy, having left a legacy of both deeds and money that will be invested for good. To have planned those investments so that they will never stop working for good.
- To have several loving relationships during my lifetime. To love deeply and be loved deeply. One of those relationships is to be with Marsha Jackson and the other with Susan Morris. Both are to be deeply satisfying for everyone involved but are not to be monogamous on my part. As in other relationships, they will be so satisfied that they will want to share me with their female family members and friends.
- To be an outstandingly accomplished dancer. To be able to bring a women to climax just by whispering in her ear while dancing. To be able to engage in a conversation, with a woman, about absolutely anything. To have her feel no offense at the most intimate of conversations and comments. To be able to bring her to climax during those conversations.
- To be appreciative and knowledgeable of the arts. To be an engaging and interesting speaker. To have an inherent ability to lead people in the direction I choose for them to go. To always do so for good, never evil.
- To be truly satisfied and happy in everything that I do. Especially in each and every sexual relationship that I have. To be able to give the deepest possible pleasure to my partner and, in turn, to receive the same.
Dear DW,
Sorry, I didn’t think you would be here on lovefraud if he had been the wonderful loving kind caring man you described. So what’s the problem you are having with the divorce—?
I truly don’t understand, if it was 21 years of bliss and family, and all you wanted was something different that what you had with him, why is he not cooperating with the divorce? I truly don’t understand why you feel a need to be blogging on a post about LOVE FRAUD.
Sorry, my intentions were good, and most of us here that were in relationships with men and THOUGHT we had great relationships, TRULY had NOTHING except an ILLUSION.
If you had a great relationship with this man I am happy that you had 21 years of wonderful companionship and family with this paragon of virtue. I wish you well as you change (we all change—that’s the only thing in life that’s constant!) and become whatever it is that you want in this life. You are right, I truly do NOT understand what it is that you want or need.
God bless and peace.
Warrior:
I’m seduced by your description of such a loving guy you are married to.
What was it that brought you to LF initially, or connected with here.
The way you have described him previously was not as loving/caring.
Yes, we all have ‘differetn’ stories, but I’ve never heard such a perfect man described here on LF.
I’m baffled.
DW – colored me confused too.
why lovefraud if he isn’t a n/s/p? there are lots of sites for divorcing women. i really really don’t get it.
and within the end of relationships with n/s/p it is also our own personal description that matters most – if we still grieve to let go of the ties then we do – but generally we are trying to move in that direction. i am against tearing against those ties – loosing them and walking away yes – by tearing tears us too. and for some that is their way, for others, we move a way physically and work on loosing the emotional ties – but with a clear view that the relationship was with someone severely disordered and who could even be called evil or monster – what ever works for each of us.
perosnally, i can only call my spath ‘evil’ – there is really no other term for a person who does what she does.
i don’t know your truth. i completely am confused by your story now. i know i stepped over the line a bit with you recently, but i just let it slide – it IS your right to name and own things as you want ..but we all thought you we trying the leave a s/p/n? were we all wrong? i thought you were just very conflicted/ fearful/ in deep denial at times (just an opinion you sure dont’ have to take or leave)…
i feel i have heard 4 stories from you. don’t know what’s what.
Dancing Warrior,
I think that I can see things from your perspective, having memories of my h-spath where he acted the part of a good, decent guy, doing some wonderful things for me and our children (still doing some nice things for his kids). However, over the years, I also discovered that he had a side to him that was undesirable – he is willing to lie, steal, and God knows what else, not being an ideal role model to his children. I get what you’re saying because I REMEMBER the times when he acted so loving toward me, treating me well (doing thoughtful, sweet things for me), but then I can also recall the terrible things that he’s done, definitely making it hard to merge the two sides of this person – he has a “good guy” and a “bad guy” image in my brain. I still struggle with how he is, his character, comprehending why he acts the way he does (he’s a sociopath), being disturbed by the existence of this disorder, that he is afflicted with it. What you can say about your husband is that he did the best that he could while he was with you, his disorder became evident over time (he couldn’t control it), and now it’s time for you two to part ways, each continuing on his/her life’s journey, separate from each other, wishing each other well (you can do this because you are a kind, generous soul).
Greetings, friends!
It’s been a long time since I’ve been here – maybe a year or something like that. I see some familiar ‘faces’. I have been meaning to drop by, but I let the fact that I couldn’t find my password be the excuse that kept me from posting. Mostly, I’ve just been so busy. I finally bit the bullet and got a new password (I know I’m lazy). How are you guys all doing? One Step, Erin Brock, Shabby Chic, Henry….is Oxy still around?
I want to give you all an update on life after the spath (2-1/2 years, to be exact). I had a brief romance this summer with my neighbor who is a rock star (literally). He was so full of himself that it only lasted a few weeks. lol.
I then went on my long-awaited 2-week Costa Rica trip. There I met a Canadian guy who became my constant companion and the greatest lover in my life. I had an unbelievably great time and also fell in love with Costa Rica. I will probably move there one day.
Upon returning, the guy and I wrote every day for a while and tried to keep it going. It was so painful that I finally ended it and very badly, I might add. Now I miss him terribly but he won’t write to me any more. I guess there is no happy way to end a vacation romance. I know there will never be another one like him. And no worries, he is NOT a sociopath. However, I’m continuing to date and may go out with someone tonight that I really like. So life goes on. I have not had any sociopaths in my life since the creepy army guy. I also never heard from him again or saw him on my reptile internet forum (where I still hang out). My friends gave me a killer 50th birthday party last night, and it was a blast. I feel younger than ever. Since I’ve come back from Costa Rica, I don’t worry about my age any more. No one does over there, so why should I? My lover there was 37. Our age difference was never even the slightest issue.
See, there is hope after sociopathy!!!!
Will log in for a few days to look for updates from everyone else. I hope you are all doing well.
Love,
Star
Dear Star,
So glad to hear you are doing well! You sound GREAT!!! Not just what you have been doing, but the WAY you post is confident, and filled with STRENGTH!
Yea, I’m still here, and still kicking along! Over all doing well. The P offspring comes up for parole in January, but I hired an attorney and I think he won’t get another chance for parole for another 5 years! Getting prepared for that was stressful, but am over that part now and now is just wait, but no anxiety about it!
Thanks for checking in, believe it or not we mention you from time to time (at least I do) when we call the Ps “snakes” and I always say, “But Star wouldn’t like us to call them snakes, because snakes are not mean” or something of that nature! So you are NOT forgotten here at LF by any means! ((((Hugs))))
Hi Star – OH MY – you have been a busy girl…
Hi guys,
Yeah, it looks like I am like that children’s book, a majorly “mixed up chameleon”. I had a symbiotic, co-dependent relationship for a while. Idealized my protector and worshipped him on many levels: he took me out of a traumatizing rape memory, so he was the good guy rescuing me; took me away from my nutty family, abusive dad, hopeless stuckness; he was 13 yrs older, a perfect caretaker in practical sense–provided for my basic needs as I was dependent on him in every way in a new country. All of this served his needs to be the capable, dominant, know-it-all male. He WAS! I was actually incompetent at that time.
Then I grew.
That was the problem. Not knowing the psychological disorder of narcissism, I kept banging my head against the wall trying to convince him of my point of view. Power struggles escalated as I wanted more autonomy. Then my loneliness grew as I saw that he couldn’t reallay empathize with me emotionally. It was wonderful while I saw the world according to him.
Long story short, I wold not have STAYED with him 20 friggin’ YEARS had there not been good things. It was not simple math to see if bad outweighed the good. And my ego, my self-preservation voice was so tiny, that I tended to minimize MY needs and wants.
I came to LF because I felt powerless against the confusion, hurt, loneliness of trying desperately to FIX something that I had no power to FIX, and then dealing with the pain of the aftermath.
Now, memories of the good creep up, and the old fears of neediness and helplessness are back. LF give me training wheels as I try a new way to be–on my own.
BlueJay, you summed it up clearly. I discovered a side to him that was undesirable–the self-centeredness, lack of self-control, lack of empathy. He doesn’t lie, steal, do illegal things, abuse drugs–none of the overtly bad behaviors.
“he did the best that he could while he was with you, his disorder became evident over time (he couldn’t control it), and now it’s time for you two to part ways, each continuing on his/her life’s journey”
He saw ME as the problem, being narcissistic, so I peddaled in place for years trying to convince him to change.
THANK YOU ALL for listening to me go through the maze of my confusion and fear. I’ve said in the absence of family and network of friends–this is a lifesaver, support of you who have experienced similar.
DancingWarrior,
“leaving the nest of security” is always a challenge and anxiety producing…whether it is a two year old separating from mommy, and saying “No” to a teenager becoming rebellious and independent from parental authority…or leaving a long-term marriage and striking out on your own financially and emotionally.
Being dependent on others also entails a price to be paid in terms of autonomy as well. After the American Civil War in the 1860s which also freed the slaves in the South, though almost all of the former slaves desired freedom, some of them had become so dependent upon their former masters to make decisions for them, to provide for their food and housing, that they actually didn’t leave and strike out on their own even though they had the right to do so. They stayed with their former masters because becoming independent was too scary for them to accomplish.
Others struck out on their own, preferring to be independent, even if it meant starvation…even if their former masters had been kind to them they wanted their freedom to determine their own destiny.
I think in many ways, some of us have become fearful of life without the psychopath. Fearful of independence from the familiar. Even if the familiar is not comfortable, at least we know what to expect. Independence is scary because there isn’t a road map to follow of What to expect.
Someone once told me that “the MOST secure individual in the world is a guy on death row, he knows exactly what will happen to him, and exactly when and how he will die. But he has NO independence, no choice in anything, but he IS INFINITELY SECURE.”
I think I prefer insecurity—not knowing what will happen tomorrow, or knowing what the right choice is in any given situation, just taking my best guess at what I should do—over security where I have NO CHOICE in anything. MY FREEDOM and MY CHOICES require that I also be totally RESPONSIBLE for the consequences of my choices.
I don’t always like what I have to do in order to make GOOD CHOICES. Yesterday I “blew it” on my NEW NUTRITION PLAN, but it was my choice, my responsibility, so TODAY I am making BETTER CHOICES because I know that in the end, It is MY health that will suffer if I don’t. No one to “blame” but myself if I don’t make a good choice.
‘
I wish you confidence and courage as you make your choices in your independent life. Godspeed and peace.
Yes, Oxy, it’s a huge responsibility. Not having done it before, I am building faith in myself day by day. Yep, there is a price both for security, and for freedom. Security seems like the “known devil,” the lesser evil as it is familiar.
One day at a time.