He didn’t answer her because his phone started ringing with a call from his office. I knew that call was about to make his day even worse.
Spencer answered the phone and his face completely collapsed as he listened to the person on the other end. He looked at me with genuine terror and asked if I had spoken to his boss.
I hadn’t said a word to them yet, but I knew his reputation was already crumbling. As soon as I checked into my hotel, I began the process of systematically removing him from my life.
I canceled the shared credit cards and took him off my health insurance policy. My lawyer, a sharp woman named Tessa, discovered that Spencer had been using my address to run a fake consulting firm.
He had used my financial stability to trick clients into thinking he was a successful businessman. When the legal notices started arriving, Spencer sent me dozens of desperate emails.
He tried to act like he was the victim and claimed that I was being cruel for setting boundaries. One email even said that my “attitude” was the reason I couldn’t keep a man.
I didn’t cry when I read his words because I finally saw them for what they were. He was a predator who had found a soft spot in my heart and moved in.
Within two months, his business partners walked away and his sister stopped speaking to him. I spent that time in therapy learning why I had allowed someone to treat me like a bank account for so long.
I eventually bought a new place in a different neighborhood that was filled with light and plants. One night, my best friend Zoey came over to help me finish the last of the decorating.
“The funniest part is that he thought he was the one in control,” she said while we sat on my new balcony. I looked at my beautiful new home and realized that I had never felt more powerful.
I raised my glass and toasted to the fact that I finally knew the difference between a partner and a parasite. Spencer thought he was the king of my castle, but he forgot that I was the one who owned the land.
