The original plan was simple. I would sell our house in France, move to Spain on my own, and embrace a fresh start. Financially, I had it all worked out—between my savings and the proceeds from the house sale, I could afford a small, manageable, and reasonably priced property, living comfortably off my savings until my pension came through. It was a solid, independent plan, designed to give me the peace and stability I deserved.

Then, everything changed.

When I shared my plan with my then-partner, he begged me not to leave without him. He made grand promises, swearing that he would finally seek help—seeing psychologists, psychiatrists, doing whatever it took to work through his issues so that we could start anew in Spain, free from the toxicity that had plagued our relationship for so long. Against my better judgment, I trusted him. Again. I believed in his words, hoping that this time, things would be different.

But they weren’t.

There was no miraculous change, no effort to seek help, no genuine desire to fix what was broken. The reality was that I had been manipulated once more. He came with me to Spain, but his actions remained the same. It became clear that his promises had been nothing more than desperate words to maintain control over me.

And yet, the narrative his family has been told is vastly different from the truth. According to them, I abandoned him, running into the arms of another man—a wealthy boyfriend conjured from thin air to justify their disdain. But let’s set the record straight: I was moving to Spain for myself, for my own healing, for my own peace. After fifteen years of living in rural France, trapped in a cycle of emotional abuse, I wanted nothing more than to be on my own, to finally have the chance to heal without immediately falling into another disastrous relationship.

Yet, his family—despite knowing the truth—chooses to believe the convenient lie. Why? Because it suits their own hidden agendas. It allows them to sidestep the uncomfortable reality of his behavior, to place the blame on me rather than confront the painful truth about the man they call family. It allows them to justify their own actions, their own choices, their own motives.

But the truth remains. I did not leave for another man. I did not abandon him without reason. I left for my survival, for my sanity, for the life I deserved. And no amount of whispered falsehoods will ever change that.