I Fell in Love with a Scammer, I Was Brainwashed, and I Guess You Can Say I was under his spell, I was in the cult of my abusive relationship. I was sixteen when I met him, he was twenty-one. We had nothing in common. What did I have that he could want? Just like in a cult, he wanted someone he could manipulate, control, take care of financially. I thought marriage was forever, you know, for better or worse. At first, I didn't even want to divorce my husband. It took me six months after I finally left him to file a complaint. I am an old school Catholic woman. You just don't leave your husband. That being said, I hide the abuse from all my friends and family. W. An abusive relationship is like a leaky faucet that starts as a slow drip, and over time that slow drip turns into a flooded house because the pipe eventually broke. First comes the fight, then comes the violent episode, then the honeymoon phase after the violent episode. Makeup sex was so intense. He would love to hit me and then make me sleep with him. He would say it's so exciting. He always said I can't believe I did that. I'm so sorry this will never happen again. Sometimes months would buy even years, but it always started again. I will say that the psychological violence I suffered was much worse than the physical violence. I would rather my ex hit me