Finally I could breathe. < img src = "https://zycie.news/crrops/5b0bc6/620x0/1/0/2025/02/08/atbxdoyetgy5kstuyysgvcz3pvlo8xpqn7eqthw.jpg" alt = "from life taken." Quot; my husband was a despot & quot; styles = "background-color: rgba (126,124,91.0)" > < p > I lived in the shadow of my husband for years. Adam was strong, firm, but over time this force turned into control, and the control & ndash; in tyranny. Nothing could happen without his consent. I was to be the perfect wife & ndash; smiling, obedient, quiet.

< p > For years I agreed to all this, thinking that this is what marriage looks like. That this is my role. That it will change someday. But it has never changed.

< p > When he died, I didn't feel what my wife should feel. There was no regret in me, longing, a sense of loss.

< P >There was relief.

< p > I could finally breathe.

< p > For the first time in years no one m & oacute; how to dress, what should I cook, who I can talk to. I felt free.

< p > I thought that now my life would start again.

< p > but then the war began. Not with her husband. With our C & Amp; Oacute; RKI.

< p > Julia has always been this & ampquo; his & rdquo;. The eye in his head, his pride, his little soldier. He raised her his own way & Amp; Ndash; harsh, ruthless, with the conviction that he was always right.

< p > and when it was missing, she took over his role.

< p > — I will not let you live like that, Mom & AMP; MDASH; she said kt & oacute; reel, standing in my living room with her hands on the hips.

< p > — Like ?

< p > — Like a free woman. Father would not want it.

< p > I shuddered.

< p > — Julia, the father is gone.

< p > — But I am And I will not let you destroy what he built.

< p > suddenly in my own home I became an intruder.

< p > began to control me. She looked into my accounts & oacute; in, she checked what I spend money on. When the pr & oacute; I was to change something at home & ndash; objected.

< p > — You can't change anything. This house belongs to the father.

< p > — No, Julia. This house belongs to me.

< p > looked at me with contempt, with the same cold eyes, which I saw her father for years.

< p > — You do not understand ? you belong to your father.

< p > then I felt fear.

< p > m & oacute; Jeus was not alive.

< p > but his spirit was still here.

< p > in the body of my c & oacute; rki.

< p > and he did not intend to release me.

Natasha Kumar

By Natasha Kumar

Natasha Kumar has been a reporter on the news desk since 2018. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Times Hub, Natasha Kumar worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my natasha@thetimeshub.in 1-800-268-7116