Growing up, I often felt like I was in the way of my mom’s pursuit of love. After many failed relationships, she married Edward and invited me home from college to meet him. At first, everything seemed fine. But over time, Edward’s behavior made me uncomfortable—he crossed boundaries that should never be crossed.

When I tried to tell my mom, hoping she’d believe me, she accused me of making things up and asked me to leave. She even cut off all support and told me to figure life out on my own.I struggled, worked multiple jobs, and eventually built my own successful cosmetics business from the ground up.Years later, my mom showed up at my office—not to make amends, but to ask for money to help Edward out of a legal mess. That’s when I realized nothing had changed.I had no choice but to ask her to leave. She had made her choice years ago—and I had learned to survive without her.