What had proved even more insidious than the outright violence was the emotional abuse. He tested the waters with it. Tested to see how much she’d put up with. Little jabs and digs at first. The put-downs that were so neatly and precisely dressed as concern. But even when she knew it was happening, it didn’t stop her from internalizing it. From accepting it as truth, as the water scalded her degree by degree until she was so used to it she didn’t feel the blisters covering her skin. Suddenly there was
