For three days, the house remained unusually quiet. Damon carried the single key I had allowed him to keep, while Colette moved bitterly through the rooms, frustrated that several doors were now locked. I wanted to believe Damon finally understood the boundary I had set. Then, on the fourth morning, I checked the hallway camera footage and saw something that made my stomach drop. At 2:14 a.m., while I slept, Damon quietly unlocked the front door and handed his key to Colette, who had been waiting outside. The camera captured her satisfied expression and Damon glancing toward our bedroom to make sure I had not awakened. By sunrise, the key was back on his ring. He had not respected my boundary at all. He had deliberately deceived me.
