Valuing reputation over their own child
I looked at the two people who had raised me and felt nothing but cold detachment. The revelation washed over me with clarifying force.
They valued their reputation and the opinions of their neighbors far more than they loved me. My happiness was a disposable asset in their quest for social validation.
They were not victims of circumstance; they were narcissists who got caught. The realization severed the final emotional thread connecting us.