We’ve been married for almost three years, and during that time, I’m exhausted. I worked from morning till night, taking care of the house, the shopping, the utilities, and all the expenses, and my husband didn’t even try to look for a job.
Before our wedding, he did odd jobs. But when we started living together, for some reason, he decided that I was obligated to support him.
But the worst part was his mother. She believed her son had an obligation to support her completely: gifts, clothes, medicine, trips, and any whim; all of this, she thought, should be his responsibility.
And he didn’t care at all that “his position” was my money, my salary, and my tears after another sleepless night.
My husband regularly gave his mother the money I earned, bought her gifts, and sent her the spare change. I kept quiet, I endured it, thinking that family was based on commitment, that relationships shouldn’t be ruined.
But lately things had gone too far. My mother-in-law started writing to me almost daily about what she needed: cosmetics, a new blouse, help with the mortgage. My husband constantly reminded me that “Mom should live well.” And me? I was her wallet.
That was my only day off. I finally got to sleep. I’d barely closed my eyes when the bedroom door burst open. My husband roughly pulled the blanket off me, bent down, and said to me in a tone as if I were his personal servant:
“Quick, tell me your card PIN. Mom’s at the store, she wants to buy a new phone.”
I lay there, barely understanding what was happening. He knew perfectly well that I had been paid the day before and hadn’t spent a single penny yet. I turned to him and said calmly:
“Let him buy it with his own money.”
And then she exploded. She started yelling at me that I was greedy, that I didn’t respect her mother, that “Mom deserved the best.” She insulted me, threatened me, and made demands. And at that moment, I realized: enough. There would be no more patience, no more respect, no more attempts to salvage anything. I had a plan: very discreet, very simple, and very painful for them.
I gave him my PIN. But then I did something I don’t regret at all.
He left immediately, satisfied, without even thanking me. I closed my eyes and waited for the bank message. As soon as I saw the charge—almost my entire salary had gone toward his mother’s new phone—I got up, grabbed the phone, and called the police.
“My card was stolen,” I said calmly. “The money was debited without my consent. Yes, I know the address of the person who did it. Yes, I’m ready to give an explanation.”
A few hours later, my mother-in-law was arrested at her home. The phone I had used to make the purchase was in her possession. She was taken to the police station, where she tried to explain, in a pitiful tone, that “her son had given his permission.” But the card was registered in my name. The payment was made without my consent. Legally, it’s outright theft. She faces a fine or criminal charges.
And my husband… My husband came running home furious, shouting that I had ruined his mother’s life.
Silently, I gathered his things, threw his suitcase out the door, and said to him:
“You’ve been living off me for three years. That’s enough. Go support your mother yourself.”
And I slammed the door in his face.
Credits to the author
I didn’t sleep that night. Not out of fear, but because of a strange feeling of lightness I hadn’t felt in years. The silence of the apartment no longer weighed me down; for the first time, it belonged to me.
The next morning, my phone vibrated nonstop. Messages from unknown numbers, his relatives, his mother’s acquaintances. Some insulted me, others begged me to “fix everything,” to drop the charges, that “family comes first.” I read each message calmly and then did something symbolic: I turned off my phone and made myself a coffee. No rush. No guilt.
Two days later, I went to the police station to give a formal statement. I told them everything: the years of dependency, the control, the constant pressure, the use of my money without permission. The officer looked at me and said something that still echoes in my mind:
“You weren’t just defending your money. You were defending yourself.”
My mother-in-law avoided further legal trouble because they returned the phone and some of the money, but she received a fine and an official warning. For the first time, someone told her no, and she couldn’t buy that “no” with tears or manipulation.
My husband tried to come back. He arrived a week later, with cheap flowers and a rehearsed speech. He said he had “understood everything,” that he would look for a job, that his mother had a heart condition “because of me.” I listened to him in silence, and when he finished, I gave him back the flowers.
“No,” I said. “Not because you love me now. Not because you promise to change. Not because, for the first time, you’re afraid of losing me. No.”
I closed the door gently. There were no screams. There was no need for them.
A month later, I changed the locks, opened a new bank account, and signed up for a course I’d always wanted to take but thought “wasn’t necessary.” I started laughing with friends again, sleeping eight hours straight, and spending money on myself without mentally asking anyone’s permission.
One day, while walking to work, I understood something important: the plan hadn’t been to call the police. The real plan was to remind myself that I wasn’t a purse, or a maid, or a shadow. I was a person.
And that was the surprise that none of them saw coming:
when a woman stops putting up with it, she doesn’t take revenge… she liberates herself .
