“When you stand with abusers, you become one by proxy.” –N.K. Jemisin
My Interpretation: Cruz did not lay hands on me. He did not need to. He backed the ones who did. Lied for them. Covered for them. Laughed with them. & that is what made him dangerous.

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🧨 Cruz: The Enabler in a Snapback

The man who did not have to hit me to hurt me.
He just had to make sure no one believed me when I said I was bleeding.

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💰 The Illusion of Struggle

Cruz always played the victim.
Poor Cruz.
Behind on his truck.
Down on his luck.
Behind on his accountability.
Down on his respectability.
Owes thousands – but suddenly drops his whole paycheck on a second 4-wheeler for his 5-year-old.
She already had one.
He already owed thousands.
Make it make sense.

He tells Cade he is broke.
Then hides cash income to keep his state benefits:
Food share. Healthcare.
Everything he can drain without consequence.
& Cade? Still pays him under the table –
knowing full well what it does.

He goes to the ER over a bag on his back
& cries pinched nerve like it is a near-death experience.
Not a flare-up.
Not a fluke.
But a full-blown performance for pity.
He is not unlucky.
He is manipulative.
The kind who cries wolf to get out of adulting.
The kind who tells you it is a pinched nerve while posting photos of himself on a speedboat an hour later.

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🔍 The Lie That Should’ve Broken Him

Cruz did not just lie about custody.
He lied about the baby itself.

He got a girl pregnant.
Lost all parental rights.
Was forced to pay child support –
but has no legal access to the child.

He did not tell Sabrina.
He told her nothing.
Let her fall in love with a version of him that never existed.

He did not just fail as a father –
He erased himself & blamed the mother.
Then covered it up like it never happened.

It was not gossip.
His wife told me.
Messaged me directly.

“Make sure she knows about the child he does not have rights to.”

So I dug.
Our state is open records.
& I found everything.
The rulings. The filings. The proof.

& still –
Sabrina stayed.
Already trauma-bonded.
Already tangled in his version of reality.
That is the power of men like Cruz.
They do not need fists.
They just need time.
They build lies slow enough to feel like comfort.

That is the danger.
He does not strike – he seduces.

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🚩 The Pattern

He lost custody of his own child.
Blamed the mother.
Called her drunk.
Called her willing.
Said it was mutual.
But Cade repeated the truth –
“Those girls are hornier than the guys anyway.”

They said it like a joke.
But it was a confession.
& Cruz? He never once took accountability.
He just lied.
Again.
& again.
& again…

Lied about the marriage he was still in when he met Sabrina.
Lied about the truck being paid off.
Lied about cancer – to con his friends for cash.

He lied to Cade – told him I dropped Sabrina off at 10pm on her birthday.
In reality? It was 2am.
I stayed with her the whole night.
He told Cade a different story
just to stir shit.
To make me look like the untrustworthy one.
Classic projection.

& Cade – drunk, blacked out, probably passed out before I even got home –
still got angry at me.

That is the kind of man Cruz is:
He does not need to be in the fight to cause the damage.
He just whispers poison & walks away.

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🕶️ The Snake in Disguise

To strangers?
He is charming.
He plays the good guy.

The rescuer.
The guy you can call when you are stranded.
But the help comes with a receipt.
He expects your soul in return.
He is not kind – he is calculating.
Keeps receipts on everyone else.
But never owns his own ledger.

He comes off as loyal.
But only when you are useful.
Only if you can pay.
Only if he can twist the narrative into currency.

There is no altruism in Cruz.
Only leverage.
Only strategy.

He is the type who calls in a favor before he has finished “helping.”
Because he claims everyone owes him.
Including the world.

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🔥 The Role He Played

Cruz is the reason Cade got worse.
He encouraged it.
Fed the rage.
Pumped his ego.
He validated him.

He was Cade’s echo chamber.
His safety net.
His scapegoat.

When I spoke the truth –
Cruz said I was dramatic.
When I cried –
Cruz smirked.
When I bled –
Cruz passed the gauze to Cade & said,
“She probably did it to herself.”

He was the backup singer in Cade’s manipulation band –
adding harmony to the lies
& bassline to the silence.

He never defended me.
Not once.
Because to him?
My pain was inconvenient.
An obstacle.
An easy sacrifice for male solidarity.

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🧨 The Truth

Cruz is not broken.
He is built this way.
By design.
& no amount of therapy or time will
fix a man who benefits from staying this way.

He is the kind of man who claims loyalty
while setting fire to the bridge you are standing on.
The kind of man who plays the victim
with a lighter in his hand.

& maybe Sabrina will finally wake up.
Maybe she will stop confusing attention with affection.
But if she does not?
At least I got out.

Cruz did not destroy me.
But he sharpened my vision.
Now I see every mask.
Every con.
Every performative ounce of “helpful.”
Now I know exactly what betrayal looks like.
I will never miss the signs again.

& I will never again mistake a man’s presence for protection.

xoxo ♡