My (28F) husband’s (31M) family friend (30F) has been trying to drive me away for the last 3 years and I think she finally won.

I’ve been married for 5 years. The first two years were amazing but then we moved closer to his family and things started going downhill.

My husband has a family friend “Serena” who is very close to his mother and sister-in-law so she’s always around. She doesn’t like me, but she pretends to whenever my husband is around. She’s incredibly manipulative and I was too stupid to see it in the beginning (I thought she was my friend) but now we’re at a point where if I say anything I just look like the boy who cried wolf.

There are SO many instances that I can mention but I’m only going to mention a few that I think are important.

My husband was away from home more than he was home. Serena started implying to me that my husband was cheating. She said he had a history of womanizing and that just because I was his wife, nobody was expecting him to remain faithful, but she was telling me because we were friends. I tried really hard to ignore her but when someone is constantly whispering things in your ear, you start to wonder. I eventually confronted him, and it didn’t end well. That caused a huge crack in our relationship and he started becoming more closed off.

There were other instances where she would tell me my in-laws liked this or that, knowing that if I did those things, I would offend them and embarrass my husband.

She would tell me things like everyone was saying that my husband wouldn’t have married me if he hadn’t got me pregnant and that he acted too rash by marrying me so quickly (I ended up miscarrying) and that he would pay for that mistake for the rest of his life. It made me feel like my in-laws all hated me and also like they were happy that I miscarried, so I started withdrawing from them.

Eventually, I realised what her game was, and I started telling my husband, but he never believed me. It was always “I’ve known her all my life she wouldn’t do that or say that”. It also didn’t help that she was whispering in his ear too and he believed her. Our relationship is very rocky now.

I found out I was pregnant again 3 months ago. We only recently told everyone, and Serena made a comment about how she hopes I can do it right this time. I was so beyond furious and upset. When we got home my husband asked me why I looked sad, and I just had this horrible realisation that I couldn’t even tell him because he wouldn’t believe me.

So now I think I’m done. I know it's not the best time to decide to walk away, what with a baby on the way, but I don’t want to keep being a doormat. I love my husband very much, but I can’t be in a marriage with three people. Especially when it’s 2 on 1.

I don’t know what my next steps should be…

1. Do I tell my husband now and give him one last chance? I’ve never really laid it out before because I thought if I was quiet, he would realise I wasn’t the problem and that she was lying.

2. What type of things do I need to make sure I have prepared before leaving?

3. Should I wait until I’m financially independent? I haven’t worked since getting married because my husband wanted me to be a SAHW.

4. If people ask, should I be honest about Serena’s involvement or keep the details private?

Thank you in advance for the help!!

TL;DR – My husband’s family friend has been causing issues in our relationship for the past 3 years in an attempt to drive me away. I’ve finally had enough and want to walk away.

Submitted May 24, 2021 at 12:56PM by ThrowRAnomore https://ift.tt/2RBu8H2