Transcript
Alice met Charles at a work conference, and the connection was instant. He had that easy charm, the kind that makes you feel like the only person in the room. He listened. He remembered the little things she said. For years, she’d felt invisible in her marriage, and suddenly here was someone who truly saw her. She fell for him, and she fell hard.
Charles told her he was trapped in a miserable marriage and that she was the one he truly wanted. He made her a promise. If she left her husband and kids, he would leave his wife for her. So she did. She blew up her life, moved into an apartment he owned, and waited for their new life to begin.
But he never came.
Because he never planned to. Not for Alice. Not for Christine. Not for Janet. All women who believed the same promises.
Months later, the women found each other and decided to tell Charles’s wife the truth. But he beat them to it. He looked his wife in the eyes and told her they were all crazy, just a group of bitter women trying to ruin his life. And she believed him. He’s still with her, while Alice and the others are left picking up the pieces of the lives he shattered.
Of all the Dark Triad traits, psychopathy is the most destructive. Narcissists cheat because they feel entitled. Machiavellians cheat because they think they can get away with it. Psychopaths cheat because they simply don’t care.
There’s no guilt. No voice in their head saying, “This is wrong.” It’s not that they don’t understand they’re hurting you. It’s that your feelings register as background noise. They don’t matter.
In his book The Mask of Sanity, psychiatrist Hervey Cleckley described people like Charles as wearing a mask of confidence and charm. Underneath that mask, there’s nothing. No empathy. No real emotion. They can fake love, cry on cue, and say all the right things. They can promise you forever while looking you straight in the eyes and mean none of it. For them, there’s no “I shouldn’t be doing this” moment. A person like this can kiss you goodnight, say they love you, and then hook up with someone else an hour later like it’s nothing. It’s not that they’re incredible liars. It’s that, to them, it’s not even lying. It’s just what they do.
They can juggle multiple people at once with the same level of thought you’d put into choosing where to grab dinner. To them, it’s just options.
And it’s not just cheating. They get a thrill from chaos. They’ll target married people on purpose, stir up drama in messy situations, and create destruction just to watch it unfold.
Love, loyalty, and promises mean everything to you. To them, they’re just inconvenient rules other people follow. Your wedding vows matter about as much to them as deciding which side of the bed to sleep on.
But the most terrifying part is how easily they walk away.
Most people who cheat struggle with guilt. They might try to fix things or at least look torn up about it. Not them. The second they’re caught, or the moment the relationship stops benefiting them, they’re gone. They can walk away from a ten-year marriage with the same emotional weight as deleting an old app from their phone. There’s no heartbreak because, for them, there was never a real connection to begin with.
The only way to protect yourself is to see this clearly and get out. You can’t love someone like this into having a conscience. Trying to do that is like pouring water into a black hole. You can’t build something real with a person who treats love like a game, and you can’t be vulnerable with someone who sees your feelings as tools to use against you.
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Transcript
Alice met Charles at a work conference, and the connection was instant. He had that easy charm, the kind that makes you feel like the only person in the room. He listened. He remembered the little things she said. For years, she’d felt invisible in her marriage, and suddenly here was someone who truly saw her. She fell for him, and she fell hard.
Charles told her he was trapped in a miserable marriage and that she was the one he truly wanted. He made her a promise. If she left her husband and kids, he would leave his wife for her. So she did. She blew up her life, moved into an apartment he owned, and waited for their new life to begin.
But he never came.
Because he never planned to. Not for Alice. Not for Christine. Not for Janet. All women who believed the same promises.
Months later, the women found each other and decided to tell Charles’s wife the truth. But he beat them to it. He looked his wife in the eyes and told her they were all crazy, just a group of bitter women trying to ruin his life. And she believed him. He’s still with her, while Alice and the others are left picking up the pieces of the lives he shattered.
Of all the Dark Triad traits, psychopathy is the most destructive. Narcissists cheat because they feel entitled. Machiavellians cheat because they think they can get away with it. Psychopaths cheat because they simply don’t care.
There’s no guilt. No voice in their head saying, “This is wrong.” It’s not that they don’t understand they’re hurting you. It’s that your feelings register as background noise. They don’t matter.
In his book The Mask of Sanity, psychiatrist Hervey Cleckley described people like Charles as wearing a mask of confidence and charm. Underneath that mask, there’s nothing. No empathy. No real emotion. They can fake love, cry on cue, and say all the right things. They can promise you forever while looking you straight in the eyes and mean none of it. For them, there’s no “I shouldn’t be doing this” moment. A person like this can kiss you goodnight, say they love you, and then hook up with someone else an hour later like it’s nothing. It’s not that they’re incredible liars. It’s that, to them, it’s not even lying. It’s just what they do.
They can juggle multiple people at once with the same level of thought you’d put into choosing where to grab dinner. To them, it’s just options.
And it’s not just cheating. They get a thrill from chaos. They’ll target married people on purpose, stir up drama in messy situations, and create destruction just to watch it unfold.
Love, loyalty, and promises mean everything to you. To them, they’re just inconvenient rules other people follow. Your wedding vows matter about as much to them as deciding which side of the bed to sleep on.
But the most terrifying part is how easily they walk away.
Most people who cheat struggle with guilt. They might try to fix things or at least look torn up about it. Not them. The second they’re caught, or the moment the relationship stops benefiting them, they’re gone. They can walk away from a ten-year marriage with the same emotional weight as deleting an old app from their phone. There’s no heartbreak because, for them, there was never a real connection to begin with.
The only way to protect yourself is to see this clearly and get out. You can’t love someone like this into having a conscience. Trying to do that is like pouring water into a black hole. You can’t build something real with a person who treats love like a game, and you can’t be vulnerable with someone who sees your feelings as tools to use against you.
Read More
Transcript
Alice met Charles at a work conference, and the connection was instant. He had that easy charm, the kind that makes you feel like the only person in the room. He listened. He remembered the little things she said. For years, she’d felt invisible in her marriage, and suddenly here was someone who truly saw her. She fell for him, and she fell hard.
Charles told her he was trapped in a miserable marriage and that she was the one he truly wanted. He made her a promise. If she left her husband and kids, he would leave his wife for her. So she did. She blew up her life, moved into an apartment he owned, and waited for their new life to begin.
But he never came.
Because he never planned to. Not for Alice. Not for Christine. Not for Janet. All women who believed the same promises.
Months later, the women found each other and decided to tell Charles’s wife the truth. But he beat them to it. He looked his wife in the eyes and told her they were all crazy, just a group of bitter women trying to ruin his life. And she believed him. He’s still with her, while Alice and the others are left picking up the pieces of the lives he shattered.
Of all the Dark Triad traits, psychopathy is the most destructive. Narcissists cheat because they feel entitled. Machiavellians cheat because they think they can get away with it. Psychopaths cheat because they simply don’t care.
There’s no guilt. No voice in their head saying, “This is wrong.” It’s not that they don’t understand they’re hurting you. It’s that your feelings register as background noise. They don’t matter.
In his book The Mask of Sanity, psychiatrist Hervey Cleckley described people like Charles as wearing a mask of confidence and charm. Underneath that mask, there’s nothing. No empathy. No real emotion. They can fake love, cry on cue, and say all the right things. They can promise you forever while looking you straight in the eyes and mean none of it. For them, there’s no “I shouldn’t be doing this” moment. A person like this can kiss you goodnight, say they love you, and then hook up with someone else an hour later like it’s nothing. It’s not that they’re incredible liars. It’s that, to them, it’s not even lying. It’s just what they do.
They can juggle multiple people at once with the same level of thought you’d put into choosing where to grab dinner. To them, it’s just options.
And it’s not just cheating. They get a thrill from chaos. They’ll target married people on purpose, stir up drama in messy situations, and create destruction just to watch it unfold.
Love, loyalty, and promises mean everything to you. To them, they’re just inconvenient rules other people follow. Your wedding vows matter about as much to them as deciding which side of the bed to sleep on.
But the most terrifying part is how easily they walk away.
Most people who cheat struggle with guilt. They might try to fix things or at least look torn up about it. Not them. The second they’re caught, or the moment the relationship stops benefiting them, they’re gone. They can walk away from a ten-year marriage with the same emotional weight as deleting an old app from their phone. There’s no heartbreak because, for them, there was never a real connection to begin with.
The only way to protect yourself is to see this clearly and get out. You can’t love someone like this into having a conscience. Trying to do that is like pouring water into a black hole. You can’t build something real with a person who treats love like a game, and you can’t be vulnerable with someone who sees your feelings as tools to use against you.