Speaker 1: I don't know this person. What I had in my
Speaker 1: mind is not true. He's not the person I thought
Speaker 1: he was. I have no idea what he was capable
Speaker 1: of doing.
Speaker 2: I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, a show about
Speaker 2: the people we trust the most and the deceptions that
Speaker 2: change everything really quick. Before we get into the episode,
Speaker 2: I have a small favor to ask you. If you're
Speaker 2: enjoying listening to Betrayal, please take a second to hit
Speaker 2: the follow button on your podcast app, and please rate
Speaker 2: and review. We read all the comments and your voices
Speaker 2: help our show improve and evolve. I really mean it
Speaker 2: when I say thank you for listening and helping us grow. Also,
Speaker 2: if you went behind the scenes content or resources, follow
Speaker 2: at Betrayal pod on Instagram or follow me at It's
Speaker 2: Andre Gutting. All right, onto the show. Today, we're sharing
Speaker 2: the story of a woman we're going to call Lucy.
Speaker 2: She grew up in Puerto Rico with her parents and siblings.
Speaker 1: Puerto Rico is an amazing place. People are super friendly.
Speaker 1: It's like everybody's family and you feel absolutely welcomed.
Speaker 2: Lucy grew up with three brothers and they were really close.
Speaker 1: I really tried to be up to their standards in
Speaker 1: terms of sports. So I had to run and play
Speaker 1: basketball and baseball and things like that.
Speaker 2: Lucy is tall and strikingly beautiful. When she was fifteen
Speaker 2: years old, she started modeling.
Speaker 1: Runways, commercials, TV. But you know, I always kept this
Speaker 1: part of my life as secondary thing.
Speaker 2: School was her top priority.
Speaker 1: I always had very high standards, and I accomplished them.
Speaker 1: I graduated almost four point average in high school.
Speaker 2: She excelled in college as well. After graduating, she built
Speaker 2: a successful career in the media industry. Her twenties and
Speaker 2: thirties were full of adventure.
Speaker 1: I met a lot of very interesting people. I used
Speaker 1: to travel a lot. I've been lucky one of the
Speaker 1: lucky ones.
Speaker 2: In her mid thirties, Lucy was in a long term relationship.
Speaker 2: She and her boyfriend had been dating for eight years.
Speaker 2: One night, Lucy was out at a party when a
Speaker 2: friend of hers came over and told her that a
Speaker 2: guy at the party kept asking about her. His name
Speaker 2: was Ellie.
Speaker 1: I was going out with somebody else, so it was
Speaker 1: not my raider to look at other people, but evidently
Speaker 1: he asked about me, and he told my friend, I'm
Speaker 1: going to end up with this girl.
Speaker 2: Ellie was bold to be announcing his crush on her.
Speaker 2: After all, Lucy was dating someone and Ellie was too.
Speaker 1: He was the boyfriend of my girlfriend, and I always
Speaker 1: thought they were going to get married.
Speaker 2: But she kept seeing Ellie around and over time he
Speaker 2: became a friendly face in the crowd. She always had
Speaker 2: fun talking to him. She learned that he had moved to.
Speaker 1: Puerto Rico for work Puerto Rico s Mole. So we
Speaker 1: would see each other like in a restaurant or in
Speaker 1: a party, but nothing so intimate.
Speaker 2: Eventually, Lucy and her long term boyfriend broke up, and
Speaker 2: at the age of thirty five, she was single again
Speaker 2: for the first time in nearly a decade. One night,
Speaker 2: she went out to dinner with some friends at a
Speaker 2: Mediterranean restaurant.
Speaker 1: And when I got in, the first person I see
Speaker 1: is Ellie and he stopped me and he said hi.
Speaker 2: He asked about her boyfriend, and she told him that
Speaker 2: they had just broken up.
Speaker 1: And I asked him, and how's your girlfriend? And he
Speaker 1: told me that they broke up and I said, oh
Speaker 1: my god, I can't believe this. We have to cry
Speaker 1: in each other's shoulder, and he said yes, and he
Speaker 1: asked me for my phone number.
Speaker 2: After that night, Ellie called Lucy. Talking to him was
Speaker 2: fun and refreshing. He started calling her more often, and
Speaker 2: soon he couldn't hide his feelings for her anymore, and
Speaker 2: he asked her on a date.
Speaker 1: And since it was recent that I have split with
Speaker 1: my boyfriend of eight years, I told him listen, I'm
Speaker 1: not ready now, it's too soon.
Speaker 2: After her breakup, she was focused on herself, so they
Speaker 2: stayed front But over time, Lucy's feelings for Ellie grew.
Speaker 1: He was so smart as that really attracted me to
Speaker 1: him a lot. I could listen to him talk for
Speaker 1: hours and that was fascinated.
Speaker 2: And Ellie kept pursuing her, asking her out to dinner.
Speaker 1: He would call me and call me and call me.
Speaker 2: Eventually she agreed and they went out on their first date.
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe how amazing this guy was. I really
Speaker 1: liked him, and it was like I started looking at
Speaker 1: him in another way.
Speaker 2: Ellie was romantic. He pulled out all the stops to
Speaker 2: show Lucy how much he liked her. And it didn't
Speaker 2: hurt that he made a lot of money. He had
Speaker 2: a lucrative job in the oil and gas industry and
Speaker 2: could afford to spoil Lucy.
Speaker 1: He would send me flowers constantly. He would call me
Speaker 1: all the time. He would pick me up and he
Speaker 1: would be dressed super nice and smell super good.
Speaker 2: She was having so much fun.
Speaker 1: He would take me to this wonderful restaurant and I
Speaker 1: would go to the hotel and I would have flowers
Speaker 1: waiting for me and a bottle of champagne.
Speaker 2: They made their relationship official.
Speaker 1: At the beginning, I just let everything flow and you know,
Speaker 1: enjoy myself. But then I realized I admire him so much.
Speaker 1: This man is so smart, so well versed. He was fascinating.
Speaker 1: He spoke four languages, he was well read. He was
Speaker 1: really a very special guy for me.
Speaker 2: The feeling was mutual. Ellie admired Liusey's intelligence ambition and
Speaker 2: told her all the time how beautiful she was.
Speaker 1: He would call all his friends to tell him, no,
Speaker 1: I'm with this girl, and I love her. He was really,
Speaker 1: really in love.
Speaker 2: They made a great pair. Over time, their relationship became
Speaker 2: more serious. They were both hoping to start a family soon,
Speaker 2: and they talked about their future together often. Then, when
Speaker 2: winter came around, they'd been dating for a year, Ellie
Speaker 2: took a trip to New York for work and invited
Speaker 2: Lucy to come.
Speaker 1: We went out to dinner to this beautiful restaurant and
Speaker 1: he said, Okay, let's just go around the carriage in
Speaker 1: Central Park.
Speaker 2: So they booked a carriage tour and rode through Central
Speaker 2: Park together.
Speaker 1: It was beautiful. It was a beautiful night.
Speaker 2: Lucy looked out at the city lights, taking it all in.
Speaker 2: When she turned back to Ellie, he was down on one.
Speaker 1: Knee asking me to marry him. Oh my god, it
Speaker 1: was so perfect. It was really charming and so unexpected
Speaker 1: and really magical.
Speaker 2: Back in Puerto Rico, Lucy and Ellie moved in together
Speaker 2: and seven months later they got married.
Speaker 1: In this beautiful hotel in Puerto Rico. We really had
Speaker 1: a good time.
Speaker 2: After two years of marriage, they were ready to have kids.
Speaker 1: I got pregnant when I was thirty nine. It was
Speaker 1: so wanted and it turned out a beautiful experience.
Speaker 2: Lucy decided to put her career on hold and spend
Speaker 2: as much time as possible with her son.
Speaker 1: I never imagined I was going to be a housewife,
Speaker 1: and I loved it. At that stage in my life,
Speaker 1: I have already traveled I have partied, I have had fun.
Speaker 1: You know, I was ready.
Speaker 2: Ellie worked hard to provide for their family.
Speaker 1: He worked for a oil company and the company was
Speaker 1: in Puerto Rico. He didn't like to live in Puerto Rico.
Speaker 1: He never got too used to our culture. We are
Speaker 1: a little relaxed. He's a little more a type. He
Speaker 1: really wanted to move to the state. That's where he
Speaker 1: felt comfortable.
Speaker 2: As time went on, Ellie started having more and more
Speaker 2: success at work.
Speaker 1: He started buying properties with business partners, and he also
Speaker 1: had a gas company, so he started being very successful.
Speaker 2: They were happy, but Ellie dreamed of moving somewhere new.
Speaker 2: When their first child was a year old, the timing
Speaker 2: was finally right. Ellie could work remotely, and Lucy was
Speaker 2: up for the adventure, so they moved their life from
Speaker 2: Puerto Rico to the continental United States. Lucy didn't know
Speaker 2: what to expect. When they got there, she found herself
Speaker 2: immersed in a whole new world.
Speaker 1: He was a kind of high class community, which I
Speaker 1: didn't know when I bought the house. How prestigious was
Speaker 1: the place I was living.
Speaker 2: They moved to a gated waterfront community. We're not naming
Speaker 2: this community. For Lucy's privacy. But it was an exclusive
Speaker 2: island where every street was lined with beautiful mansions. Many
Speaker 2: of the estates had their own pool or yacht. Suddenly
Speaker 2: they had attained another level of wealth and luxury, and
Speaker 2: Lucy wouldn't have to work again.
Speaker 1: We had a huge house, beautiful house.
Speaker 2: After a few years in the States, they welcomed their
Speaker 2: second child, a daughter.
Speaker 1: And it was a wonderful pregnancy at forty three years old. Remember,
Speaker 1: I grew up with boys only, so having a girl
Speaker 1: was fantastic. Ellie was still administrating the old company in
Speaker 1: Puerto Rico, but he was investing in real estate, and
Speaker 1: he kept on doing very well. With time, he did
Speaker 1: better and better and better.
Speaker 2: Within their marriage, Lucy and Ellie each had their own domain.
Speaker 2: Ellie handled work and money, and handled their kids, the house,
Speaker 2: and their family's needs. They gave each other full rein
Speaker 2: to handle their side of things, and their system was
Speaker 2: a well oiled machine.
Speaker 1: He would work, I would do the rest everything else.
Speaker 1: Regarding my children. Regarding the house, he just said how
Speaker 1: much and he would pay for it.
Speaker 2: They gave each other a lot of space and trusted
Speaker 2: each other deeply.
Speaker 1: I was so respectful of his space and his things.
Speaker 1: I really never knew how much money he had. I
Speaker 1: never knew all his businesses, just in general, but not details.
Speaker 2: Lucy didn't need to know the details to see the
Speaker 2: big picture. They were very lucky. They'd been happily married
Speaker 2: for twenty years and their kids were teenagers now. They
Speaker 2: traveled together often and gave their kids everything they could
Speaker 2: dream of.
Speaker 1: Our lifestyle was so wonderful when I was thinking, I
Speaker 1: have so much more than what I need. We traveled
Speaker 1: a lot. We ended up buying a beach house. We
Speaker 1: decided for many years to spend Christmas in Paris with
Speaker 1: the kids. We were happy, you know, we were happy.
Speaker 1: There was no reason for me to think that things
Speaker 1: were going to end up the way they did.
Speaker 2: Lucy and her husband, Ellie, built an impressive life together.
Speaker 2: They lived in a beautiful house, had two kids, and
Speaker 2: traveled often. They had everything they needed and more.
Speaker 1: I was so wonderful, and every time we traveled we
Speaker 1: had fun. We would laugh and it was good. We
Speaker 1: were happy, you know, we were happy.
Speaker 2: For twenty years. Their marriage was a dream. But when
Speaker 2: Ellie turned sixty, Lucy started noticing some changes in him.
Speaker 2: He grew emotionally distant.
Speaker 1: It was more touchy, freely than he was. He started
Speaker 1: not having any intimacy with me. I was always very
Speaker 1: much into looking good. I tried to keep being attractive
Speaker 1: to him, but there was no reaction from him.
Speaker 2: And on top of that, he started dressing differently.
Speaker 1: My husband was a very, very classy man. He would
Speaker 1: always be very well dressed, but very appropriate for his age.
Speaker 1: When he turned sixty, I started noticing that he started
Speaker 1: dressing like a young guy. He would wear like skinny jeans,
Speaker 1: and he started wearing bracelets. And I was like, what
Speaker 1: the hell, what's wrong with you? Do you look like
Speaker 1: an old man in teenager's clothes? And I asked him,
Speaker 1: are you seeing somebody else? Because this is too strange,
Speaker 1: and he was saying, no, you're crazy.
Speaker 2: She took his word for it. Their mutual trust was
Speaker 2: an essential part of their relationship.
Speaker 1: I had no reasons to doubt. I respected him so much.
Speaker 1: I never went through his phone, I never went through
Speaker 1: his wallet.
Speaker 2: She talked it all up to a midlife crisis, but
Speaker 2: over time Ellie went from being distant to being cruel.
Speaker 2: One day, Lucy and Ellie got into an argument.
Speaker 1: And he said, you know something. You are not necessary,
Speaker 1: you are convenient. I went to the room and I
Speaker 1: started crying and didn't say anything. And he realized what
Speaker 1: stupid thing he said, and he started sending me flowers
Speaker 1: and saying how important I am.
Speaker 2: But Lucy couldn't get his words out of her head.
Speaker 2: Every year Lucy and her friends went on a girl's trip.
Speaker 1: We would go to Europe or New York or different
Speaker 1: places just for a week or something like that. We
Speaker 1: went to Spain and then we ended up in Turkey.
Speaker 2: While on her girl's trip. She called Ellie to check in,
Speaker 2: but when he picked up the phone, he was crying.
Speaker 1: And I said, what happened. He used to have a
Speaker 1: Bentley and he said, I went to the mall to
Speaker 1: have the business launch and when I came back to
Speaker 1: pick up my car, it was scratched from head to toe.
Speaker 1: And I said what.
Speaker 2: Lucy was confused, why would that happen? And why was
Speaker 2: he in tears over this?
Speaker 1: Especially the mall that he went. It was a very
Speaker 1: high end more that had cameras and had security all over.
Speaker 1: Said how could this happen? He said no, but don't worry.
Speaker 1: I'm going to send it to be fixed.
Speaker 2: Lucy wasn't ready to just accept this and move on.
Speaker 2: It was too strange. King someone's car was personal.
Speaker 1: Who did this? Who could have done this? And he said,
Speaker 1: I don't know, this is just vandalism.
Speaker 2: Even though he'd been so emotional on the phone, Ellie
Speaker 2: insisted that this wasn't targeted at them specifically. Lucy wasn't convinced,
Speaker 2: but she tried to enjoy the rest of her trip
Speaker 2: with her friends.
Speaker 1: When I came back from my trip, I noticed he
Speaker 1: was very nervous. And the first night I received a
Speaker 1: call at three o'clock in the.
Speaker 2: Morning, Lucy woke up in the darkness to her phone ringing.
Speaker 2: When she picked up, there was silence.
Speaker 1: And they hung up.
Speaker 2: Lucy looked at Ellie sitting in bed next to.
Speaker 1: Her, and he was very nervous, and it was like,
Speaker 1: what's going on? And he said, no, no, that must
Speaker 1: be a wrong number.
Speaker 2: Her normally calm and collected husband of twenty years seemed
Speaker 2: a little rattled. The following day, one of their close
Speaker 2: friends came over for dinner. They shared a nice meal,
Speaker 2: good conversation, and everything felt normal. But then, just when
Speaker 2: their friend was about to head home, Ellie stopped him.
Speaker 1: He tells him, please don't leave. She's going to need you,
Speaker 1: and he tells me sit down.
Speaker 2: Confused, Lucy sat down and her friend sat next to her.
Speaker 2: They both looked at Ellie, waiting for an explanation. He
Speaker 2: stood nervously in front of.
Speaker 1: Them, and he said, I have been kidnapped, and it
Speaker 1: is what by who? What happened?
Speaker 2: All of a sudden, their living room became Ellie's confessional.
Speaker 1: I have been dating women from sugar daddy dot com.
Speaker 1: I have dated a few women. I would see them
Speaker 1: at lunchtime two days a week, But for the last
Speaker 1: six months I have been closer to these Russian women. Anna,
Speaker 1: and she's married. She has a three year old baby.
Speaker 1: Her husband knows that she's an escort. He manages her.
Speaker 2: Elie would meet Anna in different places, sometimes in hotel rooms,
Speaker 2: sometimes at one of his rental properties. But one day
Speaker 2: things took a turn.
Speaker 1: Anna told Ellie to meet her in an apartment that
Speaker 1: Ellie owned. When Ellie goes to the apartment, he thought
Speaker 1: he was going to be in the rendezvous with Anna.
Speaker 1: When he goes there, who's in the apartment Anna's husband.
Speaker 2: Ellie told Lucy how shocked he was in that moment,
Speaker 2: but he said there was no time for him to react.
Speaker 2: Once Ellie was inside, Anna's husband closed the door and
Speaker 2: took out a steel pipe, threatening to hurt Ellie.
Speaker 1: He wanted Ellie to see that he was serious. He
Speaker 1: told Elie, take off your clothes, so he got naked.
Speaker 1: He sat him in the sofa, and he started breaking
Speaker 1: things in the apartment.
Speaker 2: Anna and her husband had been struggling financially, and they
Speaker 2: knew how wealthy Ellie was, so they devised a plan
Speaker 2: to extore him. They planted cameras in the hotel rooms
Speaker 2: and rental properties where Ellie and Anna met, and they
Speaker 2: filmed them having sex to use as blackmail.
Speaker 1: Anna's husband would put the camera in front of the
Speaker 1: bed and tell her this is where the camera is,
Speaker 1: this is where you have to concentrate, and then he
Speaker 1: would record everything.
Speaker 2: Now, Anna and her husband were threatening to release these tapes.
Speaker 2: If Ellie did not comply with their demands.
Speaker 1: You have to give me one million dollars cash, and
Speaker 1: you have to put under my wife's name two apartments
Speaker 1: in a specific building. And if he didn't, I'm going
Speaker 1: to tell your wife and everybody, I'm going to ruin
Speaker 1: your reputation, and for Ellie, his reputation was everything.
Speaker 2: If his reputation wasn't enough, Anna and her husband had
Speaker 2: more collateral.
Speaker 1: Anna's husband showed Ellie pictures of my children, pictures of
Speaker 1: my house, pictures of me, pictures of the cars, pictures
Speaker 1: of the school my children went. They knew everything. They
Speaker 1: implied there were going to be consequences. Something's gonna happen
Speaker 1: to your family.
Speaker 2: Anna's husband held Ellie in the apartment for a few
Speaker 2: hours to make it clear he was serious. Finally he
Speaker 2: left and Ellie was free to go. Ellie explained all
Speaker 2: of this in one go to Lucy.
Speaker 1: I didn't know how to react. This was like from
Speaker 1: a movie, but it was happening. That day, my life collapsed.
Speaker 2: Lucy's husband, Ellie sat her down and told her he
Speaker 2: needed to confess something. She never could have predicted what
Speaker 2: came out of his mouth next.
Speaker 1: That day, my life collapsed.
Speaker 2: She thought her husband of twenty years was an honest
Speaker 2: and loyal man. She saw no indications otherwise until Ellie
Speaker 2: was forced to tell her the truth. For years, he'd
Speaker 2: been meeting women from a sugar Daddy website. For the
Speaker 2: past few months, he'd been seeing one woman regularly. That
Speaker 2: was until she and her husband devised a plan to
Speaker 2: blackmail and extort Ellie, threatening Lucy and their children's safety
Speaker 2: if Ellie didn't give them what they wanted, which was
Speaker 2: a million dollars in cash and the deed to two
Speaker 2: real estate properties.
Speaker 1: He was such a shock. My world crashed, and I
Speaker 1: didn't know who to call. I didn't know who to
Speaker 1: talk to. I didn't know what to do.
Speaker 2: Her immediate reaction was to make sure the kids were safe.
Speaker 1: There was a clear sign that we're watching us. We
Speaker 1: don't know with whom we're cheelling because we don't know
Speaker 1: the associates they have.
Speaker 2: Ellie came clean about the time someone keyed his Bentley.
Speaker 2: It wasn't a random act of vandalism, and he'd known it.
Speaker 1: Have Wedaly That was Anna's husband and his friends.
Speaker 2: That call she'd gotten in the middle of the night
Speaker 2: had also been from Anna's husband. They had all sorts
Speaker 2: of information on Lucy and her family, their phone numbers,
Speaker 2: license plates, their address. Anna and her husband had also
Speaker 2: sent someone to take photos of Lucy's kids and her
Speaker 2: It was terrifying. Anna and her husband were three steps ahead,
Speaker 2: and Lucy was scared of what they might do next.
Speaker 2: She had to think fast and went into solution mode
Speaker 2: all the while, while Ellie seemed to shrink.
Speaker 1: He was super scared. He has always been a coward.
Speaker 2: Lucy wanted protection right away, so she hired a private
Speaker 2: security detail.
Speaker 1: I had an armed guard for twenty four hours in
Speaker 1: the front of my house, and this is very unusual
Speaker 1: where I live. Just imagine the shock of my children.
Speaker 2: What Anna and her husband were doing was a crime.
Speaker 2: It was extortion. Despite how angry Lucy was, she worked
Speaker 2: with Elli as a team. She told Ellie he needed
Speaker 2: to go to the police and report the crime.
Speaker 1: And he contacted the FBI, so the FBI took the case.
Speaker 2: The FBI needed proof of the extortion, so they planned
Speaker 2: to record a phone call with Ellie. Anna and her husband.
Speaker 1: And the FBI told them, make him believe that you're
Speaker 1: going to comply with what they want. We're going to
Speaker 1: record this and then we're going to arrest them.
Speaker 2: The call went off without a hit. Anna's husband gave
Speaker 2: the FBI exactly what they needed.
Speaker 1: He said, you know, I'm going to give you a break.
Speaker 1: Just give me the million dollars and you don't have
Speaker 1: to give me the two apartments because I want the
Speaker 1: money right now. So they have that on tape. So
Speaker 1: they sent SWAT to their apartment and they got them,
Speaker 1: both of them and their computers. They had all the evidence.
Speaker 2: Authorities were able to charge Anna and her husband with
Speaker 2: a federal crime.
Speaker 1: They charged him with extortionire most of them went to jail.
Speaker 2: Since her husband's confession, Lucy had been in fight or flight,
Speaker 2: terrified for her children's safety. Finally it seemed like the
Speaker 2: threat was neutralized. She thought that once Anna and her
Speaker 2: husband were in jail, Ellie would apologize for what he'd
Speaker 2: done and make amends with the family. But Ellie shut down.
Speaker 1: I really tried, and he's like talking to a wall.
Speaker 1: He would never ever explain himself, talk about feelings, talk
Speaker 1: about anything. Zero. He never asked about me how I felt.
Speaker 1: He never said I'm sorry. He portrayed himself as the victim.
Speaker 1: He told me, I am the victim of extortion. I'm
Speaker 1: the victim. He thought I was going to just ignore
Speaker 1: the situation and keep on being married like nothing happened.
Speaker 2: But the fact that he didn't seem to care about
Speaker 2: what he'd put the family through was what alarmed Lucy
Speaker 2: the most.
Speaker 1: How can you live with yourself knowing that you crushed
Speaker 1: the people that love you the most and portray yourself
Speaker 1: as a victim after you have caused so much damage.
Speaker 2: As the shock of it all wore off, a new
Speaker 2: feeling emerged in its place, betrayal. Who was this man
Speaker 2: a life with? Was anything he told her true?
Speaker 1: I started questioning many many things. I felt like live
Speaker 1: the lie and I don't know who his true self
Speaker 1: was when this happened. I think that was the most
Speaker 1: difficult thing to deal with, the betrayal of knowing that
Speaker 1: I don't know this person, that what I had in
Speaker 1: my mind is not true. He's not the person I
Speaker 1: thought he was. Absolutely he's not.
Speaker 2: Ellie had been meeting women from sugar daddy dot Com.
Speaker 2: For years. After every meetup, he returned to their home,
Speaker 2: sit down at dinner with their kids, and lie about
Speaker 2: where he'd been.
Speaker 1: It's not like I'm talking about five years, twenty one
Speaker 1: years of being fooled. He lived a facade.
Speaker 2: Lucy realized that Anna and her husband weren't the only
Speaker 2: threat to her safety. Also, Ellie, I have.
Speaker 1: No idea what he was capable of doing. The betrayals
Speaker 1: too much, too deep. It was hell. I went through
Speaker 1: the motions of living. That's it. I could hardly survive.
Speaker 1: I was just an entity walking around.
Speaker 2: She emotionally disconnected from Ellie for weeks. He tried to
Speaker 2: win her back with grand gestures, the kind he'd made
Speaker 2: at the beginning of their relationship.
Speaker 1: He promised me, I'll buy you an apartment in Madri
Speaker 1: Let's move, let's do. He promised me the world.
Speaker 2: But all the money in the world wouldn't fix it.
Speaker 2: Lucy couldn't be bought. It was too late. There was
Speaker 2: no coming back from this.
Speaker 1: I kicked him out of the house. For him was
Speaker 1: a shock that I left him. He never thought I
Speaker 1: was going to leave.
Speaker 2: Then Lucy filed for divorce. When Ellie saw that she
Speaker 2: was serious about leaving, it was like a switch flipped.
Speaker 2: She saw it in his eyes and heard it in
Speaker 2: his voice.
Speaker 1: He thought, I'm going to destroy this woman because she
Speaker 1: left me and losing her when I'm going to destroy
Speaker 1: her in the process.
Speaker 2: After she filed for divorce, Ellie became vicious.
Speaker 1: He started being super mean to me, and he would
Speaker 1: blame me on everything. He declared war.
Speaker 2: The man who promised her the world just a few
Speaker 2: weeks earlier, began berating and insulting Lucy every chance he got.
Speaker 1: He told her, I don't even love you. If you
Speaker 1: were the last woman that insisted in the world, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't even get close to you. That's how much I
Speaker 1: dislike you.
Speaker 2: Lucy thought his cruel remarks were as low as he
Speaker 2: would go, but he was about to take his retaliation
Speaker 2: a step further. One day, they got into an argument
Speaker 2: on Lucy's front lawn. Ellie was escalating, becoming increasingly agitated
Speaker 2: and getting in her personal space.
Speaker 1: And he started talking to me with his finger in
Speaker 1: my face, and I pushed him because he was on
Speaker 1: my face. He said, you want to play with me,
Speaker 1: You're going to see what suffering is. He called nine
Speaker 1: one one, and nine one one came. They arrest me
Speaker 1: for domestic violets.
Speaker 2: Lucy remembers this moment vividly. Ellie watched, unfazed as she
Speaker 2: was being handcuffed.
Speaker 1: They took me to jail. I was in jail for
Speaker 1: three days, two nights. In jail.
Speaker 2: It was unbelievable, surrounded by strangers. She was too anxious
Speaker 2: to eat or even use the bathroom. She waited there
Speaker 2: until a friend was able to bail her out. Lucy
Speaker 2: has since gotten the domestic violence charge expunged.
Speaker 1: Narcissus. I think that they enjoy making you suffer because
Speaker 1: he makes them feel better. It makes them feel superior,
Speaker 1: It makes him feel in control.
Speaker 2: It was easy for him to pose as the victim
Speaker 2: and paint her as the villain, and he made it
Speaker 2: clear he was willing to do it again. A few
Speaker 2: months later, it was time for Anna and her husband
Speaker 2: sentencing hearing. Lucy wanted to attend the hearing. She wrote
Speaker 2: a victim impact statement.
Speaker 1: I prepared a statement explaining everything that has happened and
Speaker 1: how he had affected my children.
Speaker 2: But Ellie told her she wasn't allowed to go to
Speaker 2: the hearing If she showed up there, he said he'd
Speaker 2: have her arrested again.
Speaker 1: And since I was in jail not too long before,
Speaker 1: I just believed him because he was so convincing.
Speaker 2: Ellie was doing whatever he could to control the situation
Speaker 2: and keep Lucy in the dark. Not only did he
Speaker 2: intimidate Lucy out of attending the hearing, Ellie didn't attend either.
Speaker 2: He never went to present his testimony. He was the
Speaker 2: only witness.
Speaker 1: He's a coward. He didn't want anything on record because
Speaker 1: when you go to a court, everything's transcribed, so John,
Speaker 1: she never knew exactly what happened. They just said in general,
Speaker 1: but nothing like the tragedy and all day implications, the threatening,
Speaker 1: the impact on me and my kids. Did Judge never
Speaker 1: heard it. He didn't advocate for his family for us.
Speaker 1: His reputation was more important. He didn't want anybody to
Speaker 1: hear what he did.
Speaker 2: He couldn't face the shame of it because Ellie wasn't there.
Speaker 2: The judge was very lenient with the sentencing. Anna's husband
Speaker 2: was sentenced to fifteen months in jail, and Anna was
Speaker 2: only given five as for Lucy, she endured a much
Speaker 2: longer sentence. Trying to put the pieces of her life
Speaker 2: back together after Ellie's betrayal.
Speaker 1: I was a mess. I barely could move for a
Speaker 1: year and a half. I was in bed, crying, crying, crying.
Speaker 1: I would cry for days. I don't even remember many days.
Speaker 1: This guy destroyed my life so much a way that
Speaker 1: he destroyed my soul.
Speaker 2: During their marriage, she and Ellie had cultivated a community
Speaker 2: of close friends. After his betrayal, she needed someone to
Speaker 2: turn to, but she'd stop getting replies or calls back
Speaker 2: from friends. Then she found out that Ellie had been
Speaker 2: telling everyone a very different story about their divorce, one
Speaker 2: where Lucy was to blame.
Speaker 1: I would receive calls from friends that would say, how
Speaker 1: could you be uns faithful to you your husband like that?
Speaker 1: I say, what what are you talking about? He started
Speaker 1: saying that I wasn't faithful to him with a Russian
Speaker 1: guy just changed the story, making me the one that
Speaker 1: did everything he did. It was crazy.
Speaker 2: It was the definition of projection. But she couldn't stop
Speaker 2: the rumors. Many of their friends took Ellie's side, and
Speaker 2: she has a theory about.
Speaker 1: Why unfortunately money talks. People respect people with money, even
Speaker 1: if they are the devil in disguise. People want to
Speaker 1: be close to success, to successful people, not two people
Speaker 1: that are destroyed or a mess. I was a mess.
Speaker 1: I took a few pills because I want to numb myself,
Speaker 1: not because I want to die. I wanted to numb myself,
Speaker 1: but maybe I took too many. I ended up in
Speaker 1: the hospital in emergency and they transferred me to a
Speaker 1: psychiatric hospital.
Speaker 2: The doctors asked Lucy what was going on at home?
Speaker 1: When I told the psychiatric is my story, and she
Speaker 1: thought I was making it up. She told me, your delusional,
Speaker 1: what a story.
Speaker 2: Lucy stayed in the psychiatric hospital for a few days.
Speaker 2: Eli brought their kids to visit her.
Speaker 1: He looked very calm and collected. He told my nineteen
Speaker 1: year old son, listen, I think you should live alone
Speaker 1: because your mother is not well, so you shouldn't be
Speaker 1: with her. And he gave him an apartment that was devastating.
Speaker 1: He took advantage of my vulnerability that he would talk
Speaker 1: about me like I was the crazy one. He keeps
Speaker 1: the financial control of everybody.
Speaker 2: It took five months for their divorce to be finalized.
Speaker 1: It cost him a fortune. It cost me my sanity.
Speaker 2: Looking back now, Lucy sees how wealth enabled Ellie.
Speaker 1: The more money you get, the more powerful you feel.
Speaker 1: He felt superior to everybody, and he's above everybody. He
Speaker 1: thought he was untouchable.
Speaker 2: It's been almost ten years since she discovered Ellie's betrayal.
Speaker 2: Not a day goes by that she doesn't think about it.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if I forgive him, but if I don't,
Speaker 1: it's okay, because you don't have to forgive everybody, especially
Speaker 1: somebody that has been so purposely mean to you and
Speaker 1: your children. You know he doesn't deserve forgiveness.
Speaker 2: The person she has forgiven is herself. She knows now
Speaker 2: that none of this was her fault. It took her
Speaker 2: a while to trust again, but when she did, it
Speaker 2: was worth it. A few years ago, Wow, she met
Speaker 2: someone new.
Speaker 1: He made me be living life again. We got married
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three. We're happily married, and he's an
Speaker 1: amazing man and he brings me joy every day.
Speaker 2: She's rebuilt a life that feels authentically hers.
Speaker 1: I just dedicate myself to what makes me happy. My
Speaker 1: two dogs are my life. My husband is my life,
Speaker 1: my children. I live a very quiet life. I love
Speaker 1: to read, I love to watch my Netflix. I just
Speaker 1: accept things for the way they are. I don't sweat
Speaker 1: little things. Finally, I'm at peace.
Speaker 2: We end every weekly episode with the same question, why
Speaker 2: do you want to share your story?
Speaker 1: What happened to me was minimized by many people around
Speaker 1: me and the hurt. But I think that my story
Speaker 1: was so extraordinary that it has to be heard. And
Speaker 1: you know something, in a way, I won validation because
Speaker 1: I have been strong. I went through hell for years,
Speaker 1: not months, years, and I discovered that I'm stronger than
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 2: On the next episode of Betrayal Weekly.
Speaker 3: I remember everything that man for so long had so
Speaker 3: much control over me. I cannot just stand by and
Speaker 3: do nothing. You will not get away with this.
Speaker 2: If you'd like to share your story on Betrayal, please
Speaker 2: email Betrayal Pod at gmail dot com. That is is
Speaker 2: Betrayalpod at gmail dot com. Please note that we are
Speaker 2: not a mental health organization. If you are in crisis
Speaker 2: or currently experiencing domestic violence, we encourage you to seek
Speaker 2: local help or dial nine one one. Please contact organizations
Speaker 2: that offer immediate support. In our show notes, we've included
Speaker 2: a list of US based resources. You can follow us
Speaker 2: on Instagram at Betrayal Pod or find me at its
Speaker 2: Andrea Gunning. To access our newsletter and additional content, and
Speaker 2: to connect with the Betrayal community, join our substack at
Speaker 2: Betrayal dot substack dot com. We're grateful for your support.
Speaker 2: One way to show support is by subscribing to our
Speaker 2: show on Apple Podcasts and don't forget to rate and
Speaker 2: review Betrayal. Five star reviews go a long way. Big
Speaker 2: thank you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a
Speaker 2: production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group,
Speaker 2: in partner with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced
Speaker 2: by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fason, hosted and produced by
Speaker 2: me Andrea Gunning, written and produced by Olivia Hewitt. Our
Speaker 2: story editor is Monique Lebord, also produced by Ben Fetterman.
Speaker 2: Our associate producer is Leah Jablo. Production management by Kristin Melcurie,
Speaker 2: Booking support by Curry Richmond. Our iHeart team is Ali
Speaker 2: Perry and Tessica Crincheck. Audio editing by Tanner Robbins with
Speaker 2: additional editing and mixing by Matt Elbecchio. Betrayals theme composed
Speaker 2: by Oliver Bains. Music library provided by my Music and
Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 2: or wherever you get your podcasts.