Ask anyone who has had a relationship with a psychopath or someone severely personality disordered, years later, what made them stay in the relationship and I'd wager the common theme would be manipulation. You can't see it at the time because you're just too close and trying to make sense of all the crazy around you...Travis himself had a lot of insight but you're also coming as close to the human personification of evil as you ever will. Part of you is screaming that no one is actually that bad, that cold and calculating even when you're confronted with irrefutable evidence that they are exactly that. Ultimately, that person is someone you trusted, someone you cared for. It's nearly impossible to reconcile. And they use everything they know about you as a weapon against you - religion, career success, love of family. Everything that matters to you becomes warped by them.
The only way out of any relationship with a psychopath is very resolute no contact. They'll push every boundary and attempt to manipulate you back in (stalking, threatening suicide, promising counseling, threatening pets, children or family, etc.) but once there, you're trapped all over again and psychological abuse will often escalate. Sometimes lethally.
JMO and FWIW
