▸ Column · Modern noir Gotham — Catwoman reads it between a gala and a rooftop, Batman cuts in from the dark
CATWOMAN replies.
The letter
My boyfriend Marco and I have had two good years — until about four months ago, when he started going through my phone every time I came home from a night out with my friends. Not a glance. He'll sit and read every thread while I stand there waiting. I've never given him a reason to doubt me, and when I finally pushed back he said it's "just how he shows he cares," and that if I had nothing to hide I wouldn't make it "a thing." Now it's spilled into ordinary days — he lifts my phone off the table while I'm in the other room, and twice I've caught him reading the texts between me and my sister, which are mine and have nothing to do with him. My friends say run. But Marco is thoughtful otherwise, he's in therapy, and I can't tell if this is a habit he can break or the first crack in something that only widens. Can I draw a hard line without torching a relationship worth saving — or am I fooling myself? — Watched In Gotham
Catwoman replies
Sugar, let's find who's holding the key, because that's the only question in your letter. It's him. The phone's just the lock he picked.
"Nothing to hide" — purr, that's the oldest con in Gotham. He hands you the guilt and keeps the key, and you end up apologizing for owning a private thought. Reading you and your sister? That's not love checking in. That's a man marking territory. I've cased rooms warmer than that.
Here's what I'm not going to tell you: leave tonight, or stay and hope therapy sands him smooth. The first costs you a decision you haven't made yet; the second costs you the only thing worth keeping, which is the part of you he can't reach.
So cut yourself a key. A thread that's yours, a friend who'll never report back, a little money in a place his thumbs don't go. Not because you're plotting an exit — because you should never again be in a room you can't walk out of. Then sit with it, claws out, and decide on your own clock.
A man who needs you transparent doesn't want a girlfriend. He wants a window. You're not glass, handsome.
— Catwoman
Batman weighs in
Selina tells you to keep a key warm and decide later. I'm telling you to read the timeline. Two years clean. Four months of this. It will not shrink. Escalation has a shape, and you just described it twice in one letter.
"He goes to therapy" is not evidence. It's the credential he hands you so you stop watching the behavior. Watch the behavior. Lifting the phone while you're in the next room is not a habit. It is a man practicing.
Document it. Keep your own counsel. Build the exit before you need it.
The line was crossed already. You just haven't called it that yet.
— Batman
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