The Liar - Prologue
Oh, the irony. I am beginning this journey on the very laptop I purchased for the man this tale is about. Ironic because his use for it revolved around writing a book about his lies. Coming clean. Speaking his truth. In fact, as he read the first page to me while we were lying in bed together, and promised to share more during calls on FaceTime when we were apart, the words, “the truth shall set you free” kept recurring in his manuscript, or so he said. I wouldn’t know, I never got to read it and quite frankly, I don’t believe he ever wrote it. Nonetheless, he was lying through his beautiful teeth. To my face. In writing. To a lot of people. All while making me an unknowing participant and/or witness to financial fraud, evading arrest, and what is still the hardest part for me in all of this, complete heartbreak. And now, as my fingers graze the very keyboard, he told me he was using to clear his conscience and his name, I step in his shoes and try to do the same.
Besides the technology, I am also taking from him the title. The Liar. That was going to be what would be printed on the cover of his novel. An admission, a proclamation. He meant it in reference to himself and this may be the only true thing he ever said. That he was a pathological liar. Worn like a badge of honor. It was supposed to be a textbook of what not to do. When he described it to me, he spoke as if it should be a lesson to aspiring grifters that being a professional con artist isn’t a glamourous life at all. Truthfully, his wasn’t because he wasn’t very good at it; not for the long haul. Just a liar. In fact, he always has been, was throughout this tale, and continues to be today. The liar.
I should say, for those of you who will later be thinking, “how stupid is this woman?” that I, in fact, am not. I am educated. I have been employed by the world’s largest financial institutions. I even have specialized training as it relates to financial crimes, fraud, money laundering and the like. I have owned and managed businesses, bought and sold homes, raised two children. My fatal flaw is my heart. And no, I’m not looking for sympathy. But if this story can prevent one other person from being scammed by Eric John Gregory Simanton, or anyone else for that matter, then I will feel as though it was not all in vain.
Vanity will play a big part in this story. Both mine and his. His inflated sense of self-worth and beauty, as well as my lack of ability to recognize either in myself, will be the underlying theme which would allow any of this to even be possible. But isn’t that how these things happen in the first place? The narcissist preys on the empath and it always leads to disaster. There are studies and textbooks written on this very concept. Here, you will read about emotional abuse, gaslighting, financial scams, drugs, the underbelly of the music industry and emotional highs and lows that resemble a rickety roller coaster ride. You will also read about what, if genuine, would have been a beautiful love story built on a long history, friendship and the commitment of two people in love, whose mission it was to pull each other out of their individual personal hell with ex-spouses and their pasts. It could have been the things romance novels are written about rather than true crime memoirs. It could have resulted in happily ever after. But it was all a lie - so no it couldn’t.
The thing about being an empath, even an intelligent one, is that it makes you do things for people to take away their pain and struggles, for you feel them as your own. In that effort, you could set aside your own feelings, (including the ones that are designed to provide you with warning that things just don’t add up) allowing them to become unintelligible while feeling someone else’s. True dysfunctional empathy is a Stigmata, of sorts. You physically feel the pain belonging to someone else. You don’t just dry their tears but cry them for and with them. You defy all logic trying to raise them up to be even bigger and better than they are because you want them to realize their full potential. But that potential is only a fantasy if the empath is partnered with the narcissist. The narcissist doesn’t need you to tell them how great they are, they already believe this with ultimate conviction. And when the narcissist is also a conman, their ability to pretend to be more wounded than they really are, is all in an effort to get their mark to provide money, material possessions, emotional support, love, or whatever it is they are after. And when the conman isn’t as smart as the empath, there will come a time when it all blows up. Big. It is the shrapnel which remains lodged in the empath’s heart, essentially stopping it to the point where the brains finally take over. The empath, in this story anyway, struggles with how to defend herself and fight back while at the same time still loving the man who hurt her so badly.
While it may seem like revenge, it is not. A true empath is never vengeful for it is not in their makeup to hurt anyone. However, it doesn’t mean they are not motivated or resourceful when it comes to doing the right thing. I suppose to this very moment I still struggle to define, “the right thing.” In my own journey it has meant being questioned by law enforcement in their quest for any possible chance of putting an end to this man’s schemes. It has meant trying to reconcile the lies by trying to connect emotionally with the very man who told them. It has meant responding to other characters in this seemingly cinematic real-life story to understand how they had been portrayed as protagonists in deceitful stories of their own, or how in reality they were victims just like me. In this case, it has meant forcing a catharsis upon myself to gain closure for wounds that still ooze the remnants of the infection that is Eric John Gregory Simanton.
I won’t even make you wait until the end. I’ll tell you along the way. I got played. I got robbed. I was deceived. And most of all I gave too much to the wrong people for all the wrong reasons.
I tell you all of this because, the truth shall set you free. Or so he said.