Can a marriage survive the discovery of a stepbrother installing spy ware on his stepsister’s laptop?

I'm gonna be harsh here, but it's the goddamn truth.

Your daughter was spied on for approximately two years. You hid this because your daughter was too harassed to make a scene. Then you destroyed the evidence.

Instead of addressing his obvious mental issues, you let your son just continue his way of life. Then he got expelled for sexual behaviour, and you still didn't do anything - I'll be blunt, this kid needed therapy, and you should've realised that years ago.

Your husband was out of the loop for all of this. Talk about breach of trust. No wonder he refuses to accept it when you're piling it on him all at once. He has to accept that his daughter was peeked on and that you didn't trust him on top of his son's screwed up behaviour.

If you want to save this marriage, start by apologising to all of them - that's including your son - for ignoring their needs. Then get counseling for you and your husband and therapy for your son.

Know that your husband may need time to get through this. As I said, he has to accept this all at once, rather than learning it over several years. Don't expect the first counseling sessions to be successful, but keep going.

Also know that, as horrible as it sounds, your son was fucking 15. He wouldn't be the first boy to peek on a changing girl, though he might be the first to install a spy camera for that purpose. I know you're probably still furious, and you have every right to. But as long as you stay that way, he won't be opening up to you.

I know I make it sound like all of this is your fault. It's not. Obviously the son should never have done what he did, and your husband should have taken your side even if it was a lot to take in. But in your story I see you blame everyone but yourself, and that just isn't right. Anyway, good luck. I hope you can save this.

/r/relationship_advice Thread