Welcome back to Phoenix of the Northeast: The Audio Memoir.

I’m Stella Bordoloi — and you’re listening to Chapter 9: The Power I Took Back.


This chapter is about the moment everything shifted.

The moment I stopped making excuses for harm.

The moment I stopped mistaking manipulation for love.


Here, I name what so many women are conditioned to normalize —

Partners who dim our light, betray our trust, and then blame us for reacting.

I speak to the gaslighting, the coercion, the cowardice behind faux tenderness.


But more than that, I speak to the aftermath.

To the woman who didn’t just survive it — she walked through the fire with her spine intact.

This is where I stopped breaking and started building.

Where I stopped explaining and started reclaiming.


If you’ve ever been made to feel like you’re too much for someone who was never enough —

This chapter will meet you exactly where you are.


Let’s begin.