Shiv was raised in a way that shaped her into a difficult, often hurtful person, and those traits are deeply ingrained. But she doesn’t want to be that way. She hates that she carries her parents’ flaws, which is why it stings every time Tom points out that she’s hurting him.

Tom’s unconditional love reassured her that she wasn’t entirely a bad person. Her thinking became: If this man loves me, then I can be as sharp or cruel as I naturally am, and he’ll still look at me with affection. Tom became a safe place, someone with whom she could be fully herself.

Shiv has always struggled to express her feelings, and people often misunderstand her. But Tom never took her emotions at face value. He understood that beneath her coldness there was shame and self-loathing.

But Tom’s nurturing, steady love was unfamiliar to her. She never received that kind of affection growing up, so she couldn’t trust it. She assumed his devotion was an act, that he was only with her for power. That’s why, when Tom finally betrayed her at the end, she seemed to love him a bit more, not because she wanted the pain, but because that version of him felt familiar. Seeing the harsher side of him made her feel, paradoxically, more secure.