The truth shall set you free.
Don't care what happens, you can't go wrong when telling the truth.
Honesty is always the best policy.

It is sometimes more convenient to be dishonest, but look at what the cost is long-term.

You did the right thing here, even if it doesn't seem like it right now. You are paying the consequences of your prior actions. i fully understand what you felt, as i have been blackmailed myself. i know how it feels and i know what you thought you were risking.

i also know that when you allow someone to hold such knowledge over your head, you fail to see the flip-side. Your stepfather was also taking risks here. Your mother may not have been so forgiving with him, one never knows.

You were trading your health and happiness for position and possession. Now you are free from a man who (if he wasn't already) would be abusive to you. Your mother may come to her senses and thank you for exposing her sorry excuse for a husband. She is angry and hurt right now, and the words she said may have been just a knee-jerk reaction.

Do yourself and any future women who connect with your husband a huge favor...get photos of those bruises if they are still around and make a police report...and do so now. Even if you have no bruises or proof! Start a paper trail. That jackass had no right to put his hands on you! Do not keep it secret! Do not go quietly, don't think for a second that he won't do it to someone else.

i wish you health and happiness in your new honest life, being yourself! Congratulations!! Good Job, young lady!