Harper caught my hands. "Hey. Look at me. He wants you doubting everything. Everyone. That's how he wins. By making you feel so paranoid you push away everyone trying to help."
"What if he's right? What if I am bad at reading people?"
"You read me right. You read Marcus right. You read Jordan right." Harper squeezed my hands. "Maybe you made one mistake with Ethan. That doesn't mean you're doomed to repeat it forever."
"But how do I know? How do I ever know for sure?"
"You don't. That's the thing about trust. It's always a risk." Harper pulled up an image on her laptop. "But look at this. This photo of Natasha's bruises? The metadata shows it was taken last week. Not five years ago during the divorce. It's recent, which means..."
"Which means she created it now. For this story."
"Exa
