Every time I spoke up for myself.

Every time I trusted my own instincts. Matthew told me he’d realized as a teenager that fear always made me quit before I could find out what I was capable of.

“So you decided to interfere,” I said. “I thought I was helping.”

“You lied to me. You manipulated me. You made choices about my future without ever asking me.”

He didn’t argue. He admitted all of it.

Chapter 6 — My Job Is Finished

Matthew kept insisting he had always believed in me. But standing in that garage, I finally understood the real shape of the problem.