From Victim to Victor

decade-long bond, that I dismissed all the early warning signs. Sarah was just a friend, I told myself. Their late-n

h in Ethan. That wa

meone suggested a stupid party game: everyone puts their phone in the middle of the table, and we take turns reading

ext to Ethan, picked up my phone. Her smile w

y shoulders. It was my older brother, Mark. He had died in a car accident three years prior. The photo was my favorite of

ced with a theatrical surprise

an looked over, and I saw a flicker of some

k," I said quietly, the

idn't mean to... I'm so insensitive." She put the phone down quickly, but the damage was done.

babe. She didn't know." He said the rig

road. The seed Sarah had planted was already starting to sprout in the fertile ground of his insecur

insidious. She never attacked me directly. Her method was to praise

a sigh, as if it were a burden. "Guys are just drawn to

a. I'm always so focused on my career, my future. She

y opposite: serious, stable, and utterly devoted to helping Ethan succeed. And because she always did it wit

soning the water, and I was watc