Then she opened the folder. The first pages were a chronology, with dates and short descriptions rather than dramatic accusations. She showed me several messages that women had specifically consented to share for the limited purpose of identifying a pattern. Names and personal details unrelated to the issue were concealed.
One woman described a period of intense attention from Remy while she was struggling with a breakup. Another recalled being encouraged to make major life changes quickly because waiting supposedly meant she did not believe in herself. A third said Remy had used the language of destiny and alignment to make an ordinary decision feel like a test of courage.
I did not know those women and had no reason to judge every choice they had made. I also knew their accounts were not the same as a formal finding of misconduct. But the repetition was difficult to ignore. The words, the pressure to move quickly, the suggestion that doubts proved a lack of faith in personal growth: they echoed conversations I had heard in my own kitchen.
It made me uneasy to realize that the language Jade had begun using as her relationship with me deteriorated might not have originated entirely with her. That did not remove her responsibility for her choices. It complicated the story she had told herself about making those choices.
Dana showed me one message from more than two years earlier. It was not a recent exchange, and it was not connected to Jade. Remy had written to another client, "You're on your highest timeline right now. This is your aligned path. Trust what you're feeling.
I've never said this to anyone else. I read the words once, then again, because I had seen nearly identical language in Jade's posts and in the seven-paragraph message that ended our engagement. The phrase "I've never said this to anyone else" made the repetition especially cruel. It presented a stock expression as private intimacy, something supposedly reserved for one person alone.
I leaned back in my chair and let the information settle. Dana asked whether I was all right. I told her I was, which was true in the immediate sense, and admitted that seeing the words written years earlier was unsettling. She said it had been unsettling for her too.
She had once believed that Remy's private language was proof of the unique connection between them. Finding similar expressions directed at other women had made her question not just his behavior but also her memories of their marriage. I understood that feeling better than I wanted to.
She then asked whether I had documentation of how Jade described the breakup. I opened the receipts folder and showed her the original text recording, starting from the top so she could see the timestamp and the entire context. We went through all seven paragraphs. Dana read silently, occasionally lifting her eyes toward me when a familiar phrase appeared.