Yes, the part about a narcissist guarding their false image was something I became sensitive to as a teenager because I often felt sorry for my narcissistic parent. I started recognizing when other people were putting up a show and afraid of discovery, and I would try to help them hide their secrets. Twice it was dishonest men pretending to be really rich, which my parent also did.

So I think having parents like that produce a wrong sort of empathy for dishonest and exploitative people which makes us into narcissist magnets. For me, I got caught up in their fear of discovery and ended up trying to help them keep up the illusion. But I learned my lesson from several disasters by the time I was 20 and started to adopt a harsher attitude towards that trait. But somehow, I still attract bad sorts by some factor that I'm not aware of so, I think parenting still influences how some peope keep getting into bad relationships even after becoming aware of the pattern.