Renee looked directly at her sister, and her voice, for the first time, bent with emotion.

“In this family, pretty is the rent.

That was our mother’s phrase before it was Sandra’s.

My sister is the first product of that violent line, and I am the only escape.

I want the court to understand I’m not here because I hate her.

I’m here because I know exactly what she is going to do to that unborn baby, because it’s the only thing she was ever taught to do.”