I had been the invisible staff of their lives, and I had resigned, and they were only now discovering how much staff they had actually employed.

Chloe, too, lost her place.

Once the wider family understood that Logan had used joint marital money to house her in luxury during his own honeymoon, she stopped being the fragile, beloved family friend and became something else — an embarrassment, a liability, a story the family did not want told at parties.

Eleanor stopped inviting her to gatherings.

Not, I want to be clear, because Eleanor had developed any tender concern for my feelings, but because the family’s reputation mattered to her more than Chloe did, and Chloe had become bad for the reputation.

It was the coldest possible reason, and it was, I noted, exactly the logic by which that family had always operated.