When the company lost a major contract, management cut the evening shift.

Then the landlord sold her apartment building.

The notice had been legal; the rent increase on a replacement unit was simply beyond her reach.

She paid for a few weeks in a motel, spent her savings on deposits she did not qualify to recover, and began sleeping in the car after a job application fell through.

“What about family?” Elena asked gently.

“My mother died when Sophie was a baby.