My father had offered me a monthly allowance in exchange for my dignity.

And now, minutes later, having discovered that I was not powerless after all, that same mother was clutching at my hospital bed, calling me darling, invoking the family bond she had spat upon ten minutes before, begging me to save the golden son at my own expense one final time.

It was the clearest demonstration I have ever received of exactly what my family’s love had always been: not love at all, but a lever, deployed whenever they needed something, and dropped the instant they did not.

Chapter 10 — His Name Is Noah Mercer