I got my answer on that patio.

She had thought she was building loyalty.

She had thought that by pouring everything into Doreen and Presley she was purchasing devotion, a family that would close ranks around her when it mattered.

But favoritism does not buy loyalty.

It only teaches people that love is a transaction and status is the currency, and a child raised on that lesson learns it too well to ever apply it in her benefactor’s favor.

The instant the money turned dangerous, Doreen did the exact thing her whole upbringing had trained her to do: she calculated, and she cut loose the person who had become a liability, without a flicker of hesitation.