She had not been a random target for Vanessa’s cruelty.

She had been correctly identified as the single greatest threat to the whole design, precisely because of her loyalty to me, precisely because thirteen years had made her someone who would notice if I were being led somewhere I did not want to go.

Vanessa had looked at my household and picked out the one person who loved me enough to warn me, and had set out, methodically, to make that person look like a thief and a liar before she could open her mouth.

There is a particular horror in understanding that someone has weaponized your best qualities against you.