“Once the five hundred thousand lands in your account,” Tara said, already dreaming, “we split it evenly, right?”

At three the next morning, I quietly took Della out of that house.

I drove her straight to a specialized cancer hospital in Tulsa, where doctors confirmed the tumor was still treatable — though her severe malnutrition made immediate surgery dangerous.

They admitted her at once to stabilize her and rebuild her strength.

Then I finalized the transfers legally and canceled the supplementary credit card Tara had been spending from.

That afternoon, Tara tried to buy an expensive diamond ring at a mall, and the card was declined in front of her wealthy fiancé, Brett. Brett called me twenty times in a row. I didn’t answer once.