Someone had scrawled the word cripple across my photo on the headboard in lipstick, and blacked out my right leg.

Viola Dickerson was lying in my bed, one leg crossed over the other.

When she saw Mom and me, she froze for a second, then wrinkled her nose like she'd smelled something foul.

"The old hag and the little cripple?"

The words were barely out before Mom seized a fistful of her hair, dragged her off the bed, and hauled her toward the door.

"Mom! Help me!"

Viola shrieked in terror.

"Melanie! Let go of her! If Gavin finds out you laid a hand on Vi, he'll divorce you for sure!"

Sarah Dickerson rushed over, her long nails sinking into Mom's arm.

Blood welled up at once.

I lunged forward and tore Sarah's hand away.

Viola took the opening and kicked the prosthetic on my right leg. I lost my balance and slammed hard into the coffee table.

Glass shattered, the sound cracking through the air.

"Rae!"

Mom's hand came up and a single slap sent Viola sprawling to the floor.

"Melanie!"

Gavin's furious shout came from the doorway.

Blood blurred my eyes.

Mom saw the slivers of glass buried in my forehead, and her voice shook.

"Gavin! Rae's hurt, she needs a hospital, get over here and pick her up!"

When Gavin didn't move, she whipped her head around.

All she caught was the sight of his back as he carried Viola out, and Sarah glancing over her shoulder with a taunting smile.

Mom's tears fell onto my face.

"Rae, don't be scared. Mommy's taking you to the hospital."

A bandage was wound around my forehead. I sat on a bench in the corridor.

The doctor shook his head at Mom.

"We're short on beds. There's honestly nothing free for your daughter right now. Take her home and keep an eye on her for now."

Mom called Gavin three times in a row. No one picked up.

When the fourth call finally connected, it was Sarah's irritated voice on the other end.

"Melanie, can you stop calling? Gavin doesn't have time for you. He's busy comforting Vi. Take that crippled daughter of yours and crawl back to your hometown."

She said it without a shred of doubt, as if she and Viola were the wife and daughter.

The call cut off.

Mom was shaking with rage.

Then she spotted Gavin standing there, a payment slip in his hand.

When he saw her coming, he stiffened, and something annoyed flickered in his eyes.

"What are you chasing me to the hospital for? Haven't you caused enough of a scene at home?"

He didn't see the wounds on Mom's arm. He didn't see me beside her, my head wrapped in bandages.

Mom drew a deep breath, her grip tightening on her phone.

"Rae's hurt and there's no ward available. I remember you have a friend who's a doctor here. Can you ask him to help?"

His gaze swept across my face, then his expression turned reluctant.

"You know I hate pulling strings. If I ask him for a favor today, I'll owe him one down the line."

Mom's lips parted. She was about to speak.

A man in a white coat strode over and dropped a hand on Gavin's shoulder.

"Gav, that ward you wanted is all set. You said you'd tutor my daughter, no taking it back now."

His eyes moved to Mom and me.

"You must be Gav's wife and daughter. You wouldn't believe it, this man hates asking anyone for anything. Never thought he'd come to me for his wife and kid."

"The bed should be just about ready. Go get her checked in before it's gone."

With that, he gave us a smile, turned, and left.

Gavin's face soured.

"Vi has her interview the day after tomorrow. She needs to be at her best, and that slap of yours was too hard. She's still complaining about feeling dizzy."

"Melanie, everything I'm doing is to clean up after you."

He walked over to where I sat and crouched down in front of me.

"Rae, go home and rest. Once things settle down for me, I'll come see you. All right?"

"Home, as in the New York house?"

He froze for a second, then shot back at once.

"No. That's where Sarah and Viola live."

Mom's mouth twisted.

"Gavin, between Viola and Rachel, which one is actually your daughter?"

"Don't think I don't know you gave the Whitmore faculty-family admissions slot to Viola. And now you want to hand our home over to those two as well?"

His eyes went wide, his voice climbing high and sharp.

"What would you know? Viola has real promise. She just had one bad day on the SATs. She needs that slot more than Rachel does."

"You're calling a 364 a bad day?"

"Enough—"

He swiped at his phone a couple of times and held it up in front of her.

"I bought you two train tickets back to our hometown. They leave in two hours."

"Melanie, if you still want this family, stop fighting me."

Mom stared at his face for a few seconds.

Then she spoke, perfectly calm.

"Gavin, I don't want this family anymore."

His expression darkened.

A tired, tamped-down anger surfaced slowly in his eyes.

For as long as I could remember, he'd worn that exact look at Mom again and again.

From all their years of fighting, I'd pieced the old story together.

Sarah was Dad's first love.

His family was poor, so Sarah's parents broke the two of them apart.

Sarah went on to marry a wealthy businessman.

Heartbroken, Dad married Mom, who had loved him all along.

But the businessman turned out to be a fraud. He drank himself to death at home and left Sarah and her daughter buried in debt.

After her divorce, Sarah got back in touch with Dad.

That was the moment our happy home shattered.

After that, all that was left in the house was Dad's shouting and Mom's tears.

Until three years ago, when Dad got transferred to New York for work.

The fights grew rarer, but the marriage had long been hollow, two strangers under one roof.

Mom struggled through ten years of that marriage.

For herself, and for me.

"Melanie, don't say things you don't mean."

Dad dropped that line and walked out without looking back.

Mom turned away.

The tears she'd been holding back fell, one after another.

"Rae, if Mom leaves your dad, would you..."

Would I be upset...

"Mom."

I stood up and took her hand.

"All I want is for you to be happy. I'll always be your daughter."

When we came home again, Dad had already changed the front-door code from his phone.

Calm as anything, Mom picked up her phone and called a locksmith.

The house was in her name.

It was the inheritance her grandfather had left her.

She had the technician strip off the smart lock and install a new one.

She boxed up everything belonging to Sarah and Viola and had a courier run it to the hospital.

Every single thing in that house their hands had touched, the furniture included, went straight out the door.

Then she made a phone call.

"Hello, this is Melanie. Yes, I'm Marlin Shepherd's granddaughter. I'd like to ask about the special admissions slot at Whitmore University..."

Ten minutes later, Mom hung up.

A loose, easy look settled over her face for the first time in ages.

"Rae, get plenty of rest these next two days. You've got your Whitmore interview the day after tomorrow."

Late that night, I jolted awake to violent pounding at the door.

I strapped on my prosthetic and stepped out of my room.

Dad's face was livid.

"Melanie, do you have to take this to such an extreme? There's nothing going on between Sarah and me. I was only lending a hand to help them out."

"You know exactly what kind of situation Sarah and Viola are in. How can you be so heartless?"

Sarah pressed herself against Gavin's side, working up a wounded little look that turned the stomach.

"Look at this! You crammed all my things into one bag, everything's wrinkled, none of it's wearable now."

"You owe me for that. Every cent of it."

Mom watched the cozy way they stood together, and the corner of her mouth lifted.

"Sarah, every penny you've ever spent was earned by Gavin. That's marital property."

"I could take you to court and make you cough up ten years of it."

The color drained from Sarah's face in an instant, and she turned to Gavin for help.

"Gav…"

Gavin stared at Mom, his eyes full of fury.

"Melanie. Apologize."

Mom didn't answer him. She turned to leave.

He lunged forward and seized her arm, his grip closing right over her wound.

Cold sweat broke across her forehead from the pain.

"Apologize. Now."

Sarah folded her arms across her chest, not bothering to hide the smugness in her eyes.

Anger flared up in my chest, and I threw myself at him and bit down hard on his hand.

He cried out and let go.

"Rachel!"

I clenched both fists.

"As long as I'm here, no one gets to push my mother around. Not even you!"

"Fine. Fine. Fine."

Gavin looked at the bleeding teeth marks on his arm, and his brows knotted hard.

"Melanie! This is the daughter you raised!"

"Someone this violent has no business setting foot in Whitmore."

He pulled out his phone, typed a text, and sent it.

"Melanie, Rachel, don't blame me for being cruel."

Having thrown that out, he tried to walk through the front door.

Mom put out her hand and blocked him.

"Gavin, this is the property my father left me before we ever married. You and Sarah don't deserve to live here."

Gavin saw how serious she was.

He let out a cold laugh, then turned and pulled Sarah away with him.

The next evening, Mom took me out to a restaurant for dinner, and as we passed one of the private rooms, I heard my father's voice.

I looked through the gap in the door.

Gavin was bent low, pouring a drink for Eustace James, the head of Whitmore's HR office.

His voice carried that fawning note.

"Eustace, getting Sarah into the administration department in the first place was all thanks to you. Viola's interview is tomorrow, and I'll need you to lend a hand again."

The man's mouth worked.

Gavin's hand shot out at once to catch the bone he spat out.

All of it landed in Mom's line of sight.

Back when I had my accident, my right leg could have been saved. All it would have taken was for my father to set aside his pride and beg Dr. Lyons, a man he'd once crossed, to operate himself.

Mom, her body still raw from surgery, knelt on the floor and begged him.

He said, "I, Gavin Barnes, will never bow my head to anyone, as long as I live."

I couldn't keep my voice from shaking.

"Why is he willing to beg for Viola?"

Mom took my hand, her chest rising and falling hard.

There was heartache in her eyes, and guilt.

"Rae, your father doesn't love me, and he's made you suffer for it."

"But from now on, I'll never let anyone hurt you again."

Outside the classroom for Whitmore's special-admission interviews, the hall was packed with students waiting their turn and the parents who'd come along.

I spotted Viola right away, tucked safely between Gavin and Sarah.

They saw Mom and me too.

Gavin came over with a frown, looking at us the way you'd look at troublemakers.

"What are you two doing here? I already gave the slot to Viola."

"This isn't a place for you to come stir things up."

Mom took my hand and steered me right around him.