Harper had spent months working overtime bakery shifts just to afford the $850 her parents charged her to sleep in their unfinished basement, while every attempt to move out was quietly sabotaged by a string of sudden family emergencies. When her grandfather confronted her parents at Thanksgiving dinner, Harper finally admitted the truth in the kitchen, exhausted and ashamed, unaware her grandfather already suspected something far worse than simple family dysfunction.

His question about mail from the credit union stopped her cold. She had no idea what he meant, but the sudden shift in his voice told her this wasn’t really about rent anymore.