My name is Anna, and I used to believe hard work always wins.

Later.

The word that families use when they plan to never fix what they’ve broken.

FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSE ONLY
My mom had added her name to that account when I was nineteen—right after Mia was born. She’d called it protection. “If something happens to you,” she’d said, “I’ll keep it safe for her.”

I believed her because I was young, exhausted, and desperate to trust someone.

Now I realized the truth: she didn’t put her name on that account to protect my daughter.
She put her name there to keep control.