Derek knew that reclaiming the trust of these two women would be the most difficult campaign of his life. A battlefield was simple—you knew where the enemy stood, and you knew how to break them. But a heart broken by a thousand betrayals didn’t respond to tactical maneuvers. It required a slow, agonizing restoration of faith.
He also knew he would never allow his mother-in-law, his wife, or his daughter to live another second in the shadows of the underclass.
Patricia Hartwell was a woman defined by her kindness, a trait that had both saved her soul and ruined her life. It was her innate compassion that had prevented her from divorcing Solomon Ashford, despite his mountain of lies and his ultimate failure as a husband. It was that same compassion that had led her and Serena to find a ble
