You got into a fight at school. Alex, your adoptive mom, picked you up from the principal’s office with a clenched jaw.

Now you’re in the back of a government SUV, headed with her to a case.

“I didn’t want to babysit a suspended kid this week,” she mutters.

You cross your arms. “Didn’t ask you to adopt me.”

Silence. Then her voice softens. “No. But I did it anyway.”