Paul spent the better part of an hour reading the longest email chain between Valerie and a man named Jason. By the time he'd finished, he felt like he really knew Valerie, really understood her struggles, her pains and heartaches and desires, and if her sad social media messages were depressing, nothing could prepare him for her and Jason's email exchange.

This is what he learned:

Valerie had grown up a rich, spoiled, neglected brat. Her mother was a socialite alcoholic who constantly berated her, her father worked too much and was rarely around, dying from a heart attack when she was a teenager. She was raised by nannies and...