Carol was the sister of Derik and Sophia Westman. At her twenty-third birthday party, her mother, Denise, and sister, Sophia, drugged her and Daniel Ulrich, placing them in bed together in a manipulative bid for power and control. Traumatized and pregnant with Kenna, Carol fled her family entirely, changing her name multiple times to ensure they could never use or harm her child.
Over the next two decades, Carol built a highly successful career as an author under pseudonyms like Daniella Elrich, writing novels and Hallmark movies. She secretly amassed a massive trust fund for Kenna while living a quiet, modest life. She died of an aggressive lung cancer two months before the events of the story, leaving behind a letter that finally revealed the truth of her past to Kenna.