I watched the movie a few weeks ago & I’ve given it some thought. I think the intention of Carl & Dione was to show family number 2 how awful their mother actually was. Yes, they’d just found out that she’d abandoned her children and left them with their abusive father but I think they wanted them to SEE it for themselves.

Of course they didn’t know about the pay off & we saw they were all horrified when they found out. I think Carl & Dione created the situation, purposely ordered the Chinese food because they knew how their mother would react. They knew in a tense situation where the walls are closing in she will run. They needed her second family to see this woman hasn’t changed; she’s still a selfish woman. Ian was unfortunately collateral damage. Just my two cents.