“Because this is our house, Monti.” I nearly laugh as I push to my feet. “And she knew the search warrant issued would be for the residence of Gabriella Filano.”

Monti’s face falls. “Holy shit.”

I nod. “Everything they found today, all the evidence they collected...”

“It’s inadmissible, collected illegally.” Her hands come up to cover her mouth. “They’ll have to throw it all out. This will never even make it to trial.”

“She’ll be back at work in no time.”

“Savage,” Beretta absentmindedly whispers and our light chuckles follow.

“Holy shit, this is crazy. You think Dad knows?” Monti wonders.

“He was as calm as she was. He must.”

“But like, this is it now? We’re done caring what she thinks? No more weekly reports on our lives? We’re taking this shit to the bank, literally, and cutting the ties that allow her to control us?” Monti steps toward me. “J, are you free?”

As if Anthony heard her question from wherever he is, my phone rings down the hall and I know it’s him, ready to threaten us with the only pull he has left, guardianship over Sienna. But I never would have flipped his blackmail on him if there were even the slightest chance he would still have the power to turn Ransom’s world upside down.

Anthony Blanca is about to fall, but unlike my mother, his knees will hit the floor.

Soon, but not yet.

We have an email set up to auto send three days from now at four a.m. on the dot. So, if it happens as it did with my mother, as soon as the sun rises that day, the police should be pulling up to Admiral Law, where they’ll find dozens of ‘stolen,’ sensitive case files. Files Anthony paid a guy to steal in order to collect dirt on my mother for his big extortion plan.

Little did he know, the man he paid to spy on my mother, worked for her, so she passed over the requested files with a smile.

She knew all along what he had on her, and she made sure her every base was covered should this day ever come.

If she were ever to go down, she was taking him with her.

She was the shark in the water, and Anthony was nothing but one of many minnows.

By default, Anthony will lose guardianship over Sienna, and Ransom, eighteen the day it’s set to happen, will finally be the one responsible for her care, just as he’s always wished.

A strange sense of heaviness settles over me, but as it does, my lungs seem to expand, and the jumbled mess in my mind dispels.

I turn to Ransom, and his hand automatically comes up, gliding into my hair, my smile soft and slowly curving.

“Baby?” His grip tightens.