Nate suddenly thought of all the things that could’ve happened to her, how close she’d come to being shot. He could’ve lost her. He wanted to reach out and touch her, to reassure himself she was still here, she was safe.

And he understood then that people weren’t morally infallible. Not his wife. Not his father. Not himself. He understood why she’d done what she’d done.

I love you, he opened his mouth to say. I love how much you love our family, the lengths you’ll go to to protect us.

But Ben’s agonized moan interrupted.

Nate turned to him. “Were you telling the truth? You didn’t kill Martinez?”

“No! Fuck, man! Could you just call an ambulance or something? I’m bleeding to death here!”

“Nate! We need to call nine-one-one!” Emma said sharply.

Gabe hovered on the periphery, looking uncertain, the gun Emma had given him now hanging limply from his fingers.

“Then who killed Santiago Martinez?” Nate looked between them. Gabe. Ben. Emma. The body of Carlos Martinez. “And where did you get the fentanyl?”

CHAPTER 41

“WE NEED TO GET to the hospital,” I told Nate. “It’s Josh. Your mom called. Something’s gone wrong with the treatment—he had a seizure.” I looked at Ben. “And Ben needs to get to the ER. He’s losing a lot of blood.”

Nate pulled his phone out and started to dial.

“Stop!” Gabe shouted.

He was pointing my gun at Nate. Nate slowly raised his hands.

“Gabe, what are you doing?” I hissed. “Put the gun down.”

“No!” he said. His eyes darted wildly around the warehouse. “All of this will be for nothing if we let him call the cops. Don’t you see? They’ll find everything we have here. We’ll go to jail.”

“He is the cops. Don’t you get it? It’s over for us!”

“No. I’m not getting arrested. I’ll lose my gas station. Your career will be over. We won’t be able to get the money for Josh.”

I froze. I had to be very careful what I said right now.

“Gabe, listen to me,” I said, speaking very slowly. “We have to get to the hospital. My son is very sick. Remember?”

The gun trembled in Gabe’s grasp. I thought about trying to grab it from him, but he was too far away. Nate was farther behind me still, and Ben was on the floor, his hands cuffed behind his back. I took a tiny step toward Gabe, one hand held out.