He climbed in the van and slammed the door. A second later the engine roared to life.

CHAPTER 23

THE FEELING OF REJECTION was instant and intense, an immense wave pummeling between my shoulder blades, grinding me into the pavement.

I turned to Gabe. “Stop him,” I hissed, “or I’ll tell him where the drugs that got him sent to prison came from.”

Gabe’s mouth fell open. “Wha—? But…you…”

He still hadn’t moved, and Ben’s van was rolling forward. I shoved Gabe out of the way and slammed my palm against Ben’s window. The van stopped abruptly, and Ben rolled his window down, his eyebrows folded angrily.

“What the hell, Emma?”

“Violeta said we had a deal,” I said, my tone cold.

“Go home, Emma. You don’t want to be a part of this.”

I stared at my brother. It hadn’t always been like this between us. I missed the brother who used to carry Band-Aids in his pocket because I was always scraping my knees. The brother who’d taught me how to ride a bike, to swear, to stick up for myself when boys in my class tried to flip my dress up. Where had that brother gone?

“I have more prescriptions,” I said. “Stacks more.”

Ben plucked at his eyebrows. It was a nervous habit from when our father would rage at him on the nights he came home drunk.

Once I’d told Ben how much like Dad he was. He shoved me off my bed. I hit my cheekbone on the windowsill and the skin had split open, like a ripe melon. I still have a little crescent-shaped scar on my cheek from it.

I guess some people don’t like to hear the truth.

“It’s for my son,” I said softly. “Your nephew.”

Ben’s eyes flickered. A beat of silence expanded between us.

“Violeta said you guys would help.” My heart raced, the lie tingling like mouthwash on my tongue.

Ben considered this. “Fine. Give me two more prescriptions. We’ll start with that.”

“Five,” I said. “And I can sign more. We can scale up.”

“Are you insane? I’m not scaling up anything!”

That was surprising. Ben had always been an enterprising sort.

“I’m not going back to prison,” he replied, seeing my look. His eyes darted. Left, right, left, right. He coughed and blinked hard. “I have a kid now. I have to stay off the cops’ radar.”

“What’s my nephew’s name?”

Pain flared in Ben’s eyes, and he looked down. “Lucas.”

“Lucas,” I repeated. My family. I wanted to meet him, but now wasn’t the time to ask. “I bet you’d do anything for him.”

“Isn’t your husband a cop? I’m not risking it.”