I can’t believe this is finally happening,” Boone said.

“It hasn’t happened yet,” Hawk warned.

Axl sat in the backseat of the Hummer, Hawk driving, Boone in the passenger seat, and he watched the Colorado terrain slide by.

Cisco had a place in the foothills.

And this was where, in a team effort, Cisco, Mamá Nana and Ally Zano had convinced Lynn Crowley and Heidi Mueller that it would be safe to meet to discuss what they knew about what was happening in the Denver Police Department.

He took his eyes from the landscape to catch Hawk glancing at him in the mirror.

It was not a secret from the crew that his mother and father had split.

It also wasn’t a secret that Sylas’s first response had been tactical.

Instead of proceeding with a divorce, he demanded a six-month separation that included intensive marriage counseling.

Axl worried his mother would cave on that.

She did not.

Onward from that, in the three weeks since his mother moved out, unsurprisingly, his father had dicked with her at every turn. He’d canceled the joint cards, blocked access to the joint accounts, and attempted every legal maneuver in the book to drive up her attorney’s billable hours in order to break her, at least financially.

Again, Axl worried she’d suffer, and as such, last Friday, he took her to lunch to share he’d cover her if she got buried.

“Oh, Axl, darling. Thank you so much. But I prepared for this,” was her response. “I didn’t touch any of my earnings from my business since I started. Not to mention, I deposited half of the household and discretionary stipend your father gave me for the last year in my sole account. I have money coming in and a good nest egg. I can outlast him.” She’d patted his hand. “But it’s good to know I can turn to you for a loan if that occasion arises.”

Axl had to get over the fact his father gave his mother a “stipend,” something, until then, he did not know, rather than her being free to do whatever she wished with their money.

But he didn’t mention that.

Instead, on his way back to work from their lunch, he called his father.

Sylas picked up immediately.

“This is your final warning,” was all he said before he hung up.

To his surprise, that worked. His mom had shared with him that morning that her attorney had told her that Sylas had been in touch and he was ready to proceed.