No, I wish I could rewind all the way to 2008, to my first time sitting at this very desk, when Maxim told me I was foolish to open a restaurant in the middle of a recession, and I did it anyway. I wish I’d been content with being somebody else’s chef, to whipping up fancy steak dinners on somebody else’s balance sheet so I could take paid vacations and the occasional long weekend and not stare at the ceiling until deep in the night, wondering how the hell I was going to make payroll. I wouldn’t be Atlanta’s Steak King, but come tomorrow I would still have a family.

But I was too cocky, too damn eager to prove I was a better businessman than my father. I had to own my own shop, and I opened my doors when restaurants all over the country were shutting theirs. Maybe that’s my problem, that success the first time around ruined me. I’d already weathered what everybody was calling a once-in-a-lifetime recession. When I ran up against another wall, I just figured I’d scale it all over again. I figured I could overcome anything.

George was right. I really am a dick.

Even worse: I am my father.

I reach for Maxim’s phone, dragging the machine around to my side of the desk, plucking the receiver from the tray.

Maxim frowns. “Who are you calling?”

“The police. If I tell them to sneak in without sirens, maybe they won’t get anybody killed.” I tap in the numbers and my sinuses burn, that achy feeling right before the waterworks. This is it. It’s time. I don’t have any options left.

The line rings once, then goes dead. Maxim’s yellow-tinged finger is stomped on the button, holding it down.

“Cam.” He shakes his head. “This is not a job for the police. Trust me on this.”

“Then what? How?”

Maxim leans back in his chair, looking over my head at the others, the two big bouncers and the man-bunned Nick, then back to me. “I have a few ideas.”

T H E   I N T E R V I E W

Juanita: I’m sorry. I know we’ve covered this already, but I’m still stuck on the fact that you didn’t call the police. Especially once you realized you couldn’t gather the ransom. You knew you were out of options, you just told me you didn’t have the money to save them, and still you decided not to call the police.

Cam: Is there a question in there somewhere?

Juanita: Yes.

Cam: [silence]

Juanita: Don’t you want to answer it?

Cam: No.

Juanita: No, you didn’t call the police, or no, you don’t want to answer? Which one?

Cam: Both. Next question.