Of course I knew when Sebastian offered to front the renovation costs before either of us had signed on the dotted line, I should have told him to hold off. Every time he’d call with an excited update on the latest investment, new windows and a new roof and floors, a new layer of asphalt on the lot or the top-of-the-line appliances he paid for out of his own pocket, I knew I should have put on the brakes. I watched it all happen, and I never once told him to stop.

His face when I bailed. God, I will never forget it, or the words he said to me over and over. I need this, Cam. I need this or my daughter will die.

I told myself he was exaggerating, that universal health care would pay for whatever treatment his sick daughter needed. I figured another chef would be enticed by the promise of a Lasky-grade kitchen and snap up my sloppy seconds. I was wrong on both accounts, and the truth is, I didn’t much care. I was too damn busy trying to keep my own ass afloat.

But I said it. God help me, I told him his dying daughter wasn’t my problem. And now Jade knows, and Bea knows, and they probably blame me for all of it, and they’re right to.

“Cam.”

Jade’s voice is loud and urgent, bleating in my iPhone’s speaker. My gaze snaps to the screen.

Jade is standing now, staring into the camera—the speaker on the wall. Her head is tipped back, the couch spread like wings coming off her shoulders, Beatrix on the far end. Jade’s eyes are big and wide.

“Cam, don’t come here. As soon as you do—”

“Shut up.” Sebastian’s body steps into the shot, moving fast, a blurry black blotch on my iPhone screen. “Don’t listen to her, Cam.”

He shoves her out of the shot.

“Don’t come inside!” she shouts. “He’s going to kill us either way!”

I swipe to another screen, searching for the bird’s-eye feed.

Sebastian lunges, and my screen becomes a jumble of sound, of bodies. I stare at it, gripping it hard enough to snap the thing in two, trying to hold it together, trying to see, but my world has gone foggy with fury. Jade screams, then Beatrix. Nick dives for the wheel, jerking the truck’s tires back on the road, and orders me to let up on the gas.

I lift my foot and scream into the cab, “What is happening?”

I see Jade, sprawled across two empty chairs, her feet tangled with a squirming Beatrix’s. Jade scrambles to sit up, to protect our daughter, who is calm in a way that pierces my heart. With an unbothered expression, Beatrix leans over the armrest and reaches for her mother’s hand.

Sebastian stalks up to the speaker, talks right into it.