I figured if anybody could pull together the ransom money, it would be Cam. Even deep in debt, that man knows every martini-swilling, tweed-wearing, steak-overpaying asshole in town. Surely he could sweet-talk some of them into loaning him some cash.

And who knows? Maybe he did, and maybe he didn’t. I won’t believe it until I see that promised bag of cash, until I can count out the bills.

Jade was a surprise, though—not the money-loving Buckhead Betty I originally thought. The way she kept throwing herself in front of her kids. That move downstairs with the screwdriver, how she was constantly risking her life in order to save theirs. That kind of love is a beautiful, beautiful thing.

I think of my Gigi at home, coughing up mucus into a cup. No more pain. No more money problems. No more constant worry about her fate.

Heavy boots clomp on the stairs, and I press myself to the wall, pulling out the switchblade in my pocket, flicking it open and holding it high in my good fist. The blade reflects a glint of white ceiling light that blinds me to everything else. The pain in my shoulder as I lunge for the cluster of cops filing through the door, the shouted warnings right before the blade sinks into someone’s skin, shots ringing out like a string of firecrackers. Everything but my baby’s sweet smile.

“Hi, Daddy,” she says as she reaches for my hand.

My freedom for Gigi’s lungs. My life for hers. I’m more than willing to make the trade.

T H E   I N T E R V I E W

Juanita: The nanny cam footage went viral the second it hit the internet.

Cam: Yeah, for all their tough talk about cracking down on violent content, the social media platforms sure do a bang-up job, don’t they?

Juanita: Most people would agree they failed pretty spectacularly. One tweet led to a couple dozen, which led to hundreds more, crossing over onto Facebook and Instagram and YouTube. Sebastian and his two accomplices, his sister, Hannah, and your neighbor Tanya Lloyd, certainly didn’t anticipate things taking off that fast. The police traced the feed to your home. They got there in the nick of time.

Cam: Well, that’s debatable. Jade and Beatrix were already downstairs when they busted through the door. They’d already gotten away from Sebastian, but the police killed him anyway.

Juanita: Because he attacked one of the officers with a knife. She was in the ICU for days. She almost died.

Cam: Yes, but why couldn’t they have just tackled Sebastian to the ground? Did they have to kill him?

Juanita: Yes, because again, he attacked an officer of the law.