He pressed on: “You would have loved nothing more than to slip away with Monica while I run around the park like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to find my children.” It was his turn to smile. “It was a devious plan, I’ll give you that. But my man, Sullivan, he got here over an hour ago, he was watching you from the moment you came in with Lexi and Junior. You left the kids in the food court. My sister, their aunt—who happens to be in town because of what you did to my mom—is with them now. This madness is over. There’s no damned trade.”

“No.” Grace shook her head.

“Why kill Lily?” Monica said. Tears tracked down her cheeks, and she wiped them away. “She was more of a mother to me than you could ever be. You’re nothing to me.”

Grace clenched her hands into fists, and she looked ready to charge them. Troy pulled back his jacket and showed her the pistol holstered on his hip.

“I shot you earlier and you recovered, but whatever you are, you can bleed, you can be hurt,” he said. “You stay away from my family, understand?”

“Stay away,” Monica said.

Grace glowered at them as they backed away. They hurried toward the visitor’s center. She didn’t follow, but they continued to watch her from afar as they entered the building.

They were the only passengers to enter the cable car returning to the ground. Troy was grateful for the privacy. Monica came into his arms, and he folded her into a tight embrace.

“It’s over.” He kissed Monica’s forehead.

“Do you really believe she’ll leave us alone?” she asked.

“We’ve got a unified front now. She knows we’ll both fight back. If she dares to mess with us, it will be a battle, and I don’t think she’s used to that. I think she’ll move on.”

“There are so many things I don’t know.” Monica tilted her face up at him, her eyes glassy with tears. “Like I said to her: if she’s a monster, what does that make me?”

“It makes you the bravest woman I’ve ever met—the woman I love more than anything,” he said.

“But I still don’t know what I am, Troy. Even my father, a man I had met only once, is dead now.” She blinked back tears, looked away from him. “I’ve never felt so . . . so empty.”

“Well, you know what? You’ve got two young children down below who love you and can’t wait to see you. I think that’s a fair trade off.”

“Right,” she said, but she still looked troubled.