“They could come here, Ethan,” I say. I don’t want to say the words out loud, as if that will make it come true, but I need to make Ethan understand. “They know that Uncle Gavin wanted to stop them from moving into Atlanta, which is why they trashed the bar. And they torched Cargill’s garage because their deal with him went sideways last night. They’re lashing out at everybody they think is an enemy, and I’m pretty sure I’m high up on their list right now. They could show up on your doorstep.”

Ethan’s face pales, but he has the same stubborn look our mother used to get whenever I was a pain in the ass to her, which was far more often than I care to remember. “The Atlanta PD will drop the hammer on them,” he says.

I shake my head. Nobody is listening. “What’ll they do, send a squad car to drive by a couple times a day? That won’t stop the Sureños.”

“And you want to do what? Go play vigilante? Get shot or—”

“I thought they’d be broken!” I shout, interrupting Ethan. “I thought after last night they’d be holing up somewhere, licking their wounds. Instead they went all in. The bar, Cargill’s garage, and Peaches’s neighborhood. They hit three different targets the same night. There’s more of them than we thought. And Bala’s death only pissed them off. They won’t stop until they’re in prison or in the ground.” I take a deep breath and pause for a moment. “I told you I need you to live your normal life. And I’ll do whatever I need to do to keep you safe.”

“Does that include dealing with Finn, too?” Ethan says. “Because there’s a clock ticking when it comes to him. Him and Tane.”

“I know. That’s why I spent half the night looking at those boxes.”

Ethan makes a point of looking around at the various stacks of paper on every flat surface in sight. “Find anything?”

“No. Not that I’m certain there’s anything to find.”

“You think Finn is just making this all up?”

“I think Finn thinks he’s telling the truth.”

Ethan looks at me strangely. “You don’t think Dad did it, do you?”

“What, stole six million and made it vanish? No, I don’t think he did. That wasn’t Dad.”

“Dad wasn’t Dad, Suze. Not after he came back from Iraq.”

“Jesus, this again.”

“Yeah, this again. Come on, Suzie.”

“Don’t you have to go teach?”

Ethan looks at his phone for the time. “Fuck. Okay, can you watch Wilson, or take him to the vet—”

“I’m on it, Ethan. Go mold young minds or whatever.”

He rolls his eyes and goes to grab his work bag. A few seconds later he bangs out the back door and is gone.