“Congratulations,” I say, standing. “You finally achieved what you’ve been trying for all this time, because I’m done. I’m walking out this door and out of this family, and there’s not enough money in the world to stop me.”

I’m out the door seconds later, jogging down the steps to Chet’s Jeep, motioning for him to hurry up and start the car.

Every person has a single defining moment. A moment that veers their life in a new direction, that changes them at a cellular level and makes them question everything they thought they knew, that colors every thought and decision afterward. For Paul and Micah and Jax, it was that moment they landed in the lake. It turned Micah into a killer, drove Jax into the woods, made Paul secretive, turned him inward.

But this moment, this one right here, this is mine.

39

It’s only six blocks from Diana’s house to the police station, but Chet takes the long way, weaving up and down side streets so I can give him the highlights of my visit with Diana. The bribe. The jewelry. What I plan to do now that I know.

Because my goal hasn’t changed. I went there to protect the littlest Keller, and that’s still my plan, in the best way I know how.

“You’ll be here when I come out?” I say as he pulls to a stop in front of the door.

Chet’s eyes go wide, and he gives me an enthusiastic nod. “Dude, I am going nowhere. Now get in there and give ’em hell.”

By now it’s late afternoon, and the station is mostly empty, all but Doris, who runs the reception desk, and Sam, riffling through a file cabinet behind a waist-high wooden partition. He pulls out a well-thumbed file and points it at a sign on the wall to my left. I missed visiting hours by a whole twenty minutes.

“You can’t be serious.”

He gives me an apologetic shrug, though he doesn’t look the least bit sorry. “Rules are rules.” He sinks into a swivel chair at his desk and pretends to ignore me.

Frustration rises, bubbling in my chest and up my throat. “Sam, please. If you and I were ever friends, you’ll give me this. Ten minutes, that’s all I need.”

He looks up, his head tilted to the side. “Were we ever friends? Because, honestly, I can’t remember.”

“You know we were.” I think back to his face when he stormed out of the church, the way he shoved the door open with a sharp bang, and I actually flinch. “To tell you the truth, you kinda broke my heart.”

“Yeah, well, you broke mine first. So I guess that makes us even, doesn’t it?”