“I’m so sorry to bother you,” Aster Gomez says, her hand frozen in her long dark hair like she’s considering whether she should rip it all out. She’s great with people but had no interest in telling them they’re about to die, so she applied for customer service instead. She was so savvy that Joaquin hired her to lead that department, even though she’s only twenty-five. “We’re having major issues with the server.”

“What’s happening?”

“Um . . .” Aster looks down the hall. “It’s best if you follow me.”

Joaquin follows along with the rest of his family.

“It all started when I received a complaint a few minutes ago,” Aster says, speed-walking. “This woman’s boyfriend was killed in Times Square tonight.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Joaquin says with all the earnestness in the world. He can’t imagine his life without Naya. Especially losing her so violently. “I’m curious. Was it Valentino Prince who died? He was tonight’s first call.”

“No. His name was William Wilde.”

Ah, shame. Joaquin would’ve liked to include that anecdote in his memoir. But back to the matter at hand. “Does the client understand we’ve done all we can?”

“Except we didn’t.”

“Pardon me?”

“We failed to do our one job. The Decker never received his End Day call.”

“Well, the Times Square shootings began after midnight—after launch. We’ve never made any promises that Deckers will immediately be alerted.”

“Which I explained, but the woman said her boyfriend’s phone never rang. Not even after our calls were completed on the East Coast. I checked our records, and we have no outgoing calls to the Decker’s number or the emergency contact.”

As they all reenter the call center, Joaquin observes his heralds hard at work. He zeroes in on Rolando, suspecting he’s to blame for this Decker not being notified of his death; probably absorbing another old man’s life story. That egregious failing will result in his immediate termination.

“Is it Rolando’s fault? Did he not reach out to the Decker in time?”

“I checked in with all the heralds, and while Andrea totally assisted Rolando with his contact list after completing her own, every registered user on the East Coast received their End Day call.”

“Except that poor man,” Naya says, grieving this stranger with her big heart.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Rosa,” Aster says. “But since the Decker never appeared in our system for today, could that mean—”

He holds up a hand, silencing her. He doesn’t want to alarm anyone else.

But it’s too late.

“What’s wrong, Papa?” Alano asks, staring up at his father with tired eyes.

Joaquin won’t admit that everything is wrong.

How his empire is falling on the day it was set to rise.

How all will be lost if he doesn’t discover the source of this error.