“Your phone number is written on her arm, not mine.” Retta touched the fading pen marks on Jessa’s skin. “That’s what the police will see.”

Gabby blocked that truth out. She had to if she wanted to keep moving. “She idolized you. She would have done anything for you, and you betrayed her.”

“I asked her to stay away from you.”

Guilt pressed in on Gabby from every direction. She hadn’t known this would happen. She’d never wanted this. She hadn’t caused this . . . but a tiny voice in her head kept saying, Liar.

“That’s why you killed her? Because she called me?” Gabby turned around and stared at the man looming behind her. His face lacked any emotion. He acted like nothing happened, like he hadn’t sliced the life out of the woman lying dead in front of him. “You can’t tell me this was an accident, that he killed the wrong person on your command.”

This was a purposeful kill. Premeditated and carried out with precision by a man who served as the trigger for a woman who couldn’t tolerate losing her public image or being bested by her former mentee.

Gabby’s breath hiccupped inside her. “This is your fault.”

“This was not supposed to happen, but it has, and we have to deal with it,” Retta said.

So bloodless.

“You do.” Gabby harnessed all her guilt and sadness and turned it into rage. Aimed it at the woman across from her. “You’re the leader of your pathetic little group. You make the rules and give the orders. You don’t get to have regret now.”

“I am the co-leader. This order didn’t come from me.”

Earl. That explained Baines and the papers she’d found. Gabby couldn’t believe a business battle had led to three dead people, but it sounded as if it had. “Then let Earl explain this. Where is he? Is he going to show up in his fancy suit and fix this?”

When Retta held up a hand, Gabby braced herself, waiting for the man behind her to grab her or plunge a knife into her. But nothing happened. Nothing physical. Instead, he spoke. “We’re out of time.”

Gabby sat back, finally breaking her hold with Jessa’s ravaged stomach. Gabby didn’t want to die, but she would not beg. She tried to figure out if she could lunge and knock Retta down, use her as a shield for whatever Retta’s bodyguard enforcer had planned.

“Stop strategizing, Gabby. I’m not going to let Trent kill you, and you’re certainly not going to touch either of us.” Retta stood up, rising like a phoenix from the ashes. “There is a relatively simple way to handle this. Darren attacked Jessa earlier.”

“What? How is he even out of jail?”