“You should know that I never wanted you to get hurt in any of this. In fact, I told them—”

A yell from outside cut him off. They both turned at the sound.

One of Declan’s guys sprinted up the shop driveway and skidded to a stop.

“He’s dead,” he said breathlessly. “Lopez is dead.”

LENNON

LENNON WENT WITH Hadley to Maisie’s apartment. He sat on the couch while Hadley paced back and forth in front of the door.

Hadley’s phone dinged, and he watched her expression change as she read something there. It was bad news.

“We’re fucked,” she breathed.

Very bad news.

“Is…everything okay?” he asked hesitantly.

“Uncle Franco is dead.” She covered her mouth with her hand, turning her face away from him.

Dr. Lopez was dead. The leader of the south, the genius who was responsible for keeping so many people in the Q alive. Dead.

This was bad on so many levels.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

She sniffed, then checked her phone again. “Maisie’s on her way over. Wait here, okay? We’ll be right outside.”

He nodded and watched as she hurried out the door. She was gone for a long time, and when she walked back in, her eyes were red and she had Maisie in tow. Maisie pushed the door shut and locked it behind her. Lennon stood.

“You were right,” Maisie said to him. “It was Declan. All of it. He’s the one who shot Lopez.”

“Bastard,” Hadley muttered, even though she clearly already knew this information.

“He told you?” Lennon asked Maisie, surprised.

“Yeah, he told me.” Maisie crossed the room and leaned against the wall near the kitchen, chewing her lip.

“You think he’d at least be ashamed,” Hadley spat. “He must know you’re going to tell everyone. He just let you leave?”

“You know what Declan thinks of me.”

Hadley rolled her eyes, but Lennon just looked at her in confusion.

“He thinks I’m harmless,” Maisie explained. “It doesn’t matter if I know, because there’s nothing I can do about it anyway.” She scrunched up her face. “Also, I think he may be under the impression I still have feelings for him.”

“Ew,” Hadley said.

“So, what now?” Lennon asked.

“Now I need to find out who Declan has brought over to his side, because there is no way that he did this without recruiting some of the family in addition to the Reapers. He’d need both.” Maisie looked at Hadley. “Everyone at the family meeting couldn’t have been in on it. Or else they wouldn’t have come.”

“Or at least they would have stepped out before people started firing. Did anyone step out?” Hadley asked.

Maisie considered, and then made a face. “Shit. I don’t know. I was focused on Beto.”

“Well, at least we know he’s not in on it.”

Lennon pushed a hand nervously through his hair. There hadn’t been any talk about him, and the clock was ticking. It was too rude to ask, when Dr. Lopez had just died.