“Do I?” she asked. She lowered her face and stared at her hands, clasped in her lap. Her thick curtain of honey brown hair fell about her face. She tucked it behind her ears, just like our mother used to do. “I don’t really remember her. My memories of her and Dad are fuzzy.”

“Lucky you,” I said. The bitterness in my voice was like acid, and I was surprised it didn’t burn a hole in my tongue. A flash of pain crossed her face, and I regretted the harshness of my words. What had happened to us as kids hadn’t been Lexi’s fault. I blew out a breath and, needing this surprise visit to end sooner rather than later, asked, “How much?”

She tipped her head to the side, looking confused. “What?”

I rolled my hand in a get-on-with-it gesture. “How much?”

She raised one eyebrow and stared at me. This was an expression all her own. “What are you talking about, Nicky?”

“It’s Nick,” I said.

“What are you talking about, Nick?” She emphasized the ck. I was only surprised she didn’t swap out the N for a D, but it was implied.

I almost laughed in relief. There she was. This was the girl I remembered, who gave me hell when I wouldn’t take her along on bike rides with my friends, who punched the neighborhood bully right in the eye when he was tormenting a pigeon, who had fought like a bobcat, all teeth and claws, when the system separated us so that she could have a family of her own while I was sent to a series of foster homes and then finally a group home for wayward—Ha! More like unwanted—teen boys.

“I think it’s pretty obvious why you’re here,” I said. Despite being happy to see that she had retained some of her feistiness, I didn’t want to play games about her purpose. We had been siblings once, but those days were long gone. There was only one thing anyone ever wanted from me now.

She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “Is that so? Do enlighten me.”

“You need money,” I said. “And since I have it, you’ve probably decided to pull your old connection to me as your big brother out of your back pocket and cash in.”

I heard Jackson make a choking sound from beside me, but I didn’t bother to look at him. I was too busy taking in the kaleidoscope of fury that was twirling in front of me in the form of my very pissed off sister.

She popped to her feet. She stretched her arms out wide. She opened her mouth to say something but then bit it back. She blinked several times.

“That’s what you think this is?” she cried.

“Isn’t it?” I asked.