“What? No. That can’t be safe.”

Spaulding met my gaze dead-on. “If we want this Herbert clown and your mother to get the maximum sentences, we need that testimony.”

I closed my eyes, letting my head fall forward. For Will, Ava, and Mia to be truly safe, to heal, anyone involved needed to go away for as long as possible. “They’ll testify.”

“Good—”

I held up a hand, cutting the sheriff off. “But I need you to do something for me in return.”

His eyes grew shrewd. “And what would that be?”

“Help me get custody of my siblings.”

1

Caelyn

PRESENT

“Come and get it, tiny terrors,” I called from the kitchen.

Will appeared, shaking his head. “You know I’m not actually tiny anymore, right?”

I clutched at my chest in an overdramatic move. “Don’t remind me. You’re forever eight in my mind.” But it didn’t change the fact that my little man was now sixteen years old. He had a driver’s license. And was shaving. I didn’t even want to think about all of the girls who made googly eyes at him.

I shook myself out of the downward spiral I was rapidly descending into. “Where are the girls?”

“I just finished Mia’s braids and she was looking for the right bracelet to go with her outfit. Ava was packing her backpack. What do you need in here?”

God, my brother was the best kid on the planet. Too good. But no matter how much I tried to get him to cut loose, it never happened. “Can you pour some OJ for everyone?”

“You got it.”

While Will got everyone glasses of juice, I slid the rest of the scramble onto plates. The toaster dinged, shooting up the bread in a little hop. I quickly buttered the slices. “Girls, the countdown is on.”

“We’re here! We’re here!” Mia huffed. “Look at my braids. Will gave me ribbons.”

I turned to take in my little spitfire. “You look beautiful. And I love your outfit.”

Mia was into anything brightly colored or that had glitter of some sort. Today it was a white t-shirt with a sparkly rainbow, pink pants, and gold glitter slip-ons. The pink, polka dot ribbons and a wrist full of bracelets just completed the look. “Thank you.” Her face scrunched. “You can still see my string, right?”

The worry in Mia’s expression had me crouching so that I was eye-to-eye with her. “Let’s see.” She held up her arm for my inspection. There was an array of jelly bracelets, some beaded ones, but peeking out between the bangles was a rainbow-colored friendship bracelet.