Act like one. You have a seventy-thousand-dollar customized truck sitting in your driveway. Sell it. You have a boat. Sell it. You have two arms and two legs.

Get a second job hauling brick.”

“They’ll kill him before he can earn that!” Eleanor shrieked.

“They won’t kill him. Dead men can’t pay,” I said. “But whatever comes is his to carry. I am not the shield for your cowardice anymore.”

“You’re a monster,” Chloe whispered, stepping back from me like I was radioactive. “After everything… you’re just going to let him suffer?”

“I’m letting him grow up,” I corrected. “I love you, Chloe. I love you, Mom. But I will not be used anymore.”