The blueprints for Alyssa and Ines followed the identical arc — the meeting, the courtship, the joint deeds and policies, and then the single word, Concluded. Blanca took the stand for the prosecution in exchange for a plea that spared her a capital sentence, and laid out every wire transfer and every conversation in that same level voice.

Dario insisted his mother was framing him right up until the weight of the evidence buried him, and then he pleaded guilty to two counts of capital murder and one of attempted capital murder.

He was sentenced to consecutive life terms with no possibility of parole.

Blanca received thirty-five years as an accessory.

The court voided the deed he had tricked me into signing, and my parents’ little bungalow was returned to my name alone.

I sat through all of it, most days with my brother on one side and an empty chair on the other where I would not let Kai be.