That night he left me a voicemail. “You brought the government into this? You stupid little bureaucrat. I’ll bury you before they find anything.”

Ethan listened to the recording twice. “That’s close,” he said, “but we need intent tied to a physical action.”

“You’ll have it.”

My mother stared at me, her eyes wide. “You knew he would come.”

“I knew men like Garrick can’t stand losing control.”

She started to cry. “I brought him into our family.”