* * *

Present:

“What do you mean my son-in-law’s nowhere to be found?” I ask the lawyer again.

I don’t believe this shit. We’re all here for Luka’s court hearing—all but Luka himself. He was supposed to be here two hours ago. He’s yet to show. I didn’t get worried at first, but the more time that goes by, the more my anxiety does, too. There’s something going on here, and it’s definitely something I don’t like.

“Just what I said. The judge has sent cops out to Luka’s home to bring him in. They already went to your house. Cyan let them search, and he was nowhere to be found,” the lawyer explains, his beady little eyes giving me the creeps. I hate lawyers. I’ve never trusted any of them—even the one I hired to help me. Something about this guy sets off even more warning bells than normal, however.

“I already told you he wasn’t there. Christ! I swear the people in charge of this town all have shit for brains,” I complain.

I spend the next fifteen minutes doing my best to calm down Lotus Petal on the phone. I don’t really succeed, but I manage to keep her home for a little while longer. That’s a miracle in and of itself, but I think it has more to do with being glued to the toilet than my powers of persuasion. The doors to the courtroom open just as I’m starting to pace back and forth like a dog walking the fence and looking for a place to find freedom.

Cops come in, and my boy Black is close behind them. There is no Luka, however. I watch as they march by me, going straight to the judge’s chambers.

“I’ll go see what’s going on,” Luka’s lawyer tells me, and I wish I held out hope it was good news. I don’t. I also have zero confidence that the snake in the grass that is supposed to be helping Luka will actually do so.

“What’s happening?” I ask Black when we’re finally alone. Jansen wraps his hands on each of my shoulders, standing close behind me for moral support. He’s a good man. I wish I could go back and have met him sooner.

“It’s not good, Mom,” he says, raking his hand across the side of his face in irritation.

“Well, I didn’t figure you were coming in here to spout horseshit and grow daisies. What’s going on?”

“Luka was nowhere to be found.”

“What’s that mean?”

“That’s just it. I don’t know. His closets were cleaned out. There were papers on the floor about closing out his bank accounts, and there were receipts for purchased plane tickets to Mexico.”

“You think he’s skipped out on bail?” Jansen asks.

“Bullshit,” I growl. “I’ve come to realize a few things over this past month, and by some miracle, Roger Parish’s blood didn’t destroy Luka. He seems to be a good man, and there’s no way he would just up and leave my daughter and their son. Not on some trumped-up charge that he would spend very little jail time for, even if he was found guilty.”

“I agree with you, but someone is trying very hard to make it look like he’s doing exactly that, and they’ve gone to a lot of trouble to do it,” Black says.

“His father,” Lotus Petal says, walking in and looking like one of those fucking zombies on that TV show that Cyan never misses.

“I thought I told you to keep your ass in bed!” I mutter.

“I was already in the car and driving when we were talking.”

“You look like fucking hell, sis,” Black says.

“Thanks. So what do we do? I need my husband found.”

“I’m positive the cops will be hunting for him, and there will be an APB out on him for sure,” Black tells her with a sigh.

“Will these be the same cops who turned their backs on Luka when he needed him and the state ones that our resident mayor have under their thumb?” Petal mumbles the question while letting the wall hold her up.

“Afraid so,” Black agrees.

“Which means they are going to be about as useful at tits on a boar hog.”

We all look up as the judge comes out. The bailiff calls us all to order and slams his gavel on his desk.

“In light of the new evidence, this court has no recourse other than to issue an arrest warrant for Luka Parish. Previous bail has been revoked.”

“Fucking hell,” Jansen growls behind me.

“Luka’s father is behind this, Mom. Luka would never put your farm in jeopardy, and he would die before he would leave me and River behind,” Lotus Petal cries. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Not if I beat you to it,” I answer, but I’m already heading out of the courtroom.

“Where are you going?”

“It’s time to stop pussyfooting around and fight fire with fire,” I answer. I put things off and I shouldn’t have. That’s not who I am now. I’m not some scared sixteen-year-old girl who thinks she has the world figured out—then gets attacked by a monster who proves she doesn’t have it figured out. It’s about time I remember that. Roger Parish thinks he can mess with my family? He thinks he can knock me down again? This time, he better knock me down a lot harder than he did before, and he better damned well pray once he does that I don’t get back up.

Because if I do, there won’t be a person on the face of the Earth who can save him.