After the phone call to Alika, Sophie sent Jake a brief text message. “We need to talk. Call me ASAP.”

She had to deliver the news about the baby’s parentage in person—and she had to tell Jake what she should have told him a while ago: somewhere along the way, she’d fallen in love with him.

She missed him. Wanted to be with him.

And she hoped like hell he hadn’t already moved on with the pretty, smart, unencumbered Felicia.

Sophie looked around the park as she slid her phone into her pocket. Old men and young children were fishing off the jetty. Mynah birds hopped on the smooth grass, and palm trees swished overhead. The dogs had curled up, snuggled against each other, tired of waiting for her to get off the phone. She stood up and tweaked their leashes. “Let’s go.”

Sophie walked along the curving concrete pathway this time, too full from the large breakfast for running. She tipped her face back, enjoying the sunshine.

Relief that she and Alika were in accord filled her with well-being. It was so sweet that he’d proposed for the baby’s sake; he was that kind of man, and his excitement about the baby was a huge load off her shoulders. Whatever happened with Jake, between Connor and Alika, she’d have all the support she’d need in the coming months.

What was Connor going to think of this latest development?

Sophie paused, leaning against a palm tree, and texted him. “Got the results back from the clinic. Alika is the baby’s father. I talked with him via phone and he is happy about it and plans to be involved.” She paused, nibbling on her lip. “We both agree we are not getting together romantically. But I am going to try to reconcile with Jake.” Again, she paused, imagining Connor’s face as he read the messages, the blow to hopes he’d never verbalized. “I appreciate all you’ve done, and I hope our friendship will continue, unchanged.”

That certainly put it out there, and it was a measure of how much things had improved between them that she hated to hurt Connor like this—but it was better just to tell him. The pregnancy already took most of her internal and external energy.

She slid her phone back into her pocket and this time moved into a gentle jog, the dogs on either side of her.

Sophie reached the edge of the park and the busy thoroughfare lined with Hilo’s downtown shops. She crossed that major artery and continued along it toward her apartment building, suddenly exhausted from all the emotion and the heavy meal. Her body was shutting down, telling her it needed a nap.

Things were so much different in her body now. The voice of the depression was a muted, distant whisper, while the little one inside clamored for its needs to be met.

She’d almost reached her apartment building, could even see its nearby cool cinderblock cube under the banyan tree, when a female voice called her name. “Sophie Ang.”

Sophie turned her head.

Penny Chang stood beside a big green dumpster in an alley directly opposite her. The short, plump PR agent wore a fitted knee-length muumuu, rhinestone-studded sandals, a hibiscus in her sleek updo—and had a silenced pistol pointed at Sophie.

Penny still reminded Sophie of a sweet female Buddha. The gun seemed cartoonlike, a “one of these things does not belong” element from a child’s illustration in a magazine Sophie had seen in a doctor’s office.

“What do you want?” Sophie let go of the dogs’ leashes, hoping the two would realize something was amiss—but they saw no threat in the woman Sophie was speaking to. The Lab and the pit bull galloped away with home in sight.

“I want a little payback for the way you screwed me and my cousin over.” Penny gestured with the pistol. “Come closer. Into the alley.”

“So you can shoot me out of sight?” Sophie was too far from the woman to mount any kind of attack, and she hadn’t brought her own weapon. She’d thought she was safe.

But she was never safe. Bitterness tightened her throat.

“I can shoot you from here, just fine,” Penny said. “But I’d like to talk to you, first.”

Sophie’s gaze flicked to the side. The dogs had reached the apartment building and were running up the exterior stairs. They were headed for Jake’s place! Maybe he was there, maybe they could get his attention…

She had to buy time. “Tell me why you’re doing this.”

“Because I’m being investigated for embezzling funds from the Merrie Monarch Festival. You and your partner pretended to be customers and fingered me! Did you think I didn’t recognize you from the news as the witness against Akane? And now, you shot my cousin.” Penny took a step closer. The black bore of her pistol seemed to expand in Sophie’s visual field.

“Killing me doesn’t accomplish anything.”

“It accomplishes me feeling better about all the shit that’s gone down.” Penny took another step toward Sophie. The woman’s hand was steady, her gaze unwavering. She was going to shoot Sophie; she just wanted a little privacy to do it.

Sophie raised her hands so that anyone watching could see that she was in trouble. “I refuse to make it easy for you.” She took a step backward.

“Oh yeah, you will, or I’ll shoot you in the gut and you can die slowly, right here.”

The baby would die first.

If only she could slow things down. Every moment of life was a moment of opportunity, a moment for things to change. She’d learned that out on the lava when she wrestled with death and came out the victor.

“I’m not going anywhere. I guess I’ll die right here in public, then.” Sophie dropped to her knees and put her hands on her head. Her eyes felt hot and her gaze filled with power as she cursed Penny with the only weapon she had: her words. “I’m pregnant. May my child haunt you forever. May your dreams be filled with screams and your womb be cursed, barren, and a source of death. Foul daughter of the devil!”

A flicker of something showed in Penny’s face for the first time—disgust? Regret? Fear? The woman had obviously never killed before. She was having to work up to it, and her mouth flattened into a line of determination. “I don’t give a shit what you say.”

Penny was close enough now that Sophie could see the woman’s finger tightening on the trigger.

Sophie shut her eyes—and a blow from the side slammed her to the ground, knocking the wind out of her.

The thunder of gunfire overhead caused Sophie to draw in her knees and curl her arms over her head, trying to shield herself—but another body was already on top of her, protecting her.

The barrage stopped.

Even through the odor of gunshot residue, Sophie recognized Jake’s unique scent and the heft and feel of his body on hers—but the heavy form on top of her didn’t move.

“Jake!” Sophie screamed his name but couldn’t hear it through the ringing of her ears, deafened by the gunshots. She wriggled out from under his body, scanning to see if Penny was still a threat—but the woman was crumpled on the ground, her pistol still in her hand. Sophie ran over and kicked the weapon away, then returned to crouch over Jake’s still form.

Blood poured down his face, obscuring it. His arm was extended, his weapon fallen from an unresponsive hand.

“Jake! Jake, no!” Sophie dropped to the ground and drew his head into her lap, heedless of the blood, and wept.