en

e heavy oak door. His heavy footsteps retreated, moving across t

. He just needed me out of his way. That was the reality

or. I pulled my knees up and focused on the gl

e iMessage thread. I typed the word *hou

ong block of text. Jasmine had sent a doz

on the edge of Lake Travis in Austin. It featured a sprawling green

school district house is only 1.2 million dollars. If w

stopped

ji, followed by the text: *I'll have the

dollars. P

re cash flow crisis. He begged me to cash out the fifty thousand dollars my late parents had left me-the only safety net I had in th

g. I searched t

. Jasmine was standing in front of the grille, holding Angel in her arms. Adrian stood right beside t

from years of cheap dish soap and hot water. I drove a ten-year-old Ford SUV

n't crying anymore. The tears had been bur

he control center and tapped the AirDrop icon,

two devices, my phone's name would register in this device's Ai

p, cracked phone from my sweatpants pocket, opened

ick

cture of th

ick

lar house contract, zooming in on Jasmi

Click.

felt like a hammer striking an anvil. I photographed the bank tran

y photos, building an airtight

rom the top of the secret phone's s

oom for too long. If Adrian came back and found t

d app refresh. I pressed the power button, plunging the screen into darkness. I g

f my sweatpants. I took a deep, shuddering breath, forcing the muscles

I turned on the faucet, ran wet hands thr

open and s

standing ri

e was adjusting his silk tie in the full-length mirror. He stopped and looked at me through

discount meat from the supermarket again? I told y

rnails digging so hard into my palm that I felt

apologetic smil

nt pancake