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“I suppose you want me to recant so your mother goes free?” He starts to laugh but instead groans in pain.

“I don’t care if my mother goes to jail.” I walk around the end of his bed so I can watch the door. The nurse isn’t scheduled to check on him for another hour. I have some time to ask him what I need to know.

“Then why are you here?” Zach turns his head to look at me slowly, like every move is agonizing, but he’s trying not to let it show. “I didn’t fuck your bitch. So if she’s pregnant, it’s not mine.”

I tilt my head to the side. Rage wells inside me, but my cold logic holds it at bay. Why the taunt? We know that none of them touched Harper that night. Maybe he’s realized how expendable he is and what will happen once he gets better.

“Do you want to die?” My voice is calm.

He lets out a low chuckle. “I’m already dead. It’s only a matter of time before he finishes me off.”

Makes sense. He tried to cross William Foster. He tried to do a lot of things to a lot of people, but crossing William Foster is a death sentence.

“Good. Then you have no reason to lie to me,” I say. “When you spoke to William Foster, you said he told you if you gave them my mother, you’d get out of jail free.”

“Yeah, a lot of fucking good that did. Fuckers were grateful to have her, but the DEA wanted the big guns. They said she wasn’t the one they wanted. They hoped she’d be willing to cooperate though.” Zach looks away and drags in a raspy breath. He tries to shift on his bed, but groans in pain. “Couldn’t give me a reduced sentence either. I apparently went too big. Drugging, kidnapping, inciting panic, distributing pharmacy-grade drugs. My list was too long for them to whittle it down to a noise complaint.”

He chuckles but stops as a look of pain crosses his face.

I glance at the bag hanging on his IV pole. He’s getting morphine to help with the pain, but he’s tapped out on the button for now.

“When did William tell you about my mother?” I need to know if William knew Zach planned to attack Harper. Because that shit will come out, and if William knew, Luke will kill him. Luke going to prison would kill Harper. Maybe not literally, but they need each other. I will do anything to protect all of them.

They’re my family. My future.

“He came to see me that night at the police station.” Zach tries to smile, but it’s horribly distorted because of the swelling in his face. “He came into my cell and said if I wanted to see the light of day ever again, I needed to do exactly as he said. Even offered me a job when I got out of there.”

I let out a dismissive noise. “I don’t think the job is still on the table.”

Zach looks down at his bandaged hands. “No. Now I’m just a dead man walking.”

The door opens, letting light into the dim room. Before I shift back behind the curtain, I catch a glimpse of nurse’s scrubs and move farther into the shadowy corner. The on-duty nurse shouldn’t come in for another forty-five minutes.

“Is it time for my scrub bath?” Zach asks almost happily. “Last request of a dying man?”

“No scrub bath tonight.”

My heart freezes. Jennifer? She works labor and delivery. What is she doing here?

She walks around the bed, and I hear her working on the machines and clicking on the keyboard. Will Zach out me to Jennifer? Tell her I’m here so I get in trouble? If he does, at least it’s Jennifer. I don’t trust most adults, but I trust her.

“You remind me of someone,” Zach says.

“I have a daughter your age.”

“Yeah?” Zach sounds a little unsure now. “I can’t reach my call button.”

“You know her,” Jennifer continues like Zach didn’t say anything. “She knows you. You know what’s funny? I made the deal of a lifetime in exchange for finishing you off, but I would have done it for free.”

“You’re her mother.” There’s real fear in Zach’s voice.

“Yeah, but I’m not just here for Harper. I’m here for Olivia and Izzy and even Sidney. I’m here for the girls you already raped who never spoke up, and the ones you were going to rape in college and get away with. And the ones that would have come along later. I’m here because you’re a piece of shit who would have started trafficking women for money.”

“I didn’t⁠—”

“No, you didn’t get to do that last part.” Jennifer sighs. “I would have shut you down if you had. You aren’t the only one with friends, Zach. But I’m glad you didn’t succeed. Now you’ll never succeed.”

His voice shakes. “You should check with William Fos⁠—”