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“Some kids deserve to live, and some don’t,” she said without blinking.

“I concur,” Agnes, Heidi, and Ellen agreed.

They didn’t know that two out of the three boys she referenced were already dead because of me. I’d spare Mom Gigi the heartache of knowing her son had blood on his hands.

We ate and chatted some more. Agnes told me the Lunch Lady Club was still active, but not in the same capacity. They feared Harris Pharmaceuticals would go after them. They weren’t wrong. This was a multibillion-dollar company with dangerous people protecting their assets.

My hatred toward them was so powerful, I was afraid the throbbing vein in my neck would burst.

Around nine o’clock in the evening, Agnes saved me a trip by driving Vanessa’s mom back to her apartment and Mom Gigi and Ellen home. Vanessa wanted her mom to stay the night, but she refused. She wanted to have her own space to appreciate her freedom first. Vanessa promised to visit her every day.

When the house was quiet again, we sat on the couch in the living room with our hands linked.

“Thanks for this extravagant plan. How did you get the key to my apartment?”

“I own the building now.”

“I can’t keep up with you.” She kissed my cheek. “It’s like you have three brains all functioning at the same time.”

I gathered her into my arms. “I’m still trying to absorb what I’ve learned today about my mom knowing your mom.”

“It’s surreal and incredible.”

Mom Gigi said the lunch ladies only met to discuss issues and talk a little about their families, which was why she didn’t know Vanessa when she first met her. She only found out from Agnes, who had visited Heidi in prison. She knew who Vanessa was when she married us in Maui.

“Do we need to inform your mom about our fake marriage?” I asked.

“Yes.” Vanessa nodded. “She’ll want to hear the truth from us.”

“Okay.”

“She’s staying at my apartment now, so I can pay the lease.”

“Don’t insult me, Vanessa.”

She stiffened, straightened up, and considered me. “I don’t mean it in a bad way. It’s your property, and she’s living there. I can’t have her stay for free.”

“Who says she’s staying for free?” I pulled her to me. “You’re my girlfriend, and you’re paying me with your cooking and painting sessions.” I smiled, rubbing away the worry between her eyebrows. “I have a lot of properties, and I’m not losing any money by letting her stay there.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely, Lily Pad.”

She poked me in the chest. “Now I want to know how you extracted her safely. I thought you were just going to have your lawyer ask for a new trial.”

“That was the original thought, but I got some more information that made me revise the plan. Leo was going through with the rescue, even though you told him not to.”

“What?” She bolted up. “Why? They already got the money, which I took as a loss.”

I told her how Leo was using the extraction to create chaos for the city and the prison. That her mom was going to die—to create disorder—so they could launder illegal drugs for The Trogyn.

“I can’t believe there’s a drug lab in the prison’s basement.”

I described how my team pretended to be correctional officers driving the prisoners to pick up trash. They also got a woman’s body from the morgue the night before and dressed herin the same prison outfit. When the three attackers came, my men assisted the women to safety and killed the attackers. My men torched the van with the corpse inside. The city assumed Hannah Lam was dead.

When I finished the story, Vanessa gawked at me. “That sounded very calculated and complex.”

“It was.”