The board meeting was starting in less than forty minutes, but my hands were freezing as I gripped the brass key.

I knew I had to make a choice.

I slipped the paper into my pocket and walked back inside, the wet cold still clinging to my skin.

But I was no longer thinking about the board or the voting shares.

My mind was entirely on the address written at the bottom of the note.

A location I hadn’t visited since the night of my accident.

I reached the lobby elevators and pressed the button for the top floor.

As the doors slid open, my phone rang yet again in my palm.

This time, the screen showed it was the secure line from the state penitentiary holding facility.

They were calling about Jared.

I stood in the empty elevator cab, the metal doors beginning to close.

I looked at the green accept button on the screen, my thumb hovering over the glass.

I slid my thumb across the glass and lifted the phone to my ear.

“Shelby,” Jared’s voice was thin, static cutting through the connection from the jail.