“Why should I trust you?” I asked, keeping my flashlight pointed at the floor between us.

“You’ve lied to me since the day you married my father.”

Yasmin let out a harsh, dry laugh.

“This isn’t about trust,” she said.

“This is about survival.”

“Look at me.”

She held up her hands, and I could see they were shaking violently.

“I have spent ten years building a life of luxury.”

“I did not do all that just to end up in a federal penitentiary.”

“Mark is a monster, but he is a sloppy one.”

“He thinks he is untouchable because of his family name.”

“But he is bleeding money, Alana.”

“The debts in Fremont are astronomical.”

“The banks are threatening to foreclose on the main house next month.”

“That is why he needs Abigail’s estate so badly.”

“He needs the Sonoma ranch to pay off the offshore accounts.”

I felt a hard lump form in my throat at the mention of my grandmother’s land.

“Abigail worked her whole life for that land,” I said.

“I know,” Yasmin said.