“Will you get your lawyer to speak to the prosecutor for me?”

I looked at his desperate, pleading eyes.

“Why should I believe anything you say?” I asked.

“Because I know how she got Olivia to do it,” Ethan said quickly.

I froze, my chest tightening.

“What do you mean?”

“Olivia didn’t do this just for the money,” Ethan whispered.

He leaned closer, his breath warm against my cheek.

“Olivia was drowning in debt,” he said.

“She owed hundreds of thousands of dollars to private lenders.”

“Some of it was from her failed boutique, but most of it was gambling debt from her trips to Black Hawk.”

I stared at him, my mind spinning.

Olivia had always loved the casinos, but I never knew it was that bad.

She had kept it all hidden behind designer clothes and a fake smile.

“My mother found out,” Ethan continued.

“She bought up all of Olivia’s debt through one of her shell companies.”

“She held those promissory notes over Olivia’s head.”

“She threatened to ruin her, to put her in jail, to take away her home.”