“They will ask you about the clinic, Avery,” Sayer warned.

“Let them,” I said.

My phone lit up again on the desk, the screen glowing bright in the dim office.

The caller ID showed an unlisted number.

I hesitated, my hand hovering over the glass.

“Answer it,” Calvin said.

I swiped the screen and put the phone to my ear.

“Avery,” a familiar, soft voice said.

It was my mother.

“I saw the news,” she said, her tone dripping with false sympathy.

“You published it,” I said, my voice cold.

“I did what I had to do to protect Elliot’s legacy from someone who isn’t well,” she said.

“I am fine, Mother,” I said.

“You don’t look fine on the front page, darling,” she said.

I could hear the faint sound of a fire crackling in the background on her end.

She was likely at her hotel in Aspen, warm and dry.

“There is a way to make this go away,” she said.

“I know about the settlement,” I said. “I know about Apex.”

“Then you know it’s the only way Northline survives,” she said.