I felt sick. My husband had sold us out. For what? Money, power, protection? The reasons didn’t matter. What mattered was survival, and he had chosen his side.

I had to act quickly. Jared would realize soon enough that his plan had failed. I closed the laptop, my resolve hardening. I needed to protect Eli at all costs. There was no time to dwell on heartbreak or betrayal.

Gathering a few essentials, I slipped out of the house and back to Mrs. Leverne’s. She was a godsend, offering comfort and shelter without questions. I knew it was temporary. We needed to disappear, to become ghosts in the wind.