the successful real estate development business that she had founded shortly after immigrating to the US.
She had been hospitalized at the beginning of the summer after a fall had left her with a concussion, but she had been expected to make a full recovery. It seemed strange that a healthy and active woman like his grandmother would have gone downhill so quickly. Though perhaps the shock of losing her beloved son and daughter-in-law might have something to do with it. The death of his parents had been like a cataclysmic earthquake, opening deep fissures in the already troubled relationship between Steve and his two siblings.
"Pills? What kind of pills?" Steve demanded. "Did your doctor prescribe them? What are they for?"
His abuelita drew a shaky breath. "I—I don't know. I can't remember!" she wailed.
Then, to his horror, his strong, stoic grandmother began sobbing. The helpless, tearing sounds speared him through the chest.
He'd never witnessed her crying before.
After his grandfather had drowned in a scuba-diving accident when Steve was still in kindergarten, Steve's gentle father had been promoted to titular head of the Lopez jaguar shifter clan.
But everyone knew who the real power was. Despite being an Ordinary, his grandmother had established herself as the family's matriarch in her widowhood, loved and respected in equal parts.
It was shocking and deeply worrying to hear her sounding so frantic and fearful now.
She continued to speak through her sobs, but Steve caught only disconnected snatches of what she was trying to tell him.
"—hired a fancy lawyer…going to tell the judge that I have dementia…take everything away and put me in a home. You have to believe me!"
"I believe you," Steve assured her, sickness churning through him. "But you have to tell me exactly what's going on. Have you talked to Tina?"
"Ah, Valentina," his grandmother spoke his older sister's full name with venom in her tone. "That Malinche, she's helping your brother! She's the one who hired that nurse who's keeping me prisoner!"
She abruptly switched to a rapid stream of Spanish invective that Steve struggled to follow. He got the gist of it, that Tina was a traitor who was conspiring with Aarón…which shocked him, because his sister had never liked their brother much either.
"Have you told anyone else about these pills?" Steve asked, thinking, If Tina's actually helping Aarón, maybe there's a reason for it?
"I've tried! But they just speak to me like I'm a child and tell me that since the doctor prescribed them, I must take them to get well! They all think I'm losing my mind! And they've cut me off from my money and my friends. Help me, cariño!"
"Of course," Steve said without hesitation. "I'll talk to Tina, and if I have to, I'll get a lawyer to look into what's happening."
He was having a difficult time believing that Tina could do anything to harm their abuelita. He and his sister had been best friends as kids, and she had always stood up for him against Aarón's bullying.
But she'd been upset when he left San Diego to become a smokejumper, and they had drifted apart in the years since then. When they saw each other at Thanksgiving and Christmas, she spent a lot of time complaining about her lack of advancement in the family company.
Last Christmas, she had been upset that Aarón was clearly being fast-tracked to take over as CEO of the Vicario-Lopez Development Corporation once Abuelita Delfina retired.
Yeah, she hates our brother as much as I do. There's no way that she's helping him if he's trying to harm our abuelita.
"Oh, there you are, Mrs. Vicario-Lopez," said a cheery female voice in the background. "I've been looking everywhere for you. It's time for your pills."
Abuelita gasped. "Oh, no," she whispered.
"Who are you talking to?" The new voice turned chiding. "And how did you get that phone? You naughty thing!”
The call abruptly ended, leaving Steve more worried than ever.
He immediately dialed his sister's number.
"¡Hola, Steve!" Tina answered the phone warmly. "Are you back in civilization? I was going to try and call you this weekend. I saw the news, and I'm so proud of you for helping to save all those kids."
"Uh, thanks," Steve said, startled.
He'd been out of cell range all week, and his priorities upon returning to base had been to get a hot meal, followed by a shower and some clean clothes. He hadn't bothered to check his email or his newsfeeds yet.
He should have guessed that the helicopter rescue of those campers would have attracted the