"Elias," Wade said. The president's voice was heartbreakingly gentle. "Look at me."
Elias slowly raised his head. His eyes were red-rimmed, swimming in a cocktail of terror and shame. He didn't deny it. He didn't fight. He just exhaled a shaky, rattling breath.
"I had to," Elias whispered.
Rhett lunged.
Cal caught him by the collar of his cut, digging his boots into the concrete, hauling the heavier man back. "Hold up, Rhett! Hold up!"
"He tried to kill me!" Rhett roared, thrashing against Cal's grip.
"Stand down, Rhett!" Wade barked, his command voice cracking like a whip. It was the voice of a man who had commanded troops in hellish conditions. Rhett stopped moving, though his chest heaved.
Wade walked around the table until he was standing directly over Elias. "Why?"
Elias buried his face in his hands. "The rezoning thing... it's a front, Wade. The Diablo cartel out of Peoria bought off the councilman. They want this stretch of road for a distribution pipeline. They told me... they told me if I didn't get Rhett out of the picture, they were going to burn this whole building down with all of us inside. They knew I owed money from before the divorce. They bought my debt."
"So you gave them my life?" Rhett spat.
"They said they just wanted you in the hospital!" Elias cried, looking up, tears tracking through the grime on his face. "Just out of commission for a month so they could muscle in! I thought... I thought you'd lay it down on the dirt road, break a leg, survive. I didn't want to kill you, brother."
"I am not your brother," Rhett said coldly.
The punishment in the Iron Veil was absolute, but Wade Sutter was not a murderer.
"Take off the cut, Elias," Wade said quietly.
Elias let out a pathetic sob. He slowly unzipped his leather vest—the only armor he had left in the world, the only family that had taken him in when he was sleeping in his truck. He laid it gently on the scarred wooden table.
"You have until sundown to get out of Carver Falls," Wade told him. "If the Diablos find you, that's your problem. If we find you, it’s going to be a much worse problem."
Elias stood up, shivering. He didn't look at any of them as he walked to the front door, unbolted it, and stepped out into the freezing wind. They listened as his truck started and gravel kicked up, the sound fading into the distance.
Boone picked up the abandoned cut and folded it meticulously. "I'll strike him from the ledger."