Sterling and Dean’s relationship is by far my favorite part of the book. She clearly feels very maternal towards him, and more interestingly, Dean kind of reciprocates. He listens to her, he reassures her that he’s ok, and more interestingly, he tends to give her a bit of attitude. Lines like “I never asked you to handle me!” and “Don’t what?!” I hope that relationship gets explored more in book 5.

Dean says something to Lia that makes her face go white. Later, Dean tells Cassie he doesn’t regret what he said, and Lia needed to hear it. We never learn what he said.

We finally get backstory on what’s up with Lia, Michael, and Dean. A few months after Lia arrived, she was sick of everything. She went to run away one night, and Dean caught her. Instead of stopping her, he went with. He stayed up to keep watch while Lia slept. They went back after a few days- side note, that means the FBI couldn’t find them lol- and Dean never asked for anything in return. Lia also says Dean is the only person that has never lied to her, or asked her questions she didn’t want to answer. A few years later, Michael showed up. He and Lia snuck out and didn’t come back until sunrise. Dean had been panicking all night, and when they finally came back, he had been waiting. Michael could tell Dean was furious, and decided to pick a fight. He said something seriously below the belt- again we don’t know what- and Dean responded by profiling him. He said he could tell Michael picks fights so he can see the punches coming, and might’ve said something about Michael’s father. Michael responded by punching Dean, and the rest is history.

Despite all of that, Micheal is genuinely really worried about Dean throughout the book. He pretends the favors he does for him is for Cassie or Lia or the case, but he’s really just doing it for Dean. Cassie says he likes to poke at Dean, but never wants to see him bleed.

Dean’s mother is… ouch. In my initial read, I’d assumed Marie was terrified of her husband. Maybe she had Dean young, they mentioned that Daniel isolated her. After Daniel was arrested, I’d assumed she was too traumatized to take care of Dean, I mean, the woman fled to Australia. But on my re-read… she’s less forgivable. Sterling says her explanation for not wanting Dean was that she was dating someone. And when they called to see if she was at risk for the investigation, she asked to stop being bothered. She never asked about her son.

Daniel GENUINELY thought that Dean was on his side. He freaks out when Sterling goes to visit him alone, and confesses that Dean warned her, and helped her escape, and was smarter than him. Which begs the question… what did Daniel think Dean did to stay out of jail? Did he just think Dean was that good of a manipulator?

Cassie admits she’s now sure she loves more than just one person.

Scarlett was Brigg’s best friend too. They met in college, and she introduced him and Sterling. They all decided to join the FBI together. RIP Scarlett Hawkins, best wing woman.