Four months ago: Sara Zapata’s best friend disappeared, kidnapped by the web of criminals who terrorize Juàrez. Four weeks ago: Her brother, Emiliano, fell in love with Perla Rubi, a girl whose family is as rich as her name. Four hours ago: Sara received a death threat…and her first clue her friend’s location. Four minutes ago: Emiliano was offered a way into Perla Rubi’s world—if he betrays his own. In the next four days, Sara and Emiliano will each face impossible choices, between life and justice, friends and family, truth and love. But when the criminals come after Sara, only one path remains for both the siblings: the way across the desert to the United States.

What does it mean to be illegal in the United States? Life in Mexico is a death sentence for Emiliano and his sister Sara. To escape the violent cartel that is after them, they flee across the border, seeking a better life in the United States and hoping that they can find a way to bring their pursuers to justice. Sara turns herself over to the authorities to apply for asylum. Emiliano enters the country illegally, planning to live with their father. But now Sara is being held indefinitely in a detention facility, awaiting an asylum hearing that may never come, finding it harder every day to hold on to her faith and hope. Life for Emiliano is not easy either. Everywhere he goes, it's clear that he doesn't belong. And all the while, the cartel is closing in on them... Emiliano sets off on a tense and dangerous race to find justice, but can he expose the web of crimes from his place in the shadows? Award-winning author Francisco X. Stork's powerful follow-up to Disappeared delves into the corruption and racism that hides under the guise of the law in the United States. With an unsparing look at the asylum process and the journey to find a new life in the US, this is a timely and moving story