“No.”

Rachel grabbed his arm.

“Michael, listen.”

“No one is taking Lucas.”

“I know.”

“Then tell me why David wants him.”

Rachel looked toward the woods.

“We need to move first.”

Thomas appeared.

When he saw Rachel, relief crossed his face.

“You’re okay.”

“For now.”

Emily ran from the cabin.

She froze.

“Rachel?”

Rachel smiled.

“Hi, Emily.”

Emily burst into tears.

Lucas came next.

He stopped.

For three years, his mother had existed only in photographs.

Now she stood twenty feet away.

“Mom?”

Rachel broke.

“Lucas.”

He ran.

Rachel dropped to her knees.

Lucas crashed into her arms.

She held him so tightly he could barely breathe.

Sophie remained near Michael.

Confused.

She had been too young.

Rachel looked at her.

“Hi, Sophie.”

Sophie stared.

“Are you my mommy?”

Rachel’s face crumpled.

“Yes.”

Sophie looked at Michael.

He nodded.

The little girl slowly approached.

Rachel opened her arms.

Sophie stepped into them.

And Rachel began sobbing.

Michael looked away.

For three years, he had imagined this impossible moment.

But even now, danger surrounded them.

Thomas interrupted.

“We have vehicles approaching.”

Rachel immediately stood.

“How many?”

“Two.”

“David.”

They ran.

Thomas led them through the woods to a second vehicle.

Gunshots cracked behind them.

Michael covered Lucas.

Rachel carried Sophie.

Emily drove.

Thomas fired toward their pursuers.

They escaped onto the highway.

Twenty minutes later, Rachel finally explained.

“David doesn’t want Lucas because of the ledger.”

“Then why?”

“Hayes Holdings.”

Michael frowned.

“He’s eight.”

“The company trust was rewritten after your mother died.”

Michael remembered.

His mother, Margaret Hayes, had died when he was nineteen.

“What does that have to do with Lucas?”

“Your mother didn’t trust William.”

Michael stared.

“My father?”

“She created a hidden succession clause.”

Rachel continued.

“If William or any of his sons were connected to criminal activity involving Hayes Holdings, voting control would pass to the oldest innocent descendant.”

Michael looked at Lucas.

“No.”

Rachel nodded.

“Lucas.”

Michael laughed in disbelief.

“David wants an eight-year-old to control the company?”

“No.”

“He wants to control Lucas.”

Michael felt sick.

“Through guardianship.”

“Yes.”

The same reason Victoria had tried to isolate the children.

Rachel continued.

“David’s plan was to remove you.”

“Kill me?”

“Eventually.”

“And marry Victoria?”

“No.”

Michael stared.

“Then why put Victoria in my life?”

“To destabilize the family.”

Rachel’s expression hardened.

“David knew Victoria was ambitious. He encouraged her to get close to you. He knew she’d eventually turn against him.”

“Why?”

“Because then he could blame everything on her.”

Michael understood.

Victoria had been both operative and future scapegoat.

“What about my father?”

“William knew David was alive.”

Michael froze.

“What?”

“He has known for ten years.”

Michael felt something inside him break.

Another lie.

Another fake death.

Rachel continued.

“William believed David could control the network better than Edward Langford.”

“So my father helped him become Shepherd.”

“Yes.”

Michael stared through the windshield.

“And then David turned on him.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because David doesn’t want Hayes Holdings.”

Rachel looked at Lucas.

“He wants what’s beneath it.”

Thomas frowned.

“What?”

Rachel removed a key from around her neck.

“Your grandfather built Hayes Tower during the Cold War.”

Michael stared.

“I know.”

“There’s an archive beneath it.”

“What kind?”

“Every illegal transaction the Hayes family ever made.”

Thomas whispered:

“The original ledger.”

Rachel nodded.

“The paper ledger everyone is hunting is only an index.”

Michael understood.

“The real evidence is under Hayes Tower.”

“Yes.”

“And Lucas?”

“Your mother changed the access system before she died.”

Michael felt cold.

“Don’t tell me.”

“Two biological Hayes descendants are required.”

“Me and Lucas.”

“Yes.”

David needed Michael alive long enough to open the archive.

Then he needed Lucas as the innocent heir.

Michael whispered:

“That’s why he wants us at Hayes Tower.”

Rachel nodded.

“He needs both of you.”

Thomas asked:

“Then why tell Michael to bring the drive?”

“Because he doesn’t know I discovered the archive access protocol.”

Michael looked at Rachel.

“You have a plan.”

“Yes.”

He laughed.

“I hate those words now.”

For the first time, Rachel smiled.

It disappeared quickly.

“We let David believe he’s winning.”

“No.”

“Michael—”

“You disappeared for three years because you decided what was safest for everyone.”

Rachel went silent.

“You don’t get to do that anymore.”

He looked at her.

“We decide together.”

Rachel’s eyes filled.

“You’re right.”

That simple answer surprised him.

Michael continued.

“And the children don’t go anywhere near Hayes Tower.”

“Agreed.”

“Emily stays with them.”

Emily nodded.

Thomas asked:

“What about me?”

Michael looked at him.

“You know David.”

“Yes.”

“Then you’re coming.”

At 11:38 the next night, Hayes Tower stood dark against the Chicago skyline.

Michael entered through the underground garage.

Rachel beside him.

Thomas followed.

Detective Cole waited inside.

Michael immediately raised his weapon.

Rachel stopped him.

“He’s with us.”

Michael stared.

“You trust him?”

“No.”

Cole almost smiled.

“That makes two of us.”

They entered the service elevator.

Down.

Not up.

B2.

B3.

B4.

The display changed.

B5.

Michael frowned.

“There is no B5.”

Rachel inserted the key.

The elevator descended farther.

Doors opened.

A massive underground archive stretched before them.

Shelves.

Boxes.

Servers.

Decades of secrets.

David Hayes stood in the center.

Alive.

Michael stared at his brother.

Ten years older.

Silver beginning at his temples.

But unmistakably David.

“Little brother.”

Michael’s fists tightened.

“You let us bury you.”

David smiled.

“It was convenient.”

Rachel stepped forward.

“This ends tonight.”

David laughed.

“You’ve been saying that for three years.”

Thomas raised his weapon.

David looked at him.

“Careful, Tom.”

Armed men emerged from the shadows.

Cole cursed.

They were surrounded.

David looked at Michael.

“Where’s Lucas?”

“Safe.”

David’s smile disappeared.

“You were told to bring him.”

“No.”

“Then you wasted my time.”

Michael held up the drive.

“I brought this.”

David looked at it.

“The index.”

“Yes.”

David laughed.

“I don’t need it.”

Rachel had been right.

Michael asked:

“Then why ask for it?”

“To make sure you came.”

David stepped toward him.

“Because you’re the first key.”

Michael stared.

“And Lucas?”

“The second.”

“He’s not here.”

David smiled.

“Oh, Michael.”

His eyes moved toward the elevator.

“You still think you’re the only person who can be lied to.”

The elevator bell rang.

Michael turned.

The doors opened.

William Hayes stepped out.

Holding Lucas by the shoulder.

Michael’s world stopped.

“Dad?”

Lucas was terrified.

“Daddy!”

Michael raised his gun.

William pressed a pistol against Lucas’s side.

“Don’t.”

Michael stared at his father.

“You took my son.”

William’s eyes filled.

“I’m sorry.”

“Let him go.”

“I can’t.”

Rachel whispered:

“William…”

David smiled.

“Family reunions are exhausting.”

Michael looked at his father.

“Why?”

William’s hand trembled.

“David said Sophie would die if I didn’t.”

Michael closed his eyes.

Of course.

Fear.

Always fear.

David used people’s love as a weapon.

Michael lowered his gun.

“Take me instead.”

David laughed.

“I already have you.”

He gestured toward two scanners.

“Michael.”

One.

“Lucas.”

Two.

“Open the archive.”

“No.”

David looked at William.

William pressed the gun closer.

Lucas cried.