Z

The emergency lights painted the hallway red.

For one awful second, all I could think about was Sophie.

Not Elena.

Not Dad.

Not the gunfire below us.

My baby.

“I’m going back to the hotel.”

Ethan blocked the door.

“No.”

“Move.”

“No.”

“My daughter is there.”

“And she is protected.”

“By your people.”

“Yes.”

“People someone just got past.”

His jaw tightened.

“That happened because Robert had access codes from twenty years ago. He doesn’t have access to Nora.”

“I don’t care.”

“You should.”

“I’m her mother.”

“And staying alive is part of that job.”

I hated him for saying it.

Mostly because he was right.

Then the fire alarm screamed.

Sprinklers exploded overhead.

Water poured across the room.

Smoke rolled under the far door.

“They’re flushing us out,” Mason said.

Ethan turned to his security chief.

“Garage route.”

“Compromised.”

“Roof?”

“Clear for now.”

We moved.

I never imagined myself running across a dark office tower beside Chicago’s most feared man while an armed team hunted us.

Yet there I was.

Barely five feet three.

Wearing cheap sneakers.

Hair unwashed.

Baby formula dried on my shirt.

And furious enough to follow anyone who could get me back to my daughter.

Halfway up the stairwell, Mason stopped.

“I can call him.”

Ethan turned.

“Who?”

“My father.”

“No.”

“He wants the ledger.”

“He wants every witness dead.”

“He won’t shoot me.”

Ethan gave him a look almost sad enough to be pity.

“You still believe that?”

Mason didn’t answer.

We reached the roof.

A helicopter waited.

The wind nearly knocked me backward.

Then Ethan’s phone rang.

Unknown number.

He answered on speaker.

Robert Reed.

“Patrick’s son.”

“Robert.”

“You sound like your father.”

“You sound older than your photograph.”

Robert laughed.

“You have Gabriel’s ledger.”

“I do.”

“And Rachel Morales.”

My skin crawled.

“She isn’t part of this.”

“She became part of it the moment Gabriel had children.”

Ethan’s voice changed.

Low.

Deadly.

“You go near her daughter and I will dismantle everything you’ve built before you die.”

My eyes snapped toward him.

Robert chuckled.

“There he is. That famous Callahan temper.”

“No temper.”

Ethan looked directly at the helicopter.

“Just information.”

A pause.

“I know where your accounts are. I know which judge still protects you. I know the shell company holding your property in Montenegro.”

Robert stopped laughing.

“You’re bluffing.”

“Ask Halpern.”

Silence.

Ethan had hit something.

Then Robert said, “You have two hours.”

“For what?”

“Bring the ledger to Pier 19.”

“And Elena?”

“You get the bride.”

The call ended.

Mason immediately spoke.

“We go.”

“No,” Ethan said.

“We can get Elena back.”

“No. He wants us concentrated in one place.”

“So?”

“So Robert Reed has never traded honestly in his life.”

I stared at Ethan.

“What do you suggest?”

“We make him believe we’re going.”

“And then?”

“We take everything your father collected to federal investigators.”

Mason laughed harshly.

“You think Halpern is the only compromised federal official?”

“No.”

“Then who do you trust?”

Ethan looked at me.

“Someone Gabriel trusted.”

My father’s recording mentioned a federal investigator.

Ethan’s team enhanced the audio and searched Patrick Callahan’s old records.

The name was Special Agent Samuel Brennan.

Retired.

Still alive.

Living outside Milwaukee.

Ethan called him.

Brennan answered on the third ring.

The moment Ethan said Gabriel Morales, the old man went silent.

Then he said, “Bring the girls somewhere safe.”

“The girls are adults now.”

“Not to me.”

My throat tightened.

He had known Dad.

Maybe really known him.

Brennan gave Ethan a location.

Before we left the roof, another call arrived.

This one came from Nora.

I snatched the phone.

“Sophie?”

“Sleeping,” Nora said.

I almost collapsed.

“Thank God.”

“Rachel, listen carefully.”

My relief disappeared.

“What?”

“Someone tried to enter the suite.”

“What?”

“They didn’t get through.”

Ethan took the phone.

“Who?”

“One hotel employee. Fake credentials.”

“Where is he?”

“Your men have him.”

Ethan cursed under his breath.

I grabbed his coat.

“I’m going to my daughter.”

He looked at me.

“Now.”

This time, he nodded.

No argument.

The helicopter landed on the hotel roof twelve minutes later.

I ran.

I didn’t care who saw me.

I burst into the suite and found Sophie laughing on the bed while Nora held a stuffed elephant above her.

I started crying.

Sophie smiled at me.

That made me cry harder.

I picked her up.

Ethan remained by the door.

For several minutes, nobody spoke.

Then Nora quietly left.

Sophie grabbed my necklace.

“You scared Mommy,” I whispered.

“She seems fine.”

I looked at Ethan.

“You threatened someone because of her.”

“Yes.”

“You barely know her.”

“I know enough.”

“What does that mean?”

He approached slowly.

“It means children don’t inherit their parents’ wars.”

“That sounds personal.”

“It is.”

I remembered Daniel.

His brother.

“You think your brother died because your father’s enemies believed he inherited your father’s wars.”

“He did.”

“And you?”

“I inherited all of them.”

There was no pride in his voice.

That surprised me.

“Then why stay in this life?”

His expression tightened.

“Because leaving doesn’t erase the people who want your chair.”

“That sounds like an excuse.”

“It might be.”

For the first time, Ethan Callahan didn’t look like the King of Chicago.

He looked tired.

Lonely.

Human.

Sophie reached toward him.

He froze.

I laughed softly.

“She remembers you.”

“I doubt that.”

“She slept four hours on you.”

“That doesn’t make us friends.”

Sophie made an angry little noise until Ethan offered one finger.

She grabbed it.

Something shifted in his face.

I watched a man feared by half the city stand absolutely still because a six-month-old baby had wrapped her hand around his finger.

Then my phone rang.

Elena.

I answered immediately.

“Elena?”

Silence.

Then breathing.

“Rachel.”

“Where are you?”

“Pier 19.”

My heart stopped.

“They moved me.”

“Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay.”

She wasn’t.

I knew her voice.

“Listen,” Elena whispered. “Don’t bring them the ledger.”

“I’m bringing you home.”

“No.”

“I am.”

“Rachel.”

Her voice cracked.

“Robert has explosives.”

Everything inside me went cold.

“Where?”

“Under the pier.”

I looked at Ethan.

He heard.

Elena continued.

“He doesn’t plan to trade me.”

Then I understood.

Pier 19 wasn’t a meeting.

It was a grave.

Elena whispered one final sentence.

“He plans to kill everyone who comes.”

Then someone struck her.

The line went dead.

I looked at Ethan.

“You were right.”

His eyes remained on the phone.

“Yes.”

“What do we do?”

He looked toward Sophie.

Then at me.

“We break the promise I made eleven years ago.”

“What promise?”

“My father made me swear never to involve law enforcement in Callahan business.”

He took out his phone.

“Today, I stop keeping it.”