Margaret Bennett descended slowly.

Claire recognized her.

"Aunt Margaret?"

Her father's sister smiled.

"Hello, Claire."

Claire couldn't reconcile the woman before her with childhood memories.

Margaret had sent birthday cards.

Christmas gifts.

She had attended Claire's college graduation.

She had comforted Claire's mother at Thomas's funeral.

Now Thomas held a gun toward his own sister.

"You were supposed to stay away from her," he said.

Margaret smiled.

"I did. For seventeen years."

Adrian shifted closer to Claire.

Margaret noticed.

"So that's Adrian."

"You know me?"

"I knew your father."

Adrian's eyes hardened.

"Did you kill him?"

Margaret laughed.

"Straight to business."

Claire stepped forward.

"Did you?"

Margaret looked at her.

"No."

Thomas said, "She's lying."

"Then tell them."

Thomas's hand trembled.

Margaret smiled.

"That's what I thought."

Claire's mother struggled against the ropes.

"Please stop."

Claire moved toward her.

Margaret didn't interfere.

Claire untied her mother.

Adrian remained watchful.

Claire hugged her.

Then she turned.

"No one leaves until I understand."

Margaret raised an eyebrow.

"You're definitely Thomas's daughter."

"Start talking."

Margaret sat.

"Your father and Adrian's father built an empire together."

Adrian corrected her.

"A criminal empire."

Margaret smiled.

"Your father became moral after becoming wealthy. How convenient."

"What happened?"

"They discovered someone was using their shipping routes for trafficking."

Claire's stomach turned.

"Drugs?"

Margaret shook her head.

"People."

Silence.

Adrian went pale.

He hadn't known.

Margaret continued.

"Thomas and Dominic Vale decided to expose the network."

Thomas looked away.

"But someone offered Thomas a choice."

Claire already knew.

"Me."

Thomas nodded.

"They had photographs of you walking to school."

Claire felt sick.

"They said if I helped them eliminate Dominic, you lived."

Adrian stared at Thomas.

"And you agreed."

Thomas's eyes filled with shame.

"Yes."

Claire looked at Adrian.

His jaw tightened.

But he didn't attack.

He didn't shout.

He asked one question.

"Did you kill my father?"

"No."

Margaret smiled.

"I did."

Everyone turned.

Margaret's calm expression didn't change.

"Thomas lost his nerve."

Adrian raised his weapon.

Claire moved in front of him.

"Adrian."

"Move."

"No."

"Claire."

She held his gaze.

"Don't become what she expects."

His breathing changed.

Margaret watched with interest.

Adrian slowly lowered the gun.

Claire understood then.

He had failed so many rules on paper.

Dangerous.

Powerful.

Possessive tendencies.

A criminal family.

But the rules that mattered?

He listened.

He stopped when she asked.

Even now.

Margaret's smile disappeared.

"Interesting."

Claire turned.

"What?"

"His father couldn't do that."

Adrian's expression sharpened.

Margaret continued.

"Dominic loved control more than people. Adrian apparently learned differently."

Claire felt Adrian's eyes on her.

She refused to look.

Not now.

Margaret stood.

"Unfortunately, this reunion has gone on long enough."

Footsteps sounded upstairs.

Vincent shouted.

Then gunfire cracked outside.

Claire's mother screamed.

Adrian immediately pushed Claire behind a stone support column.

"Stay down."

Claire almost objected.

Then another shot hit the wall.

"Reasonable exception," she muttered.

Adrian looked at her in disbelief.

"Did you just make a joke?"

"I'm stressed."

Margaret ran toward another door.

Thomas chased her.

"Margaret!"

Claire grabbed Adrian.

"My father."

Adrian looked toward Thomas.

Then at Claire.

He went after him.

Claire followed.

They reached a tunnel beneath the house.

Margaret disappeared into darkness.

Thomas leaned against the wall.

Blood spread across his shoulder.

"Dad!"

Claire caught him.

Adrian knelt.

"Through-and-through."

Thomas looked at him.

"You could leave me."

"Yes."

"You should."

Adrian tore fabric and pressed it against the wound.

"I don't take advice from men who abandon their daughters."

Thomas almost laughed.

Claire stared at Adrian.

There it was again.

The rule that mattered.

He didn't leave.

Vincent appeared.

"We need to move."

"Margaret?"

"Gone."

Claire helped her father stand.

Thomas whispered, "She'll go for the ledger."

"What ledger?"

He looked at Adrian.

"Your father's insurance policy."

Adrian froze.

"Where?"

Thomas looked at Claire.

"Your apartment."

Claire stared.

"My apartment?"

"I hid it there years ago."

"Without telling me?"

"I thought it was the safest place."

Adrian's phone vibrated.

A security alert.

Claire's apartment camera had detected movement.

He opened the feed.

A figure walked through Claire's living room.

Margaret.

Claire stared at the screen.

Then another figure appeared behind her.

A man.

Adrian dropped the phone slightly.

Claire looked at him.

"You know him."

Adrian's face had gone white.

"Yes."

"Who is he?"

The man turned toward the camera.

Adrian whispered:

"My brother."

Claire looked at him.

"You told me you didn't have a brother."

"I don't."

On the screen, the man smiled.

Then he held up a handwritten sign.

ADRIAN, BRING CLAIRE HOME.

The feed went black.