At 9:07 a.m., the Westchester estate lost power.

Adrian knew immediately it wasn't an outage.

The backup generators should have activated in under three seconds.

They didn't.

"Safe room," he said.

Evelyn grabbed Theo.

Adrian drew his phone.

No signal.

The internal security system was dead.

Theo looked at the wall panel.

"Someone disabled it remotely."

"Can you restore it?"

"Maybe."

"No maybe."

Theo frowned at him.

"I'm five."

Adrian stared.

"Fair."

They moved toward the safe room.

Then the front gates opened.

Theo saw it on the emergency tablet.

"Someone has master access."

Adrian looked at Evelyn.

"Vincent."

A vehicle entered the estate.

But it wasn't Vincent.

Nico stepped out.

Adrian opened the door.

"Where the hell were you?"

"Someone killed our communications."

Nico entered carrying a portable radio.

"Vincent disappeared from Moretti Tower forty minutes ago."

Evelyn's stomach tightened.

"Where?"

"We don't know."

Theo spoke.

"I do."

Everyone turned.

"No," Adrian said immediately.

Theo ignored him.

"When I copied Vincent's files, I put a beacon inside one."

Nico stared.

"You planted malware?"

Theo looked offended.

"It's not malware."

"What is it?"

"A tracker."

"That's malware."

"Only if you're boring."

Adrian crouched.

"Can you locate him?"

Theo opened his laptop.

A map appeared.

One blinking point.

Hudson Valley.

Evelyn went still.

Adrian noticed.

"What?"

"I know that place."

"Where?"

"An old Moretti property."

Nico enlarged the map.

"Hawthorne Lodge."

Adrian stared at the name.

Project Hawthorne.

Of course.

---

They didn't bring Theo.

That was the plan.

It lasted seventeen minutes.

Adrian ordered six security men to stay with him at Westchester.

Evelyn and Adrian left with Nico.

Halfway to Hudson Valley, Adrian's phone rang.

Margaret.

"Your son is missing."

Adrian closed his eyes.

"What?"

"He locked the security staff out of the computer room."

Nico muttered something.

Margaret continued.

"Then he apparently exited through a service corridor."

Adrian looked at Evelyn.

She already knew.

"Theo."

Nico checked the vehicle tracker.

Then swore.

"He's in the second security SUV."

Adrian turned.

Behind them, another black vehicle followed.

"Pull over."

The convoy stopped.

Adrian opened the rear door of the second SUV.

Theo sat between two very embarrassed security guards.

His dinosaur backpack was on his lap.

Adrian stared at him.

Theo smiled weakly.

"Hi."

Evelyn appeared behind Adrian.

"Theodore Carter."

Theo's smile vanished.

Full name.

Danger.

"I can explain."

"No."

"But—"

"No."

Adrian rubbed his face.

"We're turning around."

Theo shook his head.

"You need me."

"We absolutely do not."

"You can't open Vincent's encrypted archive."

"Nico can."

Nico appeared.

"Eventually."

Adrian glared at him.

Nico corrected himself.

"Very quickly."

Theo folded his arms.

"I built the tracker."

Evelyn looked ready to explode.

Then Theo said quietly:

"He threatened me because I found his secret. If I stop now, he wins."

Adrian stared at him.

Five years old.

Too intelligent.

Too brave.

Far too much like both of them.

Adrian crouched.

"This isn't a game."

"I know."

"People can get hurt."

"I know."

"That's why you're staying in the car with four guards."

Theo opened his mouth.

"That's the deal."

Theo considered.

"Six guards."

Adrian almost laughed.

"Four."

"Five."

"Fine."

Theo nodded.

"Deal."

Evelyn stared at Adrian.

"You negotiated with him?"

"He started it."

---

Hawthorne Lodge had been abandoned for three years.

Vincent was waiting inside.

No army.

No dramatic ambush.

Just one man sitting beside a fireplace.

He looked at Adrian.

Then Evelyn.

"Five years."

Adrian entered.

Nico remained near the door.

"Why?"

Vincent poured himself a drink.

"You'll have to be more specific."

"Forty-eight million."

Vincent smiled.

"More."

"The threat."

His smile faded.

Evelyn stepped forward.

"You knew I was pregnant."

"Yes."

"You sent the ultrasound."

"Yes."

Adrian's jaw tightened.

Vincent looked at him.

"She would have destroyed everything."

"She was exposing you."

"She was exposing the family."

"No. You were stealing from it."

Vincent laughed.

"You still don't understand."

He stood.

"Your father built an empire. You inherited it and started turning it into a corporation."

"Because prison isn't a retirement plan."

"You made us weak."

Adrian's voice remained calm.

"You threatened my child."

Vincent looked toward the window.

"That child made you weaker."

Evelyn stepped between them.

"No. He made Adrian harder to control."

Vincent looked at her.

"You were always too clever."

"Not clever enough. I trusted you."

"Exactly."

Nico's radio crackled.

Vincent smiled.

"Do you think I came here without insurance?"

Adrian didn't move.

"What insurance?"

Vincent pulled a flash drive from his pocket.

"Everything."

Moretti transactions.

Names.

Accounts.

Records that could bury Adrian along with Vincent.

"You expose me," Vincent said, "and your legitimate little empire dies with me."

Adrian looked at the drive.

Vincent continued.

"Give me Evelyn."

The room went silent.

"And the boy disappears from New York."

Adrian's expression didn't change.

Vincent smiled.

"Five years ago, you would have understood."

"Five years ago, I was an idiot."

Evelyn looked at him.

Vincent's smile disappeared.

Adrian took one step forward.

"You made me hunt the woman who was trying to save me."

Another step.

"You made me believe she betrayed me."

Another.

"And you threatened my son before he was born."

Vincent lifted his chin.

"A woman and a child made you weak."

Adrian stopped.

"No."

His voice was quiet.

"They gave me something to lose."

A laptop on Vincent's desk suddenly turned on.

Everyone looked at it.

Pink.

A cartoon pig appeared.

Vincent's face changed.

"No."

Theo's voice came through the speakers.

"Hi."

Adrian closed his eyes.

Evelyn whispered, "I'm going to kill him."

Theo continued.

"Not Dad. Vincent."

Nico coughed.

Vincent rushed toward the laptop.

Every file on the screen began copying.

"What did you do?"

Theo's voice remained cheerful.

"You shouldn't reuse encryption keys."

Vincent unplugged the laptop.

The screen stayed on.

Theo had already transferred control elsewhere.

Folders opened.

Accounts.

Messages.

Photographs.

Transaction records.

Everything.

Nico looked at his tablet.

"He's dumping Vincent's archive into our secure server."

Vincent turned toward Adrian.

"Stop him."

Adrian almost smiled.

"I can't."

"You control him."

From the speaker came Theo's voice.

"No, he doesn't."

Evelyn covered her face.

Even Adrian couldn't argue with that.

Vincent grabbed the flash drive.

Nico moved.

The door opened behind them.

Federal agents entered.

Daniel Cross walked in first.

"Vincent Moretti."

Vincent stared at Adrian.

"You called the FBI?"

"No."

Evelyn looked toward Nico.

Nico shook his head.

Daniel held up his phone.

"We received an anonymous package containing several years of financial records."

Everyone slowly looked at the laptop.

The pig wore sunglasses.

Theo said:

"You're welcome."

---

Two hours later, Adrian walked toward the security SUV.

Theo sat inside.

Arms folded.

Waiting.

Adrian opened the door.

Theo looked nervous.

"Am I grounded?"

"Until you're thirty."

"That's unreasonable."

"Twenty-five."

"Still unreasonable."

Evelyn arrived.

"Thirty."

Theo sighed.

"Can we negotiate?"

"No," they said together.

Theo looked between them.

Then smiled.

"You're getting better at that."

Adrian stared at him.

Then pulled the boy into his arms.

Theo froze.

Adrian didn't care.

For five years, Vincent had stolen something from all three of them.

Time.

Truth.

Trust.

He couldn't return any of it.

But he could decide what happened next.

Theo's arms slowly wrapped around his neck.

"Does this mean I'm less grounded?"

"No."

"Worth a try."

Evelyn laughed.

Adrian looked at her over Theo's shoulder.

The laughter faded.

Something quieter replaced it.

They weren't finished.

Vincent had been exposed.

But the empire he built his crimes inside still existed.

And the flash drive Vincent carried contained enough evidence to force Adrian into one final choice.

Protect the Moretti empire.

Or protect the family he had just found.