“My father’s death was an accident.”
“Of course.”
Amelia saw Dante’s jaw tighten.
Voss continued.
“Tell Miss Hayes that her brother is alive.”
Amelia moved closer to the phone.
“Where is he?”
Voss heard her.
“Miss Hayes. I’m sorry for what happened to you.”
“You know exactly what happened.”
“I know Raymond has always been… impulsive.”
“Where’s Ethan?”
“He contacted me.”
Amelia froze.
“What?”
“He requested a meeting.”
“Why?”
“To negotiate.”
“For what?”
“Your safety.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Let me speak to him.”
“I’m afraid that isn’t possible.”
Dante said, “Then this conversation is over.”
“Not quite.”
Voss’s voice sharpened for the first time.
“I want the ledger.”
“It’s gone,” Amelia said.
“No. The device taken from your apartment contained an encrypted archive, but Ethan designed the system with redundancy.”
She looked at Dante.
Voss knew more than she did.
“There is another copy.”
“Where?”
“You tell me.”
“I don’t know.”
“I believe you.”
That frightened her.
“Then what do you want?”
“Ethan will know.”
“Let him go.”
“I’m not holding him.”
“Where is he?”
A pause.
“At this moment? I genuinely don’t know.”
Dante frowned.
“What happened?”
Voss sighed.
“Raymond happened.”
The line went dead.
Twenty minutes later they understood.
Raymond had intercepted Ethan before Voss could move him to a secure location.
Security footage from a motel parking lot showed Raymond’s rented SUV chasing the blue sedan.
A collision.
Gunshots.
Victor Sanz wounded.
Ethan escaping on foot.
Raymond following.
By evening, both men had vanished into Las Vegas.
Amelia refused to remain in Chicago.
This time Dante didn’t stop her.
He chartered a plane.
Ben stayed with Mrs. Alvarez under police protection.
As the jet climbed through the clouds, Amelia sat across from Dante.
“You don’t have to come.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
He looked out the window.
“Voss mentioned my father.”
“So?”
“My father died when his car went off a bridge.”
“I’m sorry.”
“The brakes failed.”
Amelia understood.
“You think Voss had something to do with it?”
“I think I stopped believing in coincidences several hours ago.”
The flight landed shortly before midnight.
Dante’s team met them on the tarmac.
They had found Ethan.
Or rather, Ethan had found them.
He had walked into a police station thirty minutes earlier.
In his pocket was a flash drive.
And a handwritten note addressed to Amelia.
She opened it in the back seat of the SUV.
Mia, Raymond knows Ben isn’t his son.
She read the sentence twice.
Then a third time.
Dante noticed her expression.
“What?”
Amelia handed him the note.
His eyes moved across the words.
He looked up.
“What does that mean?”
Amelia’s lips parted.
“I don’t know.”
But somewhere deep inside, she did.
Because there was one night she had spent three years trying not to remember.
One night during a brief separation from Raymond.
One stranger.
One kindness.
One mistake.
And a name she had never known.
Dante read the next line aloud.
The truth about Ben is inside the ledger.
