Page 4

The SUV drove for almost forty minutes.

Nobody spoke.

Lily slept peacefully against my chest, completely unaware of what was happening.

Finally, we stopped outside a large house surrounded by trees and security cameras.

I stared through the window.

“This is a safe house?”

Noah nodded.

“Who lives here?”

“Nobody.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better.”

“It isn’t supposed to.”

Inside, Noah checked every room before allowing me to sit down.

There were no family photographs.

No decorations.

Nothing personal.

It felt less like a home and more like a place designed for someone who expected to disappear.

I placed Lily on a couch.

Then I turned toward Noah.

“Start talking.”

He sighed.

“Three days ago, someone accessed Sentinel Axis’s internal security system.”

“So?”

“So nobody should be able to do that.”

“You’re a cybersecurity expert.”

“I know.”

“Then how did they get in?”

Noah looked at me.

“Using my mother’s credentials.”

I frowned.

“Your mother is dead?”

“She has been for eleven years.”

Silence filled the room.

“How is that possible?”

“That is what I’m trying to find out.”

He walked toward a secure computer.

“I discovered something else.”

He opened a file.

A photograph appeared.

I stopped breathing.

It was Ryan.

But Ryan wasn’t alone.

Standing beside him was a man I recognized immediately.

My husband.

My hands began shaking.

“No…”

Noah turned.

“You know him?”

I couldn’t speak.

The photograph was dated six months earlier.

And underneath it was a file name:

PROJECT LILY.