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Noah rushed to the computer.

The encrypted file was gone.

Every copy.

Every backup.

Everything had disappeared.

“What did he steal?”

Noah didn’t answer.

He opened another screen.

Then another.

His expression became darker with every second.

Finally, he whispered:

“The identity database.”

I didn’t understand.

“What does that mean?”

“Sentinel Axis stores identity information for millions of people.”

“And?”

“They now have access to it.”

My stomach dropped.

“Why would Ryan want that?”

Noah looked at me.

“Because whoever controls that database can create a new identity for almost anyone.”

I thought about the messages.

The plane ticket.

The man watching us.

Everything suddenly made sense.

Ryan wasn’t simply following me.

He was controlling the people around me.

Noah sat down.

“There is something else.”

“What?”

He opened the original photograph of Lily.

Then he zoomed in.

A small symbol was visible on the corner of the photograph.

I recognized it.

It was on the hospital bracelet Lily had worn after she was born.

My heart began racing.

“No.”

Noah looked at me.

“You’ve seen this before.”

“At the hospital.”

He nodded.

“That’s where this started.”

“What happened at the hospital?”

“I don’t know.”

I remembered something.

A nurse.

A woman who had come into the room shortly after Lily was born.

She wasn’t wearing a hospital uniform.

She had asked to hold my baby.

I had refused.

At the time, I thought she was just being strange.

Now I remembered the question she had asked.

“Does the father know?”

I had thought she meant Ryan.

But maybe she hadn’t.

Noah suddenly stood.

“We need to go back.”

“To the hospital?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because if I’m right…”

He looked at Lily.

“…someone there knows exactly why your daughter is important.”