Theo was screaming until his cheeks turned red. Miles kept calling for a mother who had been dead for eight months. Nora clung to the bars of her toddler bed and sobbed whenever anyone tried to pick her up.

That evening, Adrien set his trap.

He assembled Marco and four of his most trusted captains in the subterranean tactical room beneath the garage. The transmitter from Sophie’s doll sat in the center of a glass table, hooked up to a signal amplifier.

“Falco is listening to this frequency right now,” Adrien told his men, his eyes dark with cold anticipation. “He thinks we have no idea the doll is bugged. He thinks I am a grieving, distracted widower sitting in a house falling apart.”

“What’s the play, Boss?” Marco asked, checking the magazine of his sidearm.

“We feed him a lie,” Adrien replied. “Tonight at midnight, I am going to make a fake phone call in the nursery near the doll. I will state that I am transferring seventy percent of the Moretti shipping arm’s security protocols to our secondary docks in New Jersey, leaving the main Westchester vault vulnerable.”

“Falco won't be able to resist,” Marco grinned darkly. “He’ll send his strike team to the main vault tonight to destroy our digital ledgers.”

“No,” Adrien corrected, his voice dropping into an icy register. “Falco is arrogant, but he’s cautious. He won't send his main team to the vault first. He will send his inside man to verify the move.”

The room went completely quiet.

“An inside man?” Marco frowned. “Adrien... you think someone on our payroll helped Falco’s man get close to Sophie at that grocery store?”

“Thomas,” Adrien said flatly. “The driver.”

Marco’s eyes went wide. “Thomas has worked for your father for twelve years!”

“Thomas was the one who drove the staff van to the grocery store last week,” Adrien pointed out. “He was supposed to be watching Sophie while Elena was inside. A strange man with a snake ring doesn't just walk up to a four-year-old girl on a private bench unless the driver steps away on purpose.”

Adrien stood up, pulling a heavy tactical pistol from his desk and sliding it into his shoulder holster.

“Let’s go see how loyal Thomas really is.”

Twenty minutes later, in the secluded maintenance barn at the far edge of the estate, Thomas the driver was pinned against the wall by Marco’s massive hand around his throat.

Adrien stood under the single hanging lightbulb, his suit jacket off, his dark forearms glistening in the dim light. On the workbench behind him sat a briefcase filled with five hundred thousand dollars in cash—and a mobile phone logged into an encrypted Chicago network.

“I... I had to, Don Moretti!” Thomas sobbed, tears streaming down his face as he choked against Marco’s grip. “Falco... he has my son! He held my son in Chicago! He threatened to kill him if I didn't help his man swap the toy!”

Adrien walked over slowly, standing inches from the terrified driver.

“You let a snake approach a four-year-old girl,” Adrien said softly, his voice devoid of any warmth. “You put my children’s lives in jeopardy to save your own blood.”

“Please, Adrien!” Thomas wept. “I didn't know about Mrs. Claire’s car! I swear to God I didn't know they killed her!”

Adrien stopped. His jaw clenched so hard a muscle twitched beneath his scar.

“So you know Falco killed Claire,” Adrien said softly.

Thomas swallowed hard, realizing he had just sealed his own fate. “It... it was an electronic signal jammer. Falco’s tech team hacked her car’s steering matrix from a trailing SUV on the highway. It was meant for you, Adrien! You were supposed to be driving her car that morning!”

The truth settled into the room like heavy lead.

Claire had taken Adrien’s car that rainy morning because hers was in the shop. The killer had targeted the vehicle, not knowing the wife was inside instead of the Don.