“Mr. Hale... are you dead?” Lily’s tiny voice cut through the darkness. At thirty-four, I had $40 billion, an empire Wall Street feared, and a Westchester mansion big enough to swallow a person whole, yet I was lying motionless on my sofa, pretending to sleep just to discover whether anyone would notice if I finall

The rain hammered against the massive front doors of the estate.

I pushed them open, stepping out into the freezing deluge. The wind whipped at my clothes, instantly soaking my shirt, but I didn't feel the cold. I felt absolutely nothing but the weight of the steel against the small of my back and the singular purpose burning in my chest.

A black SUV idled in the center of the circular driveway, its headlights blinding me through the sheets of rain.

The driver’s side door opened.

Nathan Mercer stepped out. He wasn’t wearing his tailored coat anymore. He looked disheveled, wild-eyed, and frantic. In his right hand, he held a suppressed pistol.

With his left hand, he reached into the backseat and dragged a small figure out by the collar of her pajamas.

Lily.

She wasn’t crying. She was too terrified to make a sound, her wide eyes locked onto me through the pouring rain. She was still clutching the edge of the heavy gray quilt.

“The drive, Daniel!” Nathan screamed over the roar of the storm, pressing the barrel of the gun against Lily’s temple. “Throw it on the ground and kick it over.”

I slowly raised my hands, holding the tiny flash drive between my thumb and forefinger.

“Let her go, Nathan,” I shouted. “You have what you want.”

“I don’t have anything until I destroy that drive,” Nathan spat, stepping out from behind the cover of the car door, keeping Lily tight against his leg as a shield. “Throw it!”

I took a deliberate step forward.

“Stop right there!” Nathan barked, his finger tightening on the trigger.

“You’re a smart man, Nathan,” I yelled, keeping my voice steady, projecting over the rain. “But you made one miscalculation.”

“I didn’t miscalculate anything! Charles was weak, and you’re just like him! Throw the drive!”

“My father wasn’t weak,” I countered, taking another slow step forward. “He was desperate. But I’m not. You think this drive is your only problem? You think destroying it saves you?”

Nathan’s eyes darted left and right. Paranoia was setting in.

“What are you talking about?”

“I didn’t just send you that audio file, Nathan,” I lied smoothly, tapping into the ruthless corporate shark I had perfected over a decade. “I sent it to the cartel’s encrypted drop-box ten minutes ago. With a note explaining that you’ve been skimming twenty percent off their laundering operations for the last three years.”

Nathan froze. The color completely drained from his face, visible even in the harsh headlights.

“You’re lying,” Nathan stammered. “You wouldn’t risk the company.”

“I don’t care about the company!” I roared, my voice echoing off the stone walls of the estate. “I care about her! And right now, the cartel is tracing your phone. If you shoot her, if you shoot me, you still die, Nathan. But they won’t make it quick.”

Nathan’s grip on Lily slightly loosened. His eyes darted to his own pocket, where his phone rested. Doubt. Panic.

It was a split second. A micro-expression of hesitation.

But it was all I needed.

I dropped the flash drive onto the wet asphalt.

Nathan’s eyes instinctually followed the drive as it hit the ground.

I didn’t hesitate. I drew the Glock from my waistband in one fluid motion, raising it, and firing twice.

The gunshots were deafening in the enclosed courtyard.

I didn’t aim for his head. I aimed for his right shoulder and his knee.

Nathan screamed, dropping his gun as the bullet shattered his collarbone. The second round took his leg out from under him. He collapsed onto the wet driveway, writhing in agony.

Lily screamed, covering her ears.

I sprinted across the driveway, kicking Nathan’s dropped weapon underneath the SUV. I grabbed Nathan by his collar, dragging him away from Lily, and pinned him to the ground, pressing the hot barrel of my gun directly against his forehead.

“Look at me,” I snarled, the rain washing the blood from his face.

Nathan stared up at me, gasping in pain, terror finally breaking through his arrogant facade.

“You framed an innocent man,” I whispered violently. “You terrorized the woman I love. You threatened my daughter. If you ever breathe a word about Lily, or Maria, or my father again, I won’t call the police. I will hand you over to the people you stole from. Do you understand me?”

Nathan nodded frantically, tears of pain and fear mixing with the rain.

I stood up, keeping the gun trained on him.

I turned around.

Maria was running out of the front doors, slipping on the wet pavement. She dropped to her knees, pulling Lily into her arms, sobbing uncontrollably as she buried her face in her daughter’s wet hair.

I walked over to them. I dropped the gun onto the asphalt.

I knelt down in the puddles, wrapping my arms around both of them.

Lily looked up at me, her tiny hands gripping my wet shirt.