“Yes.”
Ava whispered, “Did you watch us grow up?”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“From a distance. When I could.”
That answer hurt them more than no would have.
I saw it.
He saw it too.
“I thought distance was protection,” he said. “I thought if I stayed gone, he would stop hunting you.”
June shook her head. “You don’t get to decide that for us anymore.”
Daniel nodded.
“No,” he said. “I don’t.”
An agent called his name.
Daniel looked at me one last time.
“There’s another box,” he said quietly.
My blood chilled.
“What?”
He stepped closer and pressed something into my palm.
A small silver key.
This one was new.
Clean.
Engraved with three words.
PROPERTY OF AVA WHITAKER.
Ava stared at it.
Daniel’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“Your mother didn’t die because she found the ledger. She died because she found the girl.”
Claire frowned. “What girl?”
Daniel looked toward the rising sun, and for the first time, I saw true terror on my brother’s face.
