My heart dropped into a void. She hadn’t just sent men. She’d weaponized the courts before I even knew my sons were alive.

Maren saw the screen and the last of her hope drained out of her face. Her knees buckled; my arm caught her waist.

“They’re going to take them,” she choked. “They’re going to take my babies.”

The third operative began drifting around our left flank. The intent was obvious — execute the order right here, under cover of the lockdown.

My analytical mind raced through every asset I held in this state. As the owner of the most exclusive lodges in the region, I didn’t only have money. I had private aviation that operated entirely outside the commercial grid.

My fingers found the second phone in my pocket, the one I kept for high-level logistics.