Return the data the boy took from his father’s firm, all of it, every copy, and everyone walks away whole.

It’s a simple transaction, Mrs.

Vantwell.

You of all people should appreciate a clean exit.” And the line went dead before I could answer.

That voice frightened me more than anything Lachlan had ever done, and it took me a while to understand why.

Lachlan, for all his cruelty, was a person — greedy, cowardly, self-deceiving, but a person, with a person’s fears and a person’s tells.