Then he remembered something she’d said, weeks before he deployed, her voice tight with a worry he hadn’t understood at the time. “If anything ever happens to me while you’re away, check under the oak cabinet.”

His fingers found thick electrical tape along the lower rim. He peeled away a small black recorder and pressed play.

The audio opened with a door slamming and several sets of footsteps. Then Abraham’s voice. “I told you months ago — a dutiful daughter never turns her back on her blood.”

Sabrina’s voice came steady, under the fear. “I’m not signing your real estate transfers, and I won’t let you use Hayden’s clearance to launder your money.

My baby is not growing up around criminals.”

Hayden stopped breathing. Her baby.