The footsteps stopped outside Lucas Hayes’s apartment.
Evelyn Carter stood beside his kitchen table with one hand pressed against the founder’s trust and the other resting near the marriage application she had brought through the snow.
Lucas still held the pen she had pushed toward him.
His six-year-old daughter, Lily, watched from the hallway in pink pajamas, her blanket clutched beneath her chin.
The person outside knocked three times.
Not loudly.
That made it worse.
Lucas moved between the door and his daughter.
“Who is it?”
“Building maintenance,” a man answered.
“Water leak downstairs.”
Lucas glanced at the clock.
It was 7:24 in the morning.
His landlord never sent maintenance without calling first, and no repairman arrived in a tailored overcoat.
Lucas had seen one of the men through the window before they entered the building.
Evelyn quietly removed her phone from her coat pocket and tapped the screen.
“The police dispatcher says a unit is on the way.”
Lucas kept his voice low.
“You said the detective assigned to you knows Victor.”
“The detective does.
Dispatch does not.”
The man knocked again.
“Mr.
Hayes, open the door.”
Lucas’s eyes narrowed.
He had not given his name.
Evelyn heard it too.
She picked up the trust document and pointed to the highlighted clause.
Her voice was barely audible.
“If we sign, the shares still will not transfer until the license is witnessed and filed.
Victor knows that.
He’ll try to stop us before the county clerk opens.”
“You planned to walk into a government office with men following you?”
“I planned to bring security.”
“Security that currently answers to Victor.”
For the first time since she entered the apartment, Evelyn looked uncertain.
Lucas had seen that expression on capable people before.
It was not helplessness.
It was the shock of discovering that every system they trusted had been quietly purchased by someone else.
The doorknob turned.
Lily hurried to Lucas and wrapped both arms around his waist.
He put one hand on her shoulder and looked toward the narrow fire escape outside the kitchen window.
Three floors down, the alley was covered in ice.
Evelyn wore heeled boots.
Lily had no coat.
The man outside struck the door once with his shoulder.
The chain jumped.
Lucas grabbed his equipment bag from beside the sofa.
He had not unpacked after the gala.
Inside were cable cutters, electrical tape, two wireless receivers, a compact battery pack, and a steel flashlight.
He handed Evelyn the flashlight.
“Can you climb?”
“Yes.”
“Good.
Take Lily through the window.
