“The late-night talks,” Sophia said, her voice smooth and devoid of regret. “The warnings about what Marcus would do to you and the baby.”

She took a step back, moving closer to the heavy front door.

“You needed a reason to open his private safe, Elena,” she said. “And I needed the keycard inside it.”

Luca stepped forward, his boots crunching on a stray bit of salt carried in from the snow outside.

“Sophia, what did you do?” Luca demanded, his hand hovering near his jacket pocket.

“I took the network, Luca,” she said simply. “While you were all focusing on Elena’s grand exit, I uploaded the bypass codes.”

Marcus took another step down the stairs, his movements deliberate and predatory.

“Those codes require biometric validation,” Marcus said, his voice flat.

“They did,” Sophia replied, holding up her device. “Until Elena pressed her thumb to the scanner on the safe yesterday.”

She laughed softly, a dry sound that died instantly in the cavernous foyer.

“The system recorded the print,” she said. “I cloned it this morning.”

I leaned against the cold plaster wall, my hand instinctively resting on my stomach.