My first instinct was to call the federal agent who had been handling my protective custody.

But I paused, my finger hovering over the contact name.

If Ethan saw any sign of federal involvement, he would kill Liam without hesitation.

He was desperate enough to do it.

I needed a plan that gave me control of the situation.

I looked at the shattered remains of my laptop on the hearth.

The hard drive was likely intact, but I couldn’t risk trying to salvage it now.

I needed a secure terminal.

I needed a place where I could dictate the terms of our meeting.

A place where Ethan felt powerful, but where I held the digital high ground.

The unfinished Apex high-rise downtown.

It was Ethan’s crowning achievement, a sixty-story skeleton of concrete and glass.

The building was still under construction, but the main servers and security feeds were already active.

If I could get inside the central control room, I could wire the internal cameras directly to the federal task force.

I would invite Ethan there.

He would think he was trapping me in his own territory.