I had seen that ring before.

Years ago, in a cramped, dark apartment in Syracuse.

The smell of cheap beer and stale smoke came back to me in a rush.

I remembered the shouting, the heavy footsteps, and the hand that used to wear that exact ring.

I looked back up at Evan’s eyes.

The cold, pale blue eyes of a predator.

A sickening realization began to form in the back of my mind.

But I couldn’t be sure. Not yet.

“Hunter,” Lorenzo said, his voice snapping me back to the present.

“Check the security feed on your phone.”

My fingers trembled as I tapped the screen, opening the estate’s security application.

The app took a long moment to load.

Finally, the main dashboard appeared, showing the status of the house.

Every single external door was marked in red.

Locked.

The nursery door was marked with a flashing yellow icon.

System error.

“The doors are deadlocked,” I told Lorenzo.

“What about the cameras?” he asked.

I swiped to the camera tab.

The screen split into a dozen small boxes, but most of them were black.