I looked down at my hands, covered in rain and shadow, then down at the garden where the black SUV was speeding away into the night.

The spotlight blinded me.

I raised my hands, shielding my eyes from the glare.

The downwash from the helicopter blades whipped my hair across my face and stung my eyes with rainwater.

“Drop the weapon, Captain!” the megaphone bellowed again.

I did not have a weapon in my hands, only my phone, which was now dead.

I stepped backward, keeping my hands high, and slipped through the open French doors back into the dark corridor of the villa.

The spotlight swept across the stone balcony, cutting beams of bright white through the shadows of the room.

I ran.

My boots clicked against the hardwood floor as I headed toward the service stairs.

They thought Hayes was dead, or they wanted everyone to think I had killed him.

But I knew Hayes was alive.

He was the one pulling the strings from the shadows, using Vance’s men to clean up the mess.

I needed Madison.

I needed the ledger.