Sofia thought the worst moment was watching the picture burn—then her son looked up and asked permission to love someone.

Sofia's first thought was that Thomas Vale sounded exactly the way he did on television.

Calm.

Measured.

Almost bored.

That made him more frightening.

Camila picked up a metal flashlight from the floor and held it like a weapon.

Sofia stepped toward the door.

"How did you find me?"

"May I come in?"

"No."

"Then perhaps you should come out. There are cameras in the corridor. You'll be safer there than inside a storage unit with one exit."

Sofia hated that he was right.

She looked at Camila.

Camila shook her head.

Sofia raised her phone and quietly started recording.

Then she pushed the door fully open.

Thomas stood alone.

He was in his late fifties, tall, with close-cropped gray hair and the same dark overcoat he wore to official events. No gold star pin today.

His hands were visible.

"Where is your security?" Sofia asked.

"I don't have security."

"That's convenient."

"I thought a private conversation might be better."

Camila stepped beside Sofia.

"Private conversations usually start with invitations, not stalking."

Thomas glanced at her.

"Ms. Reyes."

Camila's eyebrows rose.

"And creepy gets creepier."

Thomas ignored that.

"Sofia, Margaret is worried."

"Margaret hit me."

"I'm aware there was an altercation."

"There was an assault."

"I wasn't present."

"Then stop cleaning up her language."

For the first time, irritation touched his face.

"This situation is already becoming public. I am trying to prevent unnecessary harm."

"To whom?"

"Everyone. Including your son."

Sofia stepped closer.

"Do not use Leo to threaten me."

"I'm not threatening you."

"Margaret already did."

Thomas studied her.

Then his eyes moved toward the boxes behind her.

Only for an instant.

But Sofia saw it.

"Were you looking for something?" he asked.

"Old baby clothes."

"At nine in the morning after leaving the governor's residence during a family dispute?"

Camila smiled coldly.

"Maybe she likes efficient mornings."

Thomas returned his attention to Sofia.

"Ethan is worried about Leo."

"Ethan can call me himself."

"He has."

"Then why are you here?"

Thomas's face became almost gentle.

"Because I knew your sister."

Sofia felt something twist inside her.

"How well?"

"Better than you probably realize."

"Did you know she was investigating money missing from the Cole Foundation?"

Camila inhaled softly beside her.

Thomas did not react.

That was the reaction.

Most innocent people, Sofia thought, would ask what she meant.

Thomas simply looked at her.

"Who have you been speaking to?"

"Interesting answer."

"It wasn't an answer."

"Exactly."

Thomas lowered his voice.

"Ana was bright. She was also reckless."

Sofia's hands curled into fists.

"Careful."

"I'm not insulting her. I'm telling you that she became convinced ordinary accounting inconsistencies were evidence of criminal behavior."

"Six million dollars isn't ordinary."

There.

The slightest narrowing of his eyes.

Sofia knew then that Maria's number was real.

Thomas knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Numbers can look dramatic without context," he said.

"Then give me the context."

"Not here."

"Why?"

"Because you're angry, and anger makes people vulnerable to stories that confirm what they already fear."

Sofia laughed.

"Margaret really trained all of you from the same handbook."

Thomas stepped closer.

"You think I'm your enemy. I'm not."

"Were you the man following me last night?"

"No."

"Do you wear a gold star foundation pin?"

"So do hundreds of people."

"Did you send someone?"

"No."

Sofia watched him.

He was good.

Better than Margaret in some ways because he did not need anger. He could make a threat sound like concern and concern sound like a legal argument.

"Why did you come here?"

Thomas sighed.

"To ask you not to make decisions based on rumors about a dead woman and accounts you don't understand."

"You tracked me to a storage facility to tell me not to investigate?"

"I came because Ethan told me where you might go."

The words hit like a slap.

Sofia went still.

"Ethan told you?"

"He mentioned that you kept Ana's belongings here."

Camila muttered, "Unbelievable."

Sofia felt sick.

She had told Ethan about this unit years ago. He had helped move two boxes into it.

She had not told him she was coming today.

But he knew where she might look.

Which meant Thomas had asked.

Or Ethan had volunteered.

Neither possibility felt good.

"Leave," Sofia said.

"Sofia."

"Now."

Thomas's gaze held hers.

Then he reached into his coat.

Camila raised the flashlight.

He stopped.

Slowly, he removed a business card.

"My private number."

He placed it on the concrete floor between them.

"If you find something you don't understand, call me before you make a mistake you cannot undo."

"Is that what Ana did?"

For the first time, Thomas lost control.

Not much.

A flicker.

Pain or anger.

"Ana made several mistakes," he said.

Then he turned and walked away.

Sofia waited until the exterior door closed.

Camila looked at her.

"Tell me your phone recorded that."

Sofia checked.

The red timer was still running.

"Every word."

Camila exhaled.

"Good. Because if a man tells me a dead woman made mistakes while standing outside the storage unit containing her possessions, I would like that preserved for the inevitable documentary."

Sofia did not smile.

She was looking at the photograph again.

Second Sky. July 18.

The address near Lake Briar.

They left immediately.

Sofia drove while Camila searched the address.

"It's a self-storage place," she said. "Small. Independent. Looks ancient."

"How far?"

"Hour and forty minutes."

"Call them."

Camila did.

A man answered and confirmed the facility still operated.

When Camila asked about a unit rented under Ana Torres, there was a long pause.

"We can't release customer information," he said.

Sofia took the phone.

"I'm her sister. She died three years ago."

Another pause.

"You got identification?"

"Yes."

"Bring the death certificate if you have it."

Sofia did not have one with her.

"What if I don't?"

"Then we talk when you arrive."

He hung up.

They were halfway to Lake Briar when Ethan called again.

Sofia stared at the screen.

Camila said, "Your choice."

Sofia answered.

"Did you tell Thomas Vale where Ana's storage unit is?"

No greeting.

No warm-up.

Ethan was silent.

"Did you?"

"He asked where you might go."

Sofia gripped the wheel.

"Why was he asking?"

"Because you brought up Ana and the foundation."

"You told him I brought it up?"

"Sofia, Thomas has handled our family's legal and financial problems for years."

"That isn't an answer."

"I was trying to understand what was happening."

"By reporting me to him?"

"That's not fair."

"He showed up at the unit."

This time Ethan reacted.

"What?"

"Thomas was there."

"He shouldn't have done that."

"No, he shouldn't have known where I was."

Ethan went quiet.

Sofia heard a door close on his side of the call.

When he spoke again, his voice was lower.

"Where are you now?"

"Not telling you."

"Sofia, please."

"Did Ana come to you before she died?"

Another silence.

"Yes."

The word almost broke her.

"What did she say?"

"She said she found evidence that someone was stealing from the foundation."

"Who?"

"She thought Thomas was involved."

Sofia looked at Camila.

"What did you do?"

Ethan breathed out slowly.

"I told my mother."

Sofia had expected it.

Still, hearing it hurt.

"Why?"

"Because it was her foundation."

"Ana trusted you."

"I know."

"Did Margaret tell Thomas?"

"She said she would handle it privately."

Sofia closed her eyes for half a second.

"And the next night Ana died."

"I have thought about that every day for three years."

His voice cracked.

For the first time, Sofia heard something she had not heard since this began.

Guilt.

Not defensiveness.

Not loyalty.

Guilt.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because after the crash, Mom said there was no evidence Ana's concern had anything to do with it. She said telling you would destroy you for no reason."

"And you believed her."

"I wanted to."

Sofia swallowed.

"Did Thomas know Ana went to you?"

"I don't know."

"You just said your mother was going to handle it."

"I don't know what she did."

"You never asked?"

Ethan was silent.

That silence answered everything.

"I need to see Leo," he said.

"Not today."

"You can't keep him from me."

"I'm keeping him away from Margaret until I know what she's been saying to him."

"Then meet me alone."

Sofia almost refused.

Then Ethan said, "I have something Ana gave me."

Sofia's breath caught.

"What?"

"An envelope."

"You kept an envelope for three years?"

"I forgot about it."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not. I put it in a safe deposit box after she died. I couldn't throw it away, and I couldn't open it."

Sofia's voice went quiet.

"You never opened it?"

"No."

"Why?"

His answer came after several seconds.

"Because she wrote your name on it."

Sofia stopped speaking.

"Meet me," Ethan said. "I'll give it to you. No Mom. No Thomas. Just me."

"When?"

"Tonight."

Sofia looked at the road ahead.

Lake Briar was forty miles away.

"I will call you."

She ended the call.

Camila stared at her.

"An envelope?"

"Apparently."

"Men are amazing. They can remember the score of a basketball game from 2009 but forget a dead woman's secret envelope in a bank vault."

Sofia almost laughed.

Then they arrived at Lake Briar.

The storage facility sat behind an old gas station near the water. The manager was a seventy-year-old man named Hal Mercer who wore suspenders and read Ana's death certificate on Sofia's phone twice before speaking.

"I remember her," he said.

Sofia's heart jumped.

"You do?"

"Came here with a baby. Rented the smallest unit. Paid five years in advance, cash."

"Do you still have it?"

Hal nodded.

"Nobody's touched it."

He led them to a row of metal doors near the back fence.

Unit 18.

July 18.

Sofia understood the note now.

Hal gave her a key Ana had left in a sealed envelope marked for Sofia Torres.