Sterling had her father moved to a secured property two hours outside the city the same week he got out, quiet, unlisted, a guard rotation Reagan had vetted personally, and it had felt, for six days, like enough.

Found your father.

Ivy's hands shook dialing the safe house line, Sterling already reaching for his own phone before she'd finished the first ring, both of them abandoning Delilah mid-conversation without a word of explanation, the café chair scraping loud against the floor behind them.

"He's fine." The guard's voice on the other end was tight but controlled. "We had a vehicle sitting outside the property for twenty minutes, engine running, no...