Ethan’s hands curled into fists.
“Then why was he killed?”
Whitmore’s smile faded.
“He developed a conscience.”
A bitter laugh.
“Men often do that when they get old.”
My mind raced.
“Then our fathers eventually tried to expose you together.”
“Precisely.”
Whitmore nodded toward Sophie.
“Now give me Michael’s final key.”
“I don’t have it.”
He looked at Camila.
She whispered, “Rachel doesn’t know.”
Whitmore sighed.
“Unfortunately, I believe you.”
Then his eyes moved to Sophie.
A chill crawled over my skin.
“No.”
I stepped backward.
Whitmore smiled.
“Michael always loved contingencies.”
Ethan shifted immediately between Whitmore and me.
“Don’t look at the child.”
Whitmore laughed.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The famous Callahan weakness.”
He looked directly at Ethan.
“Babies.”
Something inside the church changed.
Ethan’s security men raised their weapons.
Whitmore’s men did the same.
Camila whispered, “Rachel, there’s something I never told you.”
My heart pounded.
“What?”
She was crying.
“When Dad died, Mom gave me a box.”
“What box?”
“His emergency records.”
“Camila—”
“There was a letter.”
Whitmore snapped, “Enough.”
Ethan reached beneath his jacket.
Twenty guns shifted.
Then the church bells began ringing.
Everyone froze.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The lights went out.
Darkness swallowed us.
Gunfire erupted.
I dropped behind a pew, covering Sophie with my body.
Someone screamed.
Glass shattered.
Ethan shouted my name.
I crawled toward the altar.
A hand grabbed my ankle.
I kicked wildly.
Then the emergency lights turned red.
Whitmore was standing over me.
A gun in his hand.
“Give me the child.”
I stopped breathing.
“No.”
“Rachel.”
“No!”
He pointed the gun at my head.
“Your father built his final encryption around mitochondrial succession.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“The vault does not require two daughters.”
Behind him, Camila began sobbing.
Whitmore smiled.
“It requires the women of Michael Morales’s bloodline.”
My arms tightened around Sophie.
“No.”
“Your daughter is the key.”
A gunshot exploded.
Whitmore jerked.
His weapon fell.
Ethan stood behind him.
Blood stained Ethan’s shoulder.
Whitmore collapsed.
Then Ethan collapsed too.
“ETHAN!”
I crawled toward him.
His men flooded the church.
Sirens screamed outside.
Camila pulled Sophie from my arms as I pressed both hands against Ethan’s wound.
