“Honestly?” He folds his hand over hers. “Sore and like I could use some more pain killers. But mostly just badass.”

Lynell laughs and circles him so they’re standing face to face. She gazes up at his lined and tanned face. “My brave badass.”

“Who’s only alive because Zach hit my would-be-murderer with a car just as he pulled the trigger.”

She grabs the back of his neck and stands on her toes to give him a chaste kiss. “Thank you for staying alive.”

“What’s my other option? I can’t leave you. I don’t think you’d make it a single day, let alone four more.”

“Hey!” Lynell hits his chest softly. “I can take care of myself.”

“I know, I know,” Daniel says, pulling her in for a hug.

“I can . . .” And quieter, she says, “But that doesn’t mean I want to.”

“Doesn’t mean you have to,” Daniel replies before letting her go and stepping back. “Now let’s go get some breakfast, I’m starving.”

Once again, Zach is awake and sitting at the table, nursing a mug of steaming coffee this time. “Hey,” he says. “I made oatmeal. And there’s coffee.”

Daniel makes his way to the counter, dropping a generous amount of food into a bowl. “It’s a mark of how hungry I am that I’m willingly eating something you cooked,” he says.

Zach rolls his eyes. “Don’t pretend you don’t like my cooking. If I remember correctly, almost all our pranks involved me making cookies or brownies for no apparent reason except you’re a gluttonous pig.”

Daniel turns and throws a raisin at Zach, who laughs and easily dodges it.

Daniel sets his bowl on the table before filling up another. “So, what’s our plan?” he asks, giving Lynell the second plate.

“Lynell told me about Anna,” Zach says. Lynell tenses as Daniel’s fork clatters to the plate.

“Lyn, why would you—”

“I know I don’t deserve your trust, but your secret is safe with me, Daniel,” Zach says, hurt visible in his face. “I don’t know how Dad doesn’t know about Anna, but—”

“I never told anyone,” Lynell interrupts. “And she doesn’t exist in the system.”

“Everyone exists in the system,” Zach answers. “Her parentage may just say unknown.”

“So, how do we find her?” Daniel asks, eyeing Zach with a tinge of suspicion while reaching over to lay a hand on Lynell’s thigh.

Zach shakes his head. “We don’t. It’s too dangerous. Right now, as long as nobody knows about her, she’s safe. If we make a move to find her, alarm bells will go off.”

“Then what do we do?” Lynell asks, frustration and fear tingling under her skin. Daniel gives her thigh a little squeeze.

Zach blows out a determined breath before saying, “We plan for the worst.”

“Which is?”

“Dad finds Anna and somehow gets the code,” Zach says. “He figures out how to use the code just for himself and henceforth can literally do whatever he wants without consequence.”