“I’m aware it sounds unbelievable—”

“Try batshit insane,” Lynell interrupts. Zach chokes and she looks over to see him scratching his head. His silence is just as loud as Eric’s voice. He knew about all of this. This is why he Registered her. Why he kidnapped her and threatened Daniel.

Because of some idiotic claim his father made that can’t possibly be true.

“Can we just agree that while it sounds far-fetched, I knew your father better than you?” Eric asks.

A long moment stretches between them. Lynell wants to yell, “No,” and run out of the house. But she’s surrounded by big men with muscles and weapons and she knows she would never reach the door.

“He was a strong and mighty king with a million lives in his hand,” her mom had said.

Could it be true that this mighty king knew Eric Elysian? Why would a man so close to such power leave the woman he loved and his daughter in squalor? If her father knew Eric Elysian, why did she have to grow up with Alan?

“So, if your father did leave the code, and I’m certain he did, I could decipher it if I had the letter. But, unfortunately . . .”

“I burned it . . .” Lynell mutters.

Eric spreads his hands wide. “And herein lies our issue. I need you to recreate the letter for me.”

“I haven’t read it in years,” she says but even as she does, she starts reciting the words in her mind: Little Lynell, I am sorry I will not see you grow. She imagines her father writing each word, knowing his days are numbered. That is my greatest regret in life. I will not get to see you fall in love, create your own words, or discover the world. I will not know your heart or the way your face ages. Did he hide something else, something bigger in that letter? Did he want to leave her with something that could possibly change her life? Please don’t be angry with me for leaving. I promise I mean only to protect you.

Because it probably would change her life. Whatever the code is and whatever it does, it has to be something huge if Eric Elysian is going through so much trouble to just have a chance of deciphering it. Perhaps one day you’ll realize why.

She shakes her head. No, it can’t be true. If it is true, then not only did her father fail her but she is going to fail him because she knows nothing about any code. Whatever he thought she could do when he left her that code, she can’t do it.

“You were a young girl suffering from an unkind stepfather and little joy. I bet you dreamt of your father. I bet you created an idealized version and all you had to connect with him was that letter. I bet you read it all the time. A daughter longing for a father will do anything to feel close to him.”