There’s clear pain and regret in his face but she’s too heated to care. She wants to give him his own black eye.

“I don’t,” he says. He steps off the wall, shaking his head. “I don’t understand what you’ve been through. But you’re not the only one who got screwed by heritage. My father never hit me, but as soon as I could walk, he dumped me with nannies. Shipped me off to month-long training camps where they taught me how to turn off emotions and gain power, how to . . .” He takes a deep breath before continuing. “He used me. I am nothing but a tool to him. I may never understand what you have gone through, Lynell. But you’ll never understand what I’ve gone through either.”

“Poor little rich boy! You’re nothing but a cliché!” Lynell grinds her teeth and curls her hands into fists. “I don’t give a flying fuck, Zach. You knew I existed, didn’t you?”

“Not always—”

“Did you know I existed?” she interrupts.

He sighs. “Yes. I knew someplace, somewhere, Eli Elysian had a daughter.”

“And when your father gave you this . . .” she throws her hands out, “job, you knew who I was, didn’t you?”

“He didn’t give me this job,” Zach says, plainly.

Lynell’s jaw aches with tension. “Explain.”

He sighs and lowers his head. “He was offering a reward to his men to bring you to him. Alive, but not unharmed. They had freedom to do whatever it took to get you here, no questions asked. These men are brutes. I had to find you myself to protect you.”

“By Registering me?”

He bites his lip and offers a reluctant nod. “You were going to get to this house one way or another and I was your safest option.”

“Why?” Lynell asks.

He blinks. “Why what?”

“Why do I need to be here? What was in that damn letter?”

“My father thinks that’s where your father has hidden the code. Dad has access to the software of the Registration, but unfortunately, it’s . . . in a different programming language. And this code, for lack of a better word, will translate the entire thing.”

“That doesn't make any sense,” Lynell says.

“This code would give him access to the Registration.” Zach gestures while he talks, only occasionally flicking his eyes in Lynell’s direction.

“He’s Eric Elysian,” Lynell says in a matter-of-fact tone. “He owns the Registration. He has access to everything.”

Zach is already shaking his head. “No, he doesn’t. There are aspects that only someone with this code can access and manipulate.”

“Why didn’t he have it in the first place? Why did Eli have it but not his brother?” Lynell asks, crossing her arms.

Zach sighs and sinks onto the edge of the bed. “My dad looked for it for years after he killed Eli, your dad. Then, one day he found out about your mom. At first, he thought she was just one of Eli’s flings. But then he found a letter Eli wrote to your mom.” Zach must see the shock on Lynell’s face, and he sighs. “Yes, he wrote to both of you. From what I gather, he told your mom he was going to be a servant rather than a king. He mentioned that the secret was in the letter he wrote to their daughter. To you.”