A yellow New York taxi screeches to a halt just outside the main entrance of the private clinic.
Five-year-old Leo pushes the heavy door open and hops out onto the curb. He is dressed in a baggy Thrasher hoodie, ripped jeans, and a backward baseball cap. A cherry lollipop sticks out of his mouth.
He taps the GPS tracker on his wrist. His mother's signal is moving fast.
Before he can take a step toward the clinic doors, the roar of a high-powered engine grabs his attention.
A black SUV bursts out of the underground garage exit, taking the corner so fast it nearly rides up on two wheels.
Leo watches it pass. The passenger side window is rolled halfway down.
Leo's 200-IQ brain processes the image in a fraction of a second. Sitting in the passenger seat of his mother's car is a boy wearing a custom-tailored navy suit.
A boy who has his exact face.
Leo stops chewing his lollipop. His jaw drops. His mind races through a million calculations, cross-referencing genetic probabilities and the classified files he had hacked from his mother's encrypted drives.
Before he can piece the puzzle together, the glass doors of the clinic fly open.
Cayden Merritt storms out onto the sidewalk, looking like a demon straight out of hell. He is barking orders into a headset, his eyes scanning the street with frantic desperation.
Cayden's gaze sweeps past the pedestrians and locks instantly onto the small boy standing by the curb.
The face is identical. In his panicked, hyper-focused state, Cayden's brain filters out everything that doesn't match his desperate search. The baggy hoodie, the ripped jeans, the baseball cap-they don't register. All he sees is the face of his missing son.
Cayden lunges forward. He drops to his knees on the dirty sidewalk and pulls Leo into a bone-crushing hug.
Leo's face is smashed against a broad chest. The smell of expensive cedar and tobacco fills his nose. He tries to push away, his hands pressing against the man's shoulders.
"Julian," Cayden breathes, his voice shaking with a vulnerability that shocks Leo. "Where did you go? Do you have any idea what could have happened to you?"
Leo looks up. He sees the sharp jawline, the amber eyes. He recognizes this face from the "Extreme Danger" folder on his mother's laptop.
This is Cayden Merritt. The sperm donor. The man who destroyed his mother.
Leo's mind clicks into gear. The boy in the car with his mother. This man calling him Julian.
We are twins.
Leo stops struggling. A slow, wicked plan forms in his brilliant mind. He needs to get inside the Merritt empire to find out what really happened five years ago.
He mimics the psychological profile of a traumatized child. He goes completely limp and silent, staring blankly ahead.
Cayden feels the boy go still. Guilt washes over him. He thinks Julian is in shock.
Simon pulls the armored Maybach up to the curb. Cayden scoops Leo up and climbs into the back seat.
"Back to the estate," Cayden orders the driver. "Maximum security protocols."
As the car pulls into traffic, Cayden finally looks down at the boy sitting next to him. His brow furrows. He touches the fabric of the cheap hoodie.
"Julian," Cayden says slowly. "Why are you wearing these clothes? Where is your suit?"
Leo doesn't miss a beat. He looks Cayden dead in the eye, his voice flat and monotone. "The bad men made me change. They said my suit was too easy to spot."
Cayden's jaw clenches. His fists tighten on his knees. The explanation aligns perfectly with his assumption of a kidnapping. "I will kill them," he whispers.
Leo turns his head to look out the tinted window. Beneath the brim of his baseball cap, a cold, calculating smirk spreads across his face.
The Trojan Horse is in.
