Page 40 of Bound

We’re twisted. All of us.

But me the most.

Rafe taps the screen. Gregory leans in, looking right at me. “Dad’s seal is where everyone is getting distracted.”

Gregory saying ‘Dad’ so casually, like he’s in the room and hasn’t been murdered, twists the knife another turn.

Blaze is sprawled in an oversized armchair in the corner of the room, as far away from Isobel as we can get him.

He’s glaring at his useless phone and says, “The dead-dad seal?”

Anger rises in me. “That is an appalling phrase.”

Gregory sighs. “It’s fine. It’s true, and the inner circle fighting is getting in our way.”

“It’s a clear phrase,” Blaze adds, snapping his phone shut. He glares at me.

I give him grace. I know why he holds that phone. I know why he’s as miserable as he is.

He needs his wife.

“It’s appalling and clear,” Erin says, ending the rift.

Rafe folds his hands. “Your father’s seal was not a fresh authorization. It was an old master credential. Family-level access built into the old Bachman courier system.”

I stare at the screen, at the dead-dad seal. My father’s authority.

Another ghost Carlos has dragged into the room.

“Explain,” I say. Erin cuts me a look. “Please,” I add.

Rafe does. Quickly. Thank God.

“The original Bachman system had hidden courier routes, service doors, emergency overrides, old tunnels, and master credentials. Your father either created, inherited, or approved the credential. After his death, it should have been retired.”

“But it wasn’t,” Gregory says.

“No,” Rafe answers. “Someone preserved it.”

Isobel’s eyes lower.

I do not need more.

“Marina knew where it lived,” Rafe says. “Carlos learned how to use it.”

There. A clean answer. My father did not rise from the grave to turn against us all.

“Carlos used Dad’s authority like a stolen key.” Gregory gives a look I know well—he’s choosing logic over emotion.

Rafe moves to the next file. “The twelve-second delay is the real weapon.”

Gregory straightens, grateful for facts. “It was not lag. It was programmed. Twelve seconds is long enough for a gate to read closed while opening. Long enough for a camera feed to loop one clean frame. Long enough for an alarm to route to the wrong terminal.”

It all comes to me at once. “A Bachman Seal overrides everything.”

Gregory takes a deep breath. “Yes, and Carlos used it at the Bachman Village, Carlos’s new men pulled guards to a false breach while the real access opened. Everyone was distracted enough for one man to make it inside the walls.”

Bayne steps away from the window. “So, the bastard has been using dead credentials, old routes, and a wee pause in the system to make ghosts walk through walls.”