Ten years had passed since the rainy night Isabella found the basket containing Lucas, Mateo, and Sofia. The damp, desolate warehouse was now a distant memory, replaced by the warmth of a sunlit home provided by the generous family who adopted her, and the structured halls of Santa Esperanza Academy where she excelled at the top of her class.

"Oh, I want you, Isabella. But I also want the Vance family to feel the exact agony I felt when they ruined my corporate empire a decade ago," Victor said, pacing back and forth in front of the frightened triplets. "You think you're a hero, don't you? A little homeless girl who played savior."

"You're the criminal, Victor. You kidnapped babies for revenge," Isabella countered, inching her right hand slowly toward her collar to press the covert panic button.

Victor stopped pacing. A chilling, knowing smirk crossed his lips. "Did you really think I wouldn't check you for wires, girl?"

Before Isabella could press the button, Victor reached out, grabbed her jacket collar, and ripped the micro-transmitter clean off, tossing it over the edge into the abyss below.

"The FBI van parked by the forestry station has been feeding static for the last twenty minutes," Victor mocked, holding up a radio frequency jammer. "You came alone, Isabella. And you die alone."