The fourth ripple didn't come quietly.
It came at 2:17 a.m.
The alarm wasn't explosive.
It wasn't screaming.
It was a low, controlled tone that only triggered for one category of breach.
Internal override.
Matthew was awake before the second pulse.
Vinny stirred beside him, instantly alert.
"That's not perimeter," Vinny whispered.
"No."
Matthew was already moving.
Across the estate, lights came on in sequence — not chaotic, not panicked — but deliberate.
Aiden was out of his room in under ten seconds.
Noah was already in the hallway.
They met halfway.
"You feel that?" Aiden asked quietly.
"Yes."
Not fear.
Not danger.
Manipulation.
The tone stopped.
Silence returned.
But something had shifted.
Matthew's voice came through the internal comm system.
"Study. Now."
In the study, Rafe stood near the monitors.
One feed was black.
Just one.
The nursery corridor.
Matthew's jaw tightened slightly.
"Looped," Rafe said flatly.
"For how long?" Matthew asked.
