"Kael, open the door, it is me, and I need to talk to you, and I am not here to beg, and I am not here to ask you to take me back, so please, Kael, just open the door, because Ethan has left me, and Marcus has left him, and I am alone, and I do not know where else to go!"Lilith is standing outside Hillcrest House, and it is morning, and the sun is bright, and the garden is full of roses, and the builders are gone, and the gate is open, because Sam Porter's men are changing shifts, and the front door is open, because Mr Graves is in the kitchen, and my father is in the garden, and I am upstairs, and Lilith walks in, and she walks in like she has walked into a hundred houses before, and she walks in like she owns it, and she does not own it, and she never will, and she knows it, and she walks in anyway, because she is alone, and because she is frightened, and because she needs to see Kael, and to tell him that Ethan is finished, and that Marcus is coming, and that she is sorry, and tha

"Kael Watson, open this gate, and open it now, because I raised you, boy, and I fed you, and I kept you alive, and you owe me, and I am not leaving until I see you, and until you pay me what I am owed!"Harold walks in, and he looks around, and he looks at the big house, and he looks at the garden, and he looks at the roses, and his eyes are wide, and his mouth is open, and he laughs, and it is a bitter laugh, and it is the laugh of a man who sold a boy for money, and who is now standing in that boy's garden, and who knows he sold him too cheap."So this is yours, Kael, and this big house is yours, and the cars are yours, and the street is yours, and all this time I thought you were still sweeping floors, and all this time you were getting rich, and you never came back, Kael, and you never sent money, and you never thanked me, and a son should thank his father, Kael, even a poor father!""Marcus came to our house, Kael, and he came when you were three, and he had money, and he had men

"Mr. Watson, these papers say you are a thief, sir, and these papers say you stole a house, sir, and a club, sir, and a warehouse, sir, and a restaurant, sir, and these papers say you did it with fraud, sir, and with threats, sir, and Ethan Calvino wants it all back, sir, and he wants money on top of it, sir, and he wants you in prison, sir!"Mr. Hale is standing in my office, and he is holding the lawsuit, and it is thick, and it is heavy, and the pages are full of lies, and the lies are written in neat legal words, and they look true, if you do not know the truth, and Mr. Graves is reading over his shoulder, and his face turns hard, and Clara is sitting by the window, and she is quiet, and she is frightened, because she has never seen a lawsuit, and she has never seen a man sued for buying things he paid for, and it frightens her, because the law is supposed to protect men like me, and not men like Ethan."Read it to me, Mr. Hale, and read it slow, and read every lie, because I want

"Mr. Watson, do not stand up, and do not call your guards, and do not reach for your phone, because I am not here to hurt you, and I am here to talk, and I am here because a man paid me to kill you, and I have come to tell you that I will not take his money, and I will not take his job, and I want you to hear it from me, and not from a bullet."The man is sitting at my table in the restaurant on Cedar Lane, and it is evening, and the restaurant is quiet, and the lilies are fresh, and the man is tall, and he is thin, and his hair is grey, and his hands are scarred, and his name is Silas Vane, and he is a killer, and I know he is a killer, because Sam Porter told me, and Sam Porter said his name, and Sam Porter said he does not miss, and he does not talk, and he does not warn, and now he is sitting at my table, and he is talking, and he is warning, and that frightens me more than a bullet would, because a killer who talks is a killer who has a reason, and his reason is sitting across fr

"Kael, sit down, and lock the door, and do not interrupt me, because tonight I will tell you about your mother, and I will tell you her name, and I will tell you what she was, and I will tell you what she did, and I will tell you why Marcus feared her, and I will tell you why he took you, and I will tell you all of it, Kael, and I will not stop, not tonight, not for a phone, and not for a lawyer, and not for anyone!"My father is sitting across from me in my office at Hillcrest House, and it is night, and the lights are low, and the lilies are fresh on the desk, and Mr. Graves stands by the door, and Sam Porter's men are outside, and Clara is safe in her shop, and the town is quiet, and my father takes out a letter, and it is old, and the paper is yellow, and the writing is beautiful, and he holds it like it might break, and his hands shake on the table, and his voice shakes with them, and he speaks, and every word is a stone, and every word is a gift, and every word is twenty five ye