The ruins of the Hawthorne estate rose from the mist like a skeleton of a forgotten empire. Blackened stone walls, collapsed roofs, and the skeletal remains of what had once been grand towers. The fire had taken everything, the wood, the fabric, the memories. Damian Falcone stood at the edge of the property, his hands clasped behind his back, his red Aevum flickering faintly beneath his skin. He had been standing there for ten minutes, just watching and waiting. "Sir?" One of his enforcers stepped forward, a young man with nervous eyes. "The perimeter is secure. No sign of anyone."Damian didn't respond, he just kept staring at the ruins.He had been to this place once before. Years ago. When the fires were still smoldering, the smell of ash still hung in the air like a funeral shroud. He had walked through the ruins then, searching for answers but had found nothing. Just bodies, bones and the hollow shells of a family that had been erased from existence.But he had always suspected