Odalys received us in her private study within Sterling Tower's residential floor, a room I had rarely entered as a child, reserved for conversations she considered too important for the more public spaces of the building. She listened to my account of Foster Bell's confession without interrupting, her expression growing increasingly still as I spoke, until by the time I finished, her hands had folded together with the particular tension I recognized from every difficult negotiation I had watched her navigate over the years."Jonas Hargrove," she said finally, testing the name the same way I had in that diner booth hours earlier. "His grandfather and I were rivals for nearly two decades, Corwin, long before you were born. Cornelius Hargrove built his fortune the same way his grandson apparently intends to finish building his own, patiently, ruthlessly, targeting companies at their most vulnerable moments and dismantling them from the inside rather than competing honestly in the open m

The warehouse district glowed orange against the night sky long before we arrived, thick black smoke billowing upward in columns visible from several streets away, fire trucks already crowding the narrow access roads leading toward the Renfrew Shipping facility that had served as the company's primary storage and distribution point for over three decades."They're saying it started in the records office," a firefighter told us as we pushed through the perimeter, his face streaked with soot, his expression grim. "Spread fast. Too fast for something accidental, if you're asking my opinion, though that's for the investigators to determine, not me."Isabelle grabbed my arm, her eyes scanning the chaos frantically, her voice barely audible over the roar of the flames and the shouted instructions of the fire crews working the scene. "Where's Malik? He said he was already here."I scanned the crowd of employees and onlookers gathered behind the perimeter tape, panic tightening in my chest un

Isabelle stayed at the estate that night rather than returning to Camille's, and I found myself unwilling to leave either, the two of us settling into the quiet sitting room off the main hallway long after the household had finally gone still, neither of us willing to voice the exhaustion pressing down on both our shoulders in equal measure."I keep seeing it," she said quietly, staring into the small fire crackling in the hearth, an echo of the much larger, more dangerous one we had both watched consume half a warehouse only hours earlier. "The flames. Malik's face when they pulled him free. I don't think I've been properly frightened until tonight, Corwin. Not really. Everything before this felt survivable, even the forged signature, even the poison. This felt like the first time someone actually wanted to hurt us, rather than simply wanting to win.""I know," I said, moving to sit beside her, close enough that our shoulders touched. "I felt it too. Watching that building burn, I ke

We found Desmond three days later at a small, unremarkable apartment he had rented following the collapse of his guardianship petition, a considerable step down from the estate's grandeur, though I suspected the diminished circumstances mattered less to him than the fear now etched permanently into his once confident features."I wondered when you'd come," he said, opening the door before I had even finished knocking, as though he had been watching for our arrival through the window for hours already.Isabelle stepped past him into the small, sparsely furnished living room, her expression carefully neutral despite everything her uncle had put this family through. "Vivienne told us about Jonas Hargrove," she said. "About the debts, the blackmail, everything he used to turn her against us. I think it's time you told us your version, Uncle Desmond, before someone else's fire finishes what your own greed already started."Desmond sank into a worn armchair, his hands trembling slightly as

He came to us, in the end, rather than waiting for us to find him, appearing at the estate's front gate three evenings later with no warning, dressed in an impeccably tailored suit that made Malik's security team hesitate just long enough for him to step calmly onto the property before anyone thought to stop him.I found him standing in the garden when I came downstairs, admiring the same hedges my father used to trim on quiet Sunday mornings, his posture relaxed and unhurried in a way that made my skin crawl the moment I saw him."Jonas Hargrove," I said, and he turned toward me with an easy, confident smile that carried none of the fear I had expected from a man who had spent months operating carefully from the shadows."Corwin Sterling," he said, extending a hand I did not take. "Or would you prefer Ashford? I understand you've worn both names rather selectively, depending on the audience.""You burned a building with people inside it," I said, keeping my voice level despite the fu