The Last Inheritance

Chapter Eighty Eight

The rain came soft and steady that morning, tapping the windows of the Kane household like it didn’t want to wake anyone too roughly. But Elias was already up. He stood in the kitchen, his hand wrapped around a mug he hadn’t sipped from, eyes fixed on nothing in particular. The hum of the refrigerator, the quiet creak of the old floorboards, the murmur of footsteps above—everything was just barely out of sync, like a tune missing its beat.

Grady had stayed the night again. That made three in a row, and while no one had explicitly said the word *stay*, no one had told him to leave either. That silence, Elias realized, was the closest thing to acceptance they knew how to give each other.

Elise came down the stairs in a thick cardigan, her hair still damp from a rushed shower. She paused when she saw Elias and studied him for a moment before reaching for a plate.

“You sleep?” she asked.

“A little,” he replied.

“That’s more than yesterday.”

He didn’t answer. Elise didn’t push. She buttere