The estate was quiet when Serena rose before dawn, the moon’s silver remnants still clinging to the sky like dried blood. The air felt sharper now. Not colder, just clearer.
She hadn’t slept.
The papers Dominic had “forgotten” to hide better were now neatly filed in the corner of her desk, every word memorized. Not a coincidence. Not a careless drop. It was intentional.
She wasn’t naive.
But she also wasn’t ready to look him in the eye and ask, Why now? Why you?
Instead, she dressed in silence, braided her hair back like she used to before court hearings in law school, and walked out into the morning with a steady pace and fire behind her ribs.
If Dominic wanted her to find the truth, fine.
She’d find it.
But not through him.
The East Wing of the Crosshollow Intelligence Chamber w
