The night had fallen completely over East Garden.
The abandoned estate stood beneath a sky heavy with rain, its broken windows reflecting the pale glow of approaching headlights.
Elena remained frozen on the mansion steps, the old photograph trembling in her hands.
The little girl in the picture smiled as though nothing terrible had ever happened.
As though the fire had never come.
As though twenty years had not disappeared from Elena’s memory.
Her heartbeat refused to slow.
Everything she believed about her life had begun to unravel.
Her marriage.
Her childhood.
Her past.
And somehow, Adrian Harrison stood at the center of it all.
The first black SUV rolled to a stop outside the iron gates.
Another followed.
Then a third.
None of the vehicles sounded hurried.
Whoever had a
