Just after midnight in Lydia’s bedroom, the ivory key and handwritten note lay on her bedside table. The instruction was simple: “Come alone before sunrise.”
She read it repeatedly. For the first time, every instinct told her not to follow a clue. Not because she was afraid. Because Edward had spent years teaching her never to trust anonymous instructions without questioning who benefited from them. Across the hall, Dominic was awake as well. Neither of them had slept. Both knew tomorrow may change everything.
At dawn, the team gathered before Lydia left. Harriet immediately rejected the instruction. She believed the note was another test. Not necessarily a trap, but a challenge to Lydia’s judgment. Harriet asked Lydia a single question: “If you obey every message you receive, are you ma
