[Emma POV]
The mansion felt too big without them. Too loud with silence.
Morning stretched into afternoon with nothing but the tick of the grandfather clock in the hall and the creak of old floorboards for company. I wandered through the endless rooms, each one smelling faintly of leather, smoke, and something darker, something that clung to the walls like secrets.
I trailed my fingers along the polished banister of the winding staircase, passed by doors that stayed locked, their brass handles gleaming, taunting me with whatever the brothers kept hidden. The stillness wrapped around me like a cage, no matter how much sunlight bled through the high windows.
They’d left together that morning. All four of them. Boots heavy on the hardwood, the rumble of engines shaking the ground outside,
