The security alert appeared in the corner of my tablet.
*Perimeter Breach: Main Gate. Unauthorized Vehicle.*
I was reading in the library while rain struck the manor windows. A fire burned low in the hearth. For the first time in three years, the room and everything in it belonged to me.
There were no access requests waiting on the tablet, no household limits to approve, and no assistant deciding which door I could open. The only interruption was the red security notice.
Lucas appeared in the doorway. "He's outside the gate. He won't leave."
"In the car?"
"On foot."
I closed the book and took the black umbrella from the stand. Lucas stepped aside, ready to come if I asked. I went alone.
Water ran down the long drive and gathered between the gravel. Carter knelt outside the iron gat
