Finally, Isla breaks the tension.“I realized something after the call.”
“What?”
“I’ve never been inside Keir’s bedroom.”
Callum turns back to her, surprise flickering across his face.“Never?”
“Not once,” Isla says.“And if this castle is a map of his secrets… then I’ve been avoiding the most obvious place.”
Callum considers that.“Are you ready for that?”
“No,” Isla says honestly.“But I wasn’t ready for any of this.”
She moves toward the door, resolve hardening with every step.
“Will you come with me?”she asks.
Callum doesn’t answer immediately.Then: “Yes.”
No conditions.No control.
Just presence.
And Isla realizes, with startling clarity, that whatever she finds next will not just change how she sees her father.It could also change how she sees her mother.
Chapter17
Keir’s bedroom is nothing like Isla expects.
There is no chaos here.The space feels controlled, refined, even.The bed is neatly made, the coverlet smoothed flat.The dresser top is bare except for a single lamp and a watch placed with care.Heavy curtains frame the tall windows, drawn back just enough to let in the pale Scottish light.
The room feels… held together.
Isla stands just inside the doorway, fingers curling slowly at her sides.
“This doesn’t look like someone who lived recklessly and didn’t care,” she says quietly.
Callum steps in behind her.He doesn’t say anything at first.His gaze moves slowly over the room, as if he’s taking inventory of something familiar and unsettling at the same time.
“No,” he says finally, “it doesn’t.”
They stand there together, letting the silence settle.Isla hadn’t realized how much she expected anger to live here, some echo of chaos, some proof that her mother’s version of Keir had been right all along.
Instead, this room contradicts everything.
She crosses to the dresser and opens the top drawer.Shirts folded with precision.Not fashionable.Practical.Neutral colors.Things meant to last.
“He was orderly,” Isla murmurs.
Callum nods.“He needed things to make sense.If the outside world didn’t… this did.”
Isla looks up at him.“You should have been his child.”
“We lived together for a long time.”Callum’s mouth curves faintly.“He talked.More than people think.”
She opens the next drawer, socks, belts, a watch nestled in its box.
“Did he ever mention a wife in Colorado?”she asks before she can stop herself.
