Not studied.
Just… still.
I sat on the stone ledge and let myself think about my father. He wasn’t perfect but he wasn’t a monster.
Was he?
The ledgers say yes.
Lucien says yes.
But memory is complicated.
He used to bring me here when I was younger. Before the estate was fully under Syndicate control. Before business swallowed him whole.
“Everything powerful starts small,” he once told me, handing me a seedling.
I didn’t realize at the time he meant power the way Lucien understands it. Footsteps approached on gravel outside.
Of course.He never truly leaves me unguarded.
“You’re not hard to find,” Lucien said quietly, stepping inside.
“This place used to matter.”
“I know.”
That surprised me.
“You remember?”
“I know everything that happens on my property.”
It shouldn’t have sounded possessive but it did. He walked further inside, glass crunching faintly under his shoes.
“I increased security today,” he said casually.
“Why?”
“Because Belladonna is moving.”
Cold slid down my spine.
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I am telling you now.”
“That’s not the same.”
His gaze sharpened.
“You want honesty? Fine. You are leverage and they know it.”
The words struck hard.
Leverage.
I stepped back.
