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Ifelt it before the sirens even started screaming across town.

That was the curse of being tethered to that damn house. I couldn’t go anywhere, but somehow Hallowridge still found ways to bring pieces of the outside world back to me. Most of it barely registered anymore, but anything connected to Lakelyn or my son hit different.

That night, whatever connection I had to them hit me harder than it ever had before.

It started with a violent rush of heat that had no business reaching me inside the mansion, followed by the bitter sting of smoke so sharp I could almost taste it. Then fear crashed into me—not mine, but hers—with enough force to make me stagger.

Something was wrong, and I knew it before I understood why.

A hard pull tightened beneath my ribs, sudden and deep, and the hallway around me began to blur. The walls of the mansion dimmed at the edges, and for a few seconds, broken impressions forced their way through the connection faster than I could make sense of them.

Orange light reflected across Lakelyn’s face. Smoke curled through the darkness. I felt Kaidence close to her, his fear tangled with hers so tightly I couldn’t separate one from the other. Willow and Granny Liz were there too, and somewhere beyond all of it, sirens wailed through Hallowridge even though there wasn’t a fire truck or ambulance anywhere near my property.

I didn’t know exactly what the hell had just happened. Maybe the connection between me, Lakelyn, and my son had gotten strong enough for their panic to bleed through. Maybe being back in Hallowridge had changed something. All I knew was that whatever I had just felt wasn’t my imagination.

Granny Liz’s house was on fire.

Panic tore through me.

I shot down the grand staircase and through the front doors, desperate to tear across town and get to them.

I needed to get to my family.

I made it across the courtyard and hit the boundary at the front gates with enough force to rattle the wrought iron.

The invisible barrier threw me backward.

“Fuck!” I roared into the empty courtyard, the sound carrying through the property.

I went at the boundary again even though I already knew what would happen. Death hadn’t changed the rules just because my family was in trouble. I was still trapped behind the perimeter of my own property while the only people who mattered to me were somewhere across town dealing with something I couldn’t protect them from.

That was what fucked with me the most.

I paced the length of the iron fence, helpless fury tearing through me.

I knew Lakelyn. The second something went wrong, she put herself last and focused on what everybody else needed, carrying the weight until there was no room left for her own fear.

I wished to God she had just listened to me all those years ago.

If she had moved her stubborn ass in with me when I begged her, this place would have been her home from day one. But I knew Lakelyn too well to pretend she would’ve stayed here after I disappeared. She wouldn’t have wanted to walk these halls every day surrounded by everything we were supposed to have together, wondering why the man who built the place with her in mind never came home.

That didn’t change the fact that I had always wanted her here.

Mama knew that too.

Before I died, I had made it clear that if anything ever happened to me, Lakelyn was the person I wanted taken care of. I wanted her safe, I wanted her secure, and I damn sure never wanted her or any child of mine struggling when I had spent my entire adult life making sure money would never be the problem.

Over the years, Mama had offered Lakelyn the house more than once, including ownership if she wanted it. Her name had been tied to that property from the day I bought it, and she had the authority to transfer it without waiting on a court or anybody else. She told Lakelyn that she and Kaidence could live there for as long as they wanted and nobody would ever ask them for a dime.

Lakelyn turned her down every damn time.

Mama never pushed because she understood what accepting that offer probably felt like. Moving into my house would’ve meant building a life inside the last place everybody knew I had belonged, and maybe some part of Lakelyn felt like doing that meant admitting I wasn’t coming back, so Mama maintained the property instead.

She kept the bills paid, the systems serviced, and the grounds cared for. Every so often she tried putting tenants in the place again, although after enough strange shit sent enough people running, those attempts became less frequent.

Couldn’t imagine why.

And every time Mama came by, she still talked to me.