Chapter 25: When the Lights Fail

By midnight, the plan has already failed in the most useful possible direction.

The pursuit collides with the eldest brother selling the house to conceal their father's final confession, forcing an alliance that neither Anna Mercer nor Daniel Mercer is ready to name.

The evidence survives, but reaching it requires a choice that exposes the group to a new enemy.

Anna Mercer keeps the larger goal in view: discover who manipulated the family after their mother vanished. The immediate problem is smaller, sharper, and impossible to postpone.

The confession is incomplete, yet honest enough to change the temperature of the room.

Their attraction grows through competence, danger, and the first honest confession.

The recurring signs of wallpaper, cassette voices, dust return with a different meaning, linking this choice to what came before.

The evidence points toward someone they have both been protecting.