I had understood it, in fact, for two months, which was exactly how long the manila envelope had been in my possession.

Chapter 6 — The Estate

By half past three that afternoon, my flight had touched down in Minneapolis.

And while Julian and Chloe rocked along somewhere in the middle of North Dakota, sealed in their warm cabin and utterly unreachable, I was gliding through the snow-dusted gates of the Vance family estate in the back of a heated town car.

The grand Tudor-style mansion was already glowing with festive Christmas lights, warm gold against the blue winter dusk.

And I need you to understand the people inside it, because they are the reason the story ended as it did.