ELARA'S POV
My mother met us at the door and read the room immediately the way she always did, hugged me, shook Damien's hand, and said dinner would be ready in an hour. She gave us space without being asked.
My father was in the living room.
He stood when we came in. He looked like a man who had been preparing for something difficult and had been waiting long enough that the preparation had worn thin.
I sat across from him. Damien sat beside me.
"Tell me everything," I said. "From the beginning."
Thomas sat down slowly. "After the divorce I was angry in a way I didn't know what to do with. I watched you rebuild yourself and I kept thinking about how it happened, the specific machinery of it. So I hired someone."
"Who?"
"A firm in Portland. Licensed, reputable. I paid out of my ret
