The letter had smelled faintly of lavender and dust.
Ava stared at it again, even as the winding road took her farther from the world she knew. “You are hereby invited to claim your inheritance at Hawthorne Estate,” it read in elegant cursive. The rest had been details—legal jargon, deadlines, executor’s names. One thing it didn’t explain was why three strange men were already living in the house her godmother left behind.
Or why her godmother had made them co-heirs.
The car jerked as the wheels hit gravel. Ahead, the mansion emerged from the mist like a secret too old to be told. Ivy clawed the stone walls, and windows blinked like eyes. The front door opened before she even reached the steps.
She stepped out into the cold and met the first one—tall, broad-shouldered, arms crossed lik
