The first time I saw Adam smile, it wasn’t for me. It was captured in a faded photograph tucked inside a hollowed-out book—him and a woman with silver-blond hair, standing beneath a willow tree, her hand resting on his chest. Our wedding portrait hangs above the fireplace downstairs, but this one? This one felt real.\n\nI dropped the book like it burned me. The library door creaked open behind me. "You shouldn’t be here," said a voice—low, familiar. Damien. Adam’s brother. He stepped into the dim light, tie loose, eyes shadowed. "That room is off-limits. Just like that drawer." He nodded toward the desk I’d just rifled through.\n\n"Why? What are you hiding?" My voice trembled, but I held the photo up.\n\nHe didn’t flinch. "The question isn’t what we’re hiding. It’s what you’ll do when you realize you’re part of the lie."\n\nA crash echoed from the east wing. A woman screaming. Isadora. Again.\n\nDamien moved toward the door. "Stay here, Lilian. Or follow me. But once you see what’s behind that curtain, there’s no going back."