r noon, holding his recorder, notepad,

nged since the gala. Since the flash drive. Since her father's letter. What

s walls framed the garden's lush overgrowth, and filtered sunlight lit her face li

do this here?" Damie

ngs grow in this room. Or they die. Depe

an eyebrow

she said with

sabella Vaughn, daughter of the late Harold Vaughn, heir to Vaughn Group, cur

but something in he

," Damien said. "Wh

silence. And I realized someone had rewritten

es. "What was your relation

slightly around the

But he loved me, in his way. He had secrets-but th

is death was

asn't," she

"Do you h

. Mentions of things-of a ledger called Indigo. He was s

ed. "Do you thin

er, protector, brilliant. But somewhere along the line, she lea

her. "And who

"A girl trying not to disapp

hat followed

as h

son

ns that don't make you want to thro

. "You never were very

soft," he said. "Y

aze then-leve

etly. "But you sold a piece

know. And I haven't s

as a lo

, "Why did yo

ed. "Exc

e. To this. You co

hen I saw your name again. And everythin

off the

because I never stopped wondering what would've happen

hing open in her-s

I can trust you

if I deserve i

of the

and something fragile growing again. Like the vines cur

morrow. We'll go through the ledger

d, eyes u

door, she called

tur

her voice was warmer t

ot treating me l

the barest n

tared at the sun filte

first time i

feel comple