“And does it have anything to do with the fact that there’s a Hawthorne in our kitchen?” Lyra’s mom added.
Not justaHawthorne, Lyra thought, the words a low hum in her mind.My Hawthorne.The moment her brain issued that unlikely proclamation, Lyra flashed back to the first phase of the Grandest Game, to Odette telling her,Draw your Hawthorne, the way I once drew mine.
“Grayson.” Lyra suddenly made a connection they should have made as soon as it had become clear that there had been a cover-up, tied up with a billionaire’s bow.“Odette.”
Odette Morales was a lawyer and once-lover of Grayson’s grandfather’s who’d told them that she’d done a favor for the billionairefifteen years earlier. A favor that Alice Hawthorne had revealed herself to her husband to request. During the Grandest Game, Odette had told Lyraand Grayson that she didn’t know anything about Lyra’s father or his death, but the man who had really died at 947 Onomo Crescent—hehadn’tbeen Lyra’s father.
Technicalities. Loopholes.Odette was a master of them.She knows something about all of this. She knows more than she said. She has to.
Grayson stood. “If you’ll excuse me,” he told Lyra’s parents, “I have to make a call.”
Neither of Lyra’s parents said a word until they heard the screen door open and close, and then Lyra’s mom folded her hands on the table in front of her. “I have so many questions,” she said. “Beginning with: Can he sword fight?”
Lyra recognized the attempt to lighten the tone, but she was also pretty sure that if she wasn’t careful, the male lead in her mom’s next book might end up being the suit-wearing son of a billionaire. “Mom.”
Lyra’s dad snorted, and Lyra made the mistake of glancing at him, and once her dad’s steady eyes caught hers, there was no looking away.
Lyra had always been a daddy’s girl.
“I’m sorry, Lyra,” he said quietly. “Sorry about what you went through. Sorry we couldn’t prevent it and that you’ve been all alone with this foryears.”
“You didn’t know.” Lyra’s voice was just as quiet as her dad’s.
“I knew something was wrong. Your mom and I, we both knew. We should have pushed you to tell us what.”
“Because that would have gone well,” Lyra’s mom said, walking to stand beside him, wrapping an arm around his waist. “Because no Kane in the history of the world has ever dug their heels in harder when pushed.”
“You aren’t actually suggesting she gets her stubbornness fromme?” Lyra’s dad retorted.
“I plead the fifth,” her mom said, then she looked back to Lyra. “You needed space. We gave you space. But we would do anything for you, baby. You know that, right?”
Lyra knew.
“You’re ours,” her dad said gruffly, and Lyra knew that, too. She’dalways known that. Her dad glanced out the window. “And for the record, that Hawthorne boy? I don’t like him.”
Lyra’s mom rolled her eyes. “Liar.”
“Not my fault no one’s good enough for her.”
“He’s a good person.” Lyra hadn’t meant for her voice to come out sounding like that.Soft. Sure.
Her mom smiled slightly. “Is heyourperson?”
This time, Lyra made sure her voice wasn’t soft. “We’ve known each other for four days, Mom.”
“Ask me how long it took for me toknowwith this gentleman,” Lyra’s mom replied, leaning into her dad. “This gentle man right here.”
“I’m not that gentle.”
“Keep telling yourself that, Keith.”
The front door opened again before either of Lyra’s parents could say another word. When Grayson stepped back into the kitchen, Lyra knew just by looking at him that he hadn’t gotten ahold of Odette.
Yet.
“Alisa’s on it,” Grayson said, meeting Lyra’s eyes. “She should have something for us in the morning. In the meantime, she says to try to get some sleep.”
Lyra had gotten a little at Toby’s, but at this point, Grayson had been up for thirty hours straight, and if he was even entertaining the idea of sleeping, Lyra was guessing Alisa had issued some pretty pointed threats.
