Chapter 47

Cousin's involvement:

Arnold looks further into his cousin's participation in Lily's homecoming and the threat to his family. He reveals the full scope of their conspiracy to take over the Hawthorne Company. The days following Lily's abrupt departure were a swirl of chaos and uncertainty. Alice and I were on high alert, cringing at every shadow and flinching at any unexpected sound. Lily's parting threats lingered over us like a dark cloud, reminding us that the lady who claimed to love me was suddenly our greatest foe. But, even as we secured our home with extra security measures, I felt that simply hunkering down would be insufficient. If we were to properly protect ourselves and our family from the tempest that Lily had unleashed, we needed to battle her. We needed to know the full depth of her ambitions as well as the identity of her co-conspirator, my cousin Damian. The mere thought of Damian's involvement triggered a surge of wrath in my veins. We had been at odds for years, eve