He arrived like a bad thought come to life.

By the time the guest was announced, the house smelled of cut roses and starch, as if the staff tried to bleach away the truth with floral perfume. I smoothed my palms over my skirt until my fingers went numb. Every mirror on the corridor reflected a pale face I didn’t recognize — the same eyes, the same mouth, only harder now.

He arrived in a town car that looked too shiny for the drizzle. They brought him straight into the east wing like a ...