Chapter 66: Three People, One Room

The room felt different after Nathaniel Crosswell left.

Not quieter. Emptier.

The air no longer pressed inward with his presence, but something sharper had replaced it. Expectation. Consequence. The sense that a line had been crossed and could not be redrawn.

Lillian remained seated where she was, hands wrapped around the teacup she had barely touched. The porcelain had cooled. She did not notice.

Beatrice Whitmore closed the door herself.

The sound was soft. Final.

“You handled that well,” Bea