When love turns to ashes
He told himself, again and again, that it didn’t matter.
That it couldn’t matter.
By the time the wrought-iron gates of Lionel Hawthorne’s estate came into view, Xander had buried the flicker of hesitation deep enough to keep it from showing. The mansion loomed ahead, its stone façade cold and austere against the pale morning sky.
Inside, the air smelled faintly of old leather, smoke, and expensive scotch. The butler, wordless as ever, led Xander down the hall to the massive study. The double doors swung open, and there he was His father