Death won. We limped away bloody, but we lost big.

Olive’s release and rise to heir of the Ballard Family Estate is the one outcome I can say I’m proud of.

But everything else is a mess.

No time to feel deflated.

Enemies are multiplying like feasting cockroaches and taking on strange forms, spouting old-world pledges of vengeance and making us second-guess how to deal with it all, including who we can count on when no one is trustworthy.

Safety at Donovan’s began as a practical solution, but the arrangement overwhelms already strained relationships and carries weighty consequences I will have to live with.

No matter the enemy, or the last resort tactics meant to save our lives, I refuse to let death win again.