By the time the car reached the estate again, the drawing room lights had gone dark.
The drive back had taken less than ten minutes, but it had felt longer, the silence between them charged with everything they had just read and everything neither of them had said out loud yet. Caro was out before the car had fully stopped, Peter closed behind her, both of them moving up the front steps where, minutes ago, Sera had stood with her father's hand locked around her arm.
The front door was unlocked. Inside, the house felt different now, the careful formality replaced by something tense and unsettled. A few staff members hovered near the entrance, their expressions wary.
"Where is she?" Caro asked, her voice sharper than she intended. "The woman. Sera. Where did they take her?"
The housekeeper appeared from a side hallway, her face pale. "Mrs. Shey, I don't think you should—"
"Where is she," Caro repeated.
"The east wing," the housekeeper said quietly. "Mr. Voss took her there himself, right after you left. He said it was time she remembered her place." She hesitated. "Ma'am, I should tell you. The east wing is where—"
"The library," Peter said, already moving. "That's where my old library is."
Caro followed him through corridors that grew narrower and older, the polished modern wings giving way to something that felt frozen in time, portraits and dust sheets and furniture that hadn't been rearranged in years, until they reached the familiar oak door, slightly ajar, golden light spilling out exactly as it had the day Caro had first found it weeks ago.
Voices drifted from inside.
"Eleven years, Sera. Eleven years of silence, and you decide tonight, of all nights, to hand them everything." The elder Voss's voice was low, furious. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"I told them the truth," Sera said. Her voice was shaking, but it didn't waver. "Something you and Isabella have been avoiding for years."
Caro pushed the door open.
Both Voss and Sera turned. Isabella, standing near the bookshelves with her arms crossed, did not look surprised at all.
"You came back," Isabella said, almost admiringly. "I told your father you would. He didn't believe me."
"Isabella." Peter's voice was cold. "I think it's time you explained exactly what your relationship to this family actually is."
"Oh, I think Sera's already done most of that work for me," Isabella said lightly. "But since we're all being honest tonight, let's be thorough." She looked at Caro, something almost gentle in her expression for the first time. "Sera is my older sister, Caro. Which makes us, in a roundabout way, family. Welcome to the club."
Caro's mind reeled. "You're Sera's sister. Which means—"
"Which means I'm your aunt," Isabella said simply. "Which is, I'll admit, a strange thing to discover about someone you've spent the last few weeks assuming wanted to destroy you."
"Didn't you?" Peter asked sharply.
"I wanted to know what you'd do," Isabella said, turning to him. "Eleven years ago, when my family destroyed Lena's life, and yours, I was twenty two years old, and I did nothing. I told myself it wasn't my place. That speaking up would only make things worse for everyone, including me." Her composure cracked, just slightly. "When my father started circling Caro's family, three years ago, the same way they circled yours, I told myself the same thing again. Until Sera came to me. Until she told me whose daughter Caro actually was."
"And you decided to test us," Caro said slowly. "The library. The leaked photos. The spoofed email. All of it."
"All of it was designed to see how the two of you would respond when something threatened to break you apart," Isabella said. "Because if you fell apart at the first sign of pressure, the same way Peter's father fell apart, the same way I fell apart eleven years ago, then nothing I did tonight would matter. The Voss family would simply finish what they started, and Caro would become exactly what they made her to be. A tool." Her eyes moved to Caro, then to Peter. "But you didn't fall apart. Every single time, you chose each other instead of the easier option." Her voice softened. "That's not something either of you can fake, no matter how observant either of you are."
"You could have told us," Peter said. "Any of this. At any point."
"And if I had," Isabella said, "would you have trusted a single word from someone you'd already decided was the enemy? Or would you have assumed it was one more move in a game you didn't understand yet?" She shook her head. "I needed you to find your own way to the truth. Slowly enough that you'd actually believe it when you got there."
The elder Voss had been silent through all of this, his expression darkening with every word.
"Enough," he said finally, his voice cutting through the room. "Sera. Isabella. Both of you have said more than enough tonight." He turned to Peter, something dangerous settling into his posture. "And you, Peter, should remember that whatever sentimental story my daughters have decided to tell, the actual leverage in this room hasn't changed. I still control the records that prove exactly how your father destroyed Beri Group. And I am still perfectly capable of releasing them, to the press, to your board, to anyone who'll listen, the moment either of you walks out of this house."
"Then release them," Peter said calmly.
Voss blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Release everything," Peter said. "Every record. Every detail of how my father and your family conspired to destroy Caro's family for leverage." His voice was steady, almost relieved. "Because the moment that story is public, Mr. Voss, the world will know exactly what your family has spent eleven years protecting. And exactly what you did to Lena to keep it quiet."
"You'd destroy your own father's reputation," Voss said slowly. "Your company's reputation. For what? Spite?"
"For the truth," Peter said. "Something this family has apparently been allergic to for over a decade." He glanced at Caro, something steady passing between them. "And because the only thing that scares a family like yours more than exposure is irrelevance. Once this story is out, Mr. Voss, no one will be afraid of you anymore. They'll just be curious about what else you've been hiding."
For the first time all evening, Voss had no response.
Sera moved quietly to stand beside Caro, something hesitant but hopeful in her expression. "I know this is a lot," she said softly. "Finding out tonight, all at once. I understand if you need time."
"I do," Caro admitted. "But not to decide whether I want to know you." She looked at the older woman, searching for some echo of herself and finding, unexpectedly, that it was there. "Just to figure out what happens next. There's a lot next, apparently."
A faint, surprised smile crossed Sera's face. "Yes," she agreed. "There is."
Behind them, Isabella's phone buzzed sharply. She glanced at it, and her expression changed instantly.
"That's not good," she said quietly.
"What is it?" Peter asked.
Isabella turned the screen toward them. A news alert, already spreading, the headline stark against the dark screen.
Shey Industries Board Calls Emergency Session — Allegations of Misconduct Surface Hours After CEO's Sudden Departure to Family Estate
"Someone leaked tonight," Isabella said grimly. "Not the Voss records. Something else." Her eyes lifted to Peter's. "Something about your board thinks happened between you and Caro. Tonight. Before you left the city."
Caro's stomach dropped, the memory of the brief, charged moment in Peter's office, before the kiss, before everything, flashing through her mind.
"The cameras," she whispered. "Outside Peter's office. Someone was watching."
Peter's phone began ringing.
He looked at the screen, then at Caro, his expression hardening into something grim and resolute.
"We need to get back to the city," he said. "Now."