CHAPTER 15: The Last Light in the Hall

At the threshold, Amelia turned once more.
The grand staircase rose behind Grant like a monument to everything he had mistaken for ownership.
The gold rail. The marble steps. The chandelier. The staff he threatened. The wife he underestimated.
All of it was still standing.
Only his place inside it had changed.
Celeste wiped at her face but said nothing. There was no audience left for her performance.
Charles waited beside the open door, not rushing his daughter, not speaking for her.
Amelia looked at Grant and felt the last thread of fear loosen inside her.
“You told them no one saw anything,” she said.
Grant’s eyes flicked toward the chandelier.
“But the house saw everything,” Amelia continued. “And this house has always answered to me.”
Then she let the doctor guide her into the night air.
Behind her, the doors stayed open just long enough for Grant to understand he was not being abandoned.
He was being removed.