The Thorne Heiress Unveiling Shadow novel Chapter 51

The study at Thorne Crest was silent, but the air still crackled with the energy of the alliance that had just been forged. Kaelen's face was gone from the monitor, but his presence lingered. Evelyn sat before her console, the Blackwood servers open to her, a vast, uncharted territory of secrets. Her fingers were poised over the keyboard, ready to begin the hunt, but they were a little cold, a faint, lingering echo of the adrenaline from the car attack. For eighteen years, danger had been an abstract concept, a thing that happened to other people. Yesterday, it had gained a sound—the shriek of tires—and a temperature—the cold dread of unresponsive brakes. And now, for the first time, she had someone by her side to face it with. The feeling was completely, utterly foreign.

The heavy oak doors to the study were suddenly thrown open with a force that made them bang against the stoppers.

Chase Thorne stormed into the room, his face a thundercloud. The usual easy grace and warm humor were gone, replaced by a raw, protective fury that seemed to make the very air around him vibrate. He was followed closely by their parents, Arthur and Lillian, whose faces were pale with a similar, barely controlled panic.

"Explain this," Chase snarled, his voice a low, dangerous growl. He wasn't looking at Evelyn. His furious gaze was locked on Kaelen, who was still present via the open, silent comms link. Chase slammed a tablet down on the polished desk. On its screen was a detailed security report from the Thorne family's team, complete with photos of the skid marks at Columbus Circle and the front of Evelyn's Koenigsegg, inches from the mangled side of the bus.

"Why is it," Chase continued, his voice dangerously soft, "that my sister experiences a near-fatal attack in a car you had been tracking, and I am the last person to find out about it from a security alert?"

Before Kaelen could respond, Lillian rushed past her son, her own composure finally breaking. She threw her arms around Evelyn, pulling her out of her chair and into a fierce, trembling embrace. "Oh, my baby," she whispered, her voice thick with tears as her hands roamed over Evelyn's arms and shoulders, checking for injuries she couldn't see. "Are you hurt? Are you alright? Harrison told us what happened, the car… oh, my sweet girl."

Evelyn was momentarily frozen, unused to the sudden, overwhelming physical contact. This was… being worried about? In the Sutton house, even when she'd had a fever of 104, all she had ever received was a cold command from Caroline: "Don't you dare get Aria sick." Now, this wave of frantic, almost suffocating concern was so alien it short-circuited her brain. It was strange. But, she decided as her mother held her tighter, it wasn't bad.

Arthur Thorne, a man whose quiet presence could silence a boardroom, stepped forward. His gaze, cold as a winter sea, was fixed on Kaelen's image on the screen. He didn't raise his voice. He didn't have to. "Mr. Blackwood," he said, the words perfectly spaced, each one a chip of ice. "My family has just gotten our daughter back. She is the single most precious thing in our world. And yet, the moment you enter her life, she is nearly killed." He paused, letting the weight of the accusation settle in the room. "The timing is… highly suspicious."

The unspoken message was clear: You brought this danger to her. The alliance, which had been a strategic victory just moments before, was now on the verge of being shattered by the protective fury of a family that had waited eighteen long years to finally bring their daughter home.