EPISODE 4: Salt on the Wound ## Chapter One: The Ledger of Lies The morning light slanted through the tall windows of Blackthorn Manor's library like accusatory fingers, illuminating dust motes that danced in slow, reluctant spirals. Elara Voss stood at the long mahogany table, her palms flat against the cool wood, eyes fixed on the neat columns of figures that marched across the ledger like soldiers on a battlefield she had not chosen. The air smelled of old paper, beeswax polish, and the faint, persistent brine that seeped into every corner of the house no matter how many windows she sealed. Her oversized cream sweater hung loose on her frame, sleeves pushed to her elbows, revealing the faint ink stains on her fingers from the previous night's frantic sketching. She had been trying to redesign the east wing's load-bearing walls when Delphine's courier had arrived at dawn with the sealed envelope. Now the truth lay bare between her spread hands. Rowan Voss—her brother, her blood, her oldest wound—had been siphoning money into Blackthorn's restoration for six months. Not out of familial affection. Never that. The transfers were disguised as anonymous grants from a shell corporation called Cliffwatch Holdings. The final page of the report made the exchange brutally clear: in return for continued funding, Rowan would receive first...