“Eliana,” she muttered, her eyes blazing with resolve, “you’ll have to answer to me this time around.”

And she pressed harder on the accelerator.

Thalia didn’t remember how she got there.

She only knew that at some point, the road curved into a long, private driveway lined with towering iron gates and silent cameras.

And it was boldly written on the signboard—Smith's Mansion. She had never stepped foot there before, had never needed to. But now, standing outside the mansion with her hands trembling slightly at her sides, she felt like fate had dragged her here by the throat, she has to confront Eliana today or never.

The car engine...