Chapter 23 - Reflections at Sunset
As dusk settled over Mercer Island, the festival wound down, and the last of the guests waved goodbye, walking out through the open stone pillars into the cool autumn evening.
Declan walked slowly across the quiet lawn, picking up a stray paper cup here and there, enjoying the peaceful silence that settled over the property. The air smelled of woodsmoke, damp earth, and roasted apples—a clean, grounding fragrance that had entirely replaced the cold scent of lemon polish, copper, and cordite.
He walked up the granite steps of the front porch and sat down in a wooden rocking chair, resting his hands on the armrests.
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The old gunshot wound in his left shoulder gave a faint, harmless twinge as the evening chill rolled in off the lake—just a dull reminder of a past life that felt like a movie he had watched long ago, starring a man he no longer was.
He didn't lock the front door behind him when he eventually stood up to go inside. He left it slightly unlatched, letting the cool evening breeze drift freely through the grand foyer.
