Sam was a variable he had never been able to solve.
Gio sat at his desk in the quiet of the south wing, the quarterly assessments still waiting, the lamp still burning. Outside his window, the garden was dark. The estate was silent above him. Somewhere upstairs, Arianne and the twins were asleep. And Gio was alone with the memory of a girl who had smiled at him like he mattered.
He had solved every other equation in his life. His survival under his half-brothers. His place in Arianne's household. His role at her side. He had calculated and strategized and anticipated, and he had gotten everything right.
Except Sam. Sam was the variable that refused to resolve.
He met her when Arianne became friends with Alex and Gilbert.
