CHAPTER 71: GRAYSON

Savannah drives in tense silence with Grayson, Gigi, Xander, and Nash in the car. Xander, holding the reassembled puzzle box, tries to break the mood with knock-knock jokes, then reports that Jameson did not answer his call and that Oren’s team has apparently been forbidden from following Avery and Jameson.

Gigi asks what Sheffield Grayson meant when he said the Hawthornes were going to get theirs. Grayson privately thinks about getting the puzzle box away from Savannah and Gigi long enough to open it and control whatever damage its contents could cause. Instead of revealing that plan, Grayson tells a partial truth: based on his only conversation with Sheffield, Grayson believes Sheffield conceived him with Skye Hawthorne as an act of revenge against Tobias Hawthorne.

Gigi presses Grayson about why Sheffield kept photographs of him if Grayson was only a weapon against the Hawthornes. Savannah tries to shut down discussion of the photographs and their aunt, but Nash interrupts with a more immediate problem. The car is approaching the Grayson house, where black unmarked cars and men in suits signal an FBI presence.

Grayson quickly takes control before they reach the house, ordering Savannah to park two houses away, outside the likely search-warrant area. He has Savannah move to the back seat, Xander take the wheel, and Nash move to the front without leaving the car. Grayson also tells Nash to keep the puzzle box hidden, prompting Nash to cover it with his own shirt.

Grayson lays out the plan: Gigi will get out first, Savannah and Grayson will follow, and Xander will wave and drive off. Grayson warns Savannah not to volunteer that the car belongs to her and to answer questions with outrage rather than information. Gigi cheerfully embraces her role, suggesting that her caffeinated, mimosa-fueled chaos will help them unsettle the agents.