CHAPTER 4: GRAYSON

Years after Grayson last visited London, the Hawthorne brothers gather in a familiar flat with its unchanged view. Jameson asks Nash why he used his rare yearly emergency summons, and Nash answers by placing a velvet ring box on the table.

Nash reveals a black opal ring set in platinum and diamonds, explaining that Nan gave it to him because it had belonged to their grandmother, Alice Hawthorne. Nan believes the ring would suit Libby Grambs for a proposal, but Nash admits that this creates a problem.

Grayson assumes Nash is not ready to propose, but Nash reveals the opposite: he already bought a ring himself. When Jameson opens Nash’s second ring box and finds it empty, Grayson realizes Nash has already proposed to Libby and that Libby and Nash are engaged. The news unsettles Grayson because it makes him feel how much has changed since Tobias Hawthorne’s death and the brothers’ disinheritance.

Xander reacts with loud celebration, launching himself at Nash, and Jameson joins the roughhousing. Grayson pushes aside his unease and joins his brothers in congratulating Nash.

Jameson immediately declares an impromptu bachelor party, but Nash stops him and questions whether Jameson plans to break any laws, hinting at recent incidents in Monaco and Belize. Nash then turns his scrutiny on Grayson, prompting Grayson to realize that Nash did not summon the brothers only for his own engagement.

Nash permits the bachelor party but insists that Grayson and Xander help Jameson plan it, under “tree house rules”: what happens among the brothers stays among the brothers. The chapter leaves Nash’s deeper reason for gathering them unresolved while reestablishing the brothers’ private code.