CHAPTER 97: JAMESON

After returning to Hawthorne House, Jameson proposes rebuilding the tree house with his brothers. While they work, Jameson shares selective pieces of what happened abroad: meeting his father, winning a castle, saving a duchess, and playing the Game. He withholds the Devil’s Mercy and the real stakes, but describes the riddles and puzzles, including the final answer involving the silver ballerina.

Grayson then introduces a riddle of his own: what begins a bet, with the warning that the answer is not the obvious one. Jameson puzzles over possibilities while noticing that Grayson is hiding one of Tobias Hawthorne’s files, suggesting Grayson’s challenge is tied to their grandfather’s legacy.

When the tree house restoration is finished, Jameson and Avery are alone in a tower overlooking the estate. Avery brings up the Game and reminds Jameson that Tobias’s games were meant not to make the Hawthorne boys extraordinary, but to show them that they already were. Jameson admits he now believes he is extraordinary, especially with Avery.

Avery then proposes creating a new kind of game: one that is not secret, hidden, or reserved for the wealthy and powerful. Jameson is immediately drawn to the idea of designing elaborate puzzles with a major cash prize, and he names it the Grandest Game. The plan gives Jameson a new purpose beyond winning: creating mysteries that help others discover their own capabilities.

Moved by Avery’s trust and their imagined future together, Jameson decides to tell her the secret he learned in Prague. Instead of speaking it aloud, he uses Scrabble tiles to spell the message he had written for the Proprietor: Alice Hawthorne is alive.