Sun was starting its slow drop by the time they reached the compound, light going gold and heavy the way it did in the last stretch before evening, laying itself across the long driveway in stripes between the trees.
Somewhere off to the side a sprinkler system had just kicked on, throwing thin arcs of water over grass that already looked too even to be real.
Gates alone took Liam by surprise, tall and black iron, set into a wall that ran further in either direction than he'd expected, disappearing off into hedges on both sides like the property had no interest in telling anyone where it actually ended.
They opened without either of them touching anything, swinging inward slow and silent, some sensor or camera somewhere clocking the car and deciding it belonged.
Driveway curved up through manicured grounds, hedges trimmed into shapes too clean to be accidental, some of them cut into soft geometric blocks and others left rounded like sleeping animals.
