Chapter 8

I had to give it to the man: Elijah Wilder knew how to make an entrance. As if to prove my point, a visibly instantaneous change swept through Kentucky as soon as his presence became noted, and chairs scraped the floor as everyone, regardless of company hierarchy or age, stood up.

A slight incline of his head was all he gave as acknowledgement, and slowly they lowered themselves back into their seats, though more than one offered up theirs to him, gestures he firmly but politely always turned down.

Watching him cut through the room like a knife through butter in an expensive bespoke suit and polished oxfords – saying nothing even as he bent the room to accommodate him; it became evident that I had gravely underestimated the effect his presence would have on me, and as if he’d plucked my thoughts out of thin air as if he could hear them, Elijah’s gaze fell on me in that very instant, and just like that I was robbed of all common sense.

I remembe