The Brothers Hawthorne

Gigi leads Grayson to a mirrored room that could be a dance studio if it weren’t for the basketball hoop and lines. Shooting hoops in a silver skirt is Savannah, Gigi’s (and Grayson’s) sister. Savannah doesn’t speak to either of them but walks toward her room. Gigi tells Grayson that Savannah will meet them in 10 minutes once she’s changed clothes. Ten minutes later, the three of them sit on the patio overlooking a swimming pool, and Grayson notices how similar he and Savannah look and act. Gigi convinces Savannah that they need to throw a party at her boyfriend, Duncan Trowbridge’s, house. When Gigi leaves the patio to find Savannah’s phone, Savannah tells Grayson that she knows who he is, and she does not want him around her or her sister. Grayson refuses to back down. Acacia Grayson, Savannah and Gigi’s mother, interrupts their confrontation and asks Savannah to give her and Grayson a moment alone.

Acacia tells Grayson that if she’d known about him sooner, she would’ve taken care of him. Acacia learned about Grayson on the day of her mother’s funeral, 22 months ago. Savannah found out about Grayson earlier, when she was 14, and she’s kept her father’s secret since then. Acacia explains how each of the girls has reacted to Sheffield Grayson’s love for his deceased nephew Colin: Savannah became a basketball player, like Colin, and Gigi maintained her bubbly personality to keep her dad happy. Acacia tells Grayson that he’s welcome to get to know the girls better, but she doesn’t need his help with the men in suits.

Gigi brings Grayson and Savannah into Sheffield’s home office where the three of them search for anything connected to the safe-deposit box. Grayson convinces Gigi to let him take pictures of her key; he plans to make a near-identical 3D model that he can secretly swap with Gigi’s real key. Grayson finds a hidden space behind a photograph of Gigi and Savannah; inside, he finds a USB drive, which he keeps secret from Gigi and Savannah. Seemingly unsuccessful in their search, the girls and Grayson leave the office with plans to throw a party the next night.

As Grayson leaves the Grayson mansion, he overhears Kent Trowbridge talking to Acacia about Gigi’s near-arrest. When it seems Kent may be touching Acacia inappropriately or threatening her, Grayson steps in. Kent recognizes him, and Grayson acknowledges that he knows who Trowbridge is as well. Once Grayson is back in his car, he calls the lawyer Zabrowski to get more information on Trowbridge.

Twelve hours after meeting Rohan, Jameson and Avery receive an invitation to the opera with a key attached, marked with the symbol of the Devil’s Mercy. As they dress, Avery calls Tahiti, the code she and Jameson use for complete honesty. She wants Jameson to confess that the Devil’s Mercy and Ian matter more to him than he’s letting on. He tells her, “Maybe a small part of me wants to impress him. Maybe I want to make him want me, so that I can be the one who walks away” (109). Avery encourages Jameson, “You [...] are a blazing fire [...] you’re a force of nature who makes the impossible possible without batting an eye. You’re brilliant and devious and kind” (109). They finish getting dressed and leave for the opera.

Twenty minutes into the opera, Avery and Jameson leave their seats, without Oren, board an elevator, and use the key that came with their invitation. The elevator buttons all light up green, and then the elevator takes them deep underground to a tunnel, where a 10-year-old boy waits to ferry them on a small boat to the Devil’s Mercy. Despite Avery’s questioning, the boy is determined to work for the Factorum so that one day he can become the new Factorum. At the end of the little river, they meet Rohan, who reveals himself as the Factorum, and he brings them into the club.

Rohan unlocks a secret door to the club, which is decorated in the style of Roman architecture and split into five sections, each with a high archway covered by a thick curtain. The five rooms are each organized around a particular deadly sin: sloth, gluttony, lust, wrath, and greed. The wrath room is a fighting ring, where members can elect to fight house fighters or one another, and onlookers can bet. The greed room is for gambling; this is where Rohan wants Avery to lose £500,000 over the next three nights. The other rooms each have a ledger, where highly specific, unconventional wagers can be placed. As Rohan steers Avery and Jameson to the greed room, he reveals to Jameson that “there’s a reason men like your father aren’t allowed back” (122).

A duchess, a woman Jameson and Avery recognize from the horse race, approaches them and offers her name, Zella, and allyship to Avery as one of only a few women invited to the Mercy. Zella explains several of the games to them, and then Avery and Jameson find the poker table to begin losing money.

Back at his hotel, Grayson asks the concierge to deliver a 3D printer to his room. He receives a call from Zabrowski with information about Acacia’s financial situation. Sheffield’s assets are frozen due to the ongoing FBI investigation, but Savannah and Gigi each have a trust that is “intact and substantial” (125). Acacia’s trust is completely depleted, and Grayson suspects that she’s been using funds from the girls’ trust for living expenses and that their trustee, Kent Trowbridge, signed off on using their money. The Trowbridge family and Acacia’s family, the Engstroms, have been close for a long time, and the Engstroms made Kent, rather than Acacia or Sheffield, trustee of the twins’ money. Grayson makes a large deposit in Zabrowski’s account and tells him to find the original trust paperwork and someone who can make him a key.

Based on Zabrowski’s information, Grayson’s new goal is to secure the safe-deposit box himself in case there is information inside that would lead the FBI both to Sheffield’s plot against Avery and to his death. Grayson plugs in the USB he found in Sheffield’s office but realizes it isn’t a USB at all. He examines the index card it was taped to and sees that the index card has also been modified, with several notches cut into the sides. Xander calls to check in and immediately points out how similar Grayson and Savannah are. He encourages Grayson to deal with his emotions, but Grayson receives a second phone call and evades the question. The second caller is a girl who claims that her dad shot himself when she was four years old because of something Tobias Hawthorne did. She hangs up before Grayson can ask any more questions.

At the Trowbridge party, Gigi tells Grayson to act as a distraction while she sneaks around the house. Several girls recognize Grayson and swarm him, offering condolences for the loss of his fortune and his romance with Avery. Grayson deflects, but when the girls find out that he’s a friend of the Grayson twins, specifically Savannah, they immediately criticize Savannah’s looks, attitude, and actions. Grayson tries to shut it down without raising his voice, and Gigi comes to pull him away from the group.

Gigi brings Grayson to Kent Trowbridge’s office and picks the lock to enter. Grayson finds the key to Trowbridge’s desk and a notebook with all his passwords. Grayson takes a picture and then puts everything back where he found it. Gigi uses the computer password to download files onto an external hard drive she brought. Grayson spots a safe but lies to Gigi and tells her he doesn’t know how to open it. They are interrupted by voices outside the door: Savannah and Duncan. Duncan pressures Savannah to be intimate even though she says no twice. Gigi interrupts them, claiming that she and Grayson are also looking for a place to be alone. Grayson, embarrassed at Gigi’s lie and furious with Duncan, manages to keep himself under control while everyone rejoins the party. He spots Nash waiting for him outside on the lawn.

Nash cautions Grayson against his involvement in the Trowbridge/Grayson problem, but Grayson shrugs off his concern. Nash points out that Grayson didn’t notice Nash tailing him to the party or the second black car that has been following him. Grayson drives away, keeping tabs on the driver following him, then pulls off at a gas station so he can take a picture of the car’s plates as it drives by. A little further down the road, Grayson and the mysterious black car pull over to the side, and the driver of the black car reveals that he works for Eve Blake.

Jameson is 10 years old and recently hurt his arm flying over the handles of a motorbike, so he struggles to climb into the tree house. His grandfather appears, telling him that because his mind is ordinary in comparison to his brothers, he will have to want everything more, work harder, and train better. His grandfather challenges him, “[o]nce you see that web of possibilities laid out in front of you, unencumbered by fear of pain or failure, by thoughts telling you what can and cannot, should and should not be done [...] what will you do with what you see?” (152). Those words ringing in his ears, Jameson chooses the most difficult way into the tree house, ignoring the pain in his arm, and starts to climb.

The second night at the Devil’s Mercy, Avery continues losing money at the poker tables and Jameson canvasses the other games, thinking of a way to impress the Proprietor. At one of the tables, Rohan catches two members cheating. He challenges them to a single game—if he wins, they leave; if one of them wins, they can fight over who stays in the ring. They lose, and a new player comes to the table. Zella and Jameson partner for a game of whist against the new player, a man named Branford.

Jameson loses to Branford, who “play[s] forcefully, efficiently, and with absolutely no chitchat” (159). Avery appears at the top of the staircase on the Proprietor’s arm. Everyone stays seated while they descend, except for Jameson, who meets Avery at the bottom of the stairs and winks at the Proprietor.

On their way home from the Mercy that night, Avery reveals that the Proprietor invited her to join the Game, but she advocated for an invitation for Jameson as well. Jameson is frustrated that Avery possibly jeopardized her spot in the Game for him. Avery reveals that Branford is a title, and the man’s name is Simon Johnstone-Jameson, Jameson’s uncle.

Later that same night, Jameson sneaks into Ian’s hotel room—knowing now that the apartment they first met in must belong to either Simon or the other brother. He and Ian discuss Branford’s appearance, the two men who were thrown out, and Avery’s invitation to the Game. Ian tells Jameson that he will have to do more than win at the tables or wink at the Proprietor to get an invitation. Jameson decides that he will start the next night in the fighting ring.

Eve Blake’s spy tells Grayson that he was sent to spy, not on Grayson but on his half-sisters and their mother.

As Grayson drives back to the hotel, he remembers a time before Eve’s betrayal when she felt important to him, like family. Grayson has 17 missed messages from Gigi, so he changes the passwords that he took pictures of at the Trowbridge house and sends them to her, to keep her off the trail. The mysterious girl calls Grayson again with more information about her father’s death: Right before he shot himself, he told her that a Hawthorne was responsible and gave her a riddle, “What begins a bet? [...] Not that” (179). Once the girl hangs up, Grayson calls Xander for help; he needs someone to look through “the old man’s List” (180).

The next day, Zabrowski gives Grayson the duplicate keys he had made and tells him that Sheffield Grayson is under investigation for embezzlement, stealing from Acacia’s mother, who held a controlling interest in his company. Zabrowski also gives Grayson the name of Eve’s spy: Mattias Slater. Gigi tracks Grayson down at his hotel and reveals that Savannah found a fake ID in their gym, and with that ID and her key, they won’t need Trowbridge’s passwords to access the safe-deposit box. Grayson plans to swap the fake key for Gigi’s as soon as possible.

On the third night at the Devil’s Mercy, Rohan explains that the fights in the ring go on until someone yields or physically cannot get up. Jameson watches one match, analyzing the house fighter, then enters the ring. Avery places a bet on Jameson.

Jameson analyzes the first challenger, dodging his reckless attacks, and in one swift kick knocks him to the ground. Jameson looks for a new fighter to go against and sees the Proprietor in the audience. The Proprietor claps for Jameson, pointedly and slowly, then tells Rohan to get in the ring with Jameson.

At the end of 19 rounds of fighting, Jameson is broken, bruised, and bloody. Rohan has taken some hits, but Jameson barely holds onto consciousness. Rohan tells him to stay down, but Jameson pushes himself to his feet for the 20th round. Jameson lands a hit on Rohan, and Rohan hits the mat, but Jameson notices that the Proprietor gives Rohan a look, as if he’s ordering him to stay down. The fight ends, and Zella and Avery meet Jameson to help him recover.

Zella explains that Rohan stopped fighting because “if anyone goes twenty rounds with a house fighter, the house yields” (197). The three of them go to a private room in the lust area of the Mercy, where Avery tends to Jameson’s wounds. Zella reveals that she wants them to get an invitation to the Game so that she knows who her competition is because she is competing as well. Jameson tells Avery that he met with Ian again and that Ian offered to leave Vantage to him, as his son, if he won the Game. Once Jameson is bandaged, he and Avery go back out into the club to continue fighting for the Proprietor’s attention.

Jameson and Avery sit down to eat in the gluttony room, and Jameson asks the bartender for the wager book. The bartender explains that the gluttony room is for long-term bets and that the other room is for short-term bets. Two members bet that Jameson will get himself killed before he turns 30. Rohan appears, jokingly betting that Avery and Jameson will break up. Jameson bets that “The Proprietor chooses someone other than the Factorum as his heir,” correctly guessing that Rohan hadn’t been named heir yet. Then Jameson offers a wager that the Proprietor is dying. No one takes the bet, and Jameson and Avery move on to the next room.

In the next room, Jameson makes a bet on the price of wheat, hoping that the Proprietor will be intrigued and surprised. Jameson and Avery end the night at the tables, playing against Branford and Zella once more. Jameson refers to Branford as “uncle,” hoping to throw him off his game. Before they can continue, Rohan arrives and summons all of them to the Proprietor’s office.

The Proprietor congratulates Zella on being the only person to ever successfully break into the Mercy and sends her out of his office with Avery and their Game invitations. The Proprietor tells Branford that he will receive an invitation to the Game in exchange for a second levy, and he tells Jameson that he can also join the game in exchange for a secret: “The kind men would kill and die for. The kind that shakes the ground beneath our feet, the kind that must never be spoken, the kind you wouldn’t dare share even with the lovely Avery Grambs” (213). Jameson thinks about Prague and then tells the Proprietor that he does have a secret to share.

Gigi drives herself and Grayson to the bank to meet Savannah and get into the safe-deposit box. Gigi confronts Grayson about his and Savannah’s animosity and incorrectly guesses that the two have a romantic past. Gigi asks questions about the girlfriend Grayson invented when they first met, and Grayson describes “that make-believe impossibility of a girl” (216), who is smart, unpredictable, and a fitting partner for him. Satisfied with Grayson’s answer, Gigi shifts her attention back to the bank. When they arrive, Grayson points out that Gigi shouldn’t go into the bank because she was arrested last time and the employees may recognize her. Instead, Grayson offers to take her key and go inside on his own. Savannah refuses to let Grayson go in alone or to take her father’s key or fake ID. Grayson notices that the name for Sheffield Grayson’s fake ID is Tobias Davenport—his grandfather’s first name and Grayson’s middle name.

Grayson switches Gigi’s key for the fake key and gives that key to Savannah as they enter the bank. Savannah asks to see her father’s safe-deposit box, producing the key, ID, and falsified notarized documents that grant her access even though she’s not listed on the account. The clerk does not accept her documents but does reveal that Acacia Grayson is the other authorized user on the account. Savannah and Grayson leave the bank, and Grayson realizes that Savannah had no plans to access the deposit box on that visit, just to trick the clerk into revealing the identity of the other owner. Savannah tells Grayson, “We do not need you [...] I have everything under control” (221).

Grayson, Savannah, and Gigi arrive back at the Grayson mansion; Savannah finds Acacia reading in the library, and she and Gigi tell Grayson that no one is allowed to interrupt Acacia in the library. Grayson enters the library anyway and finds Acacia on the phone asking for a job. Grayson reveals that he knows about her financial situation and the FBI investigation, and he offers to help. Acacia declines. Grayson tells Acacia about the safe-deposit box and his concerns about Kent Trowbridge. Acacia wants to handle these problems herself but changes her mind and tells Grayson and Savannah that they’ll all go to the safe-deposit box together.

Acacia, the twins, and Grayson return to the bank. At first, it seems that Grayson's plans to plant the fake key have worked and the clerk won’t allow them to open the box, but Savannah reveals that she had a key, one she found with the fake ID. Acacia opens the safe-deposit box, and the first thing Grayson sees inside is a picture of himself.

Grayson and his grandfather discuss the challenge he and his brothers just completed: Finding out which of their grandfather’s many keys would unlock the new front door. Grayson comes in third, and his grandfather confronts him: “I’m not upset you lost [...] I am, however, concerned that you are beginning to seem comfortable with losing” (233). His grandfather pushes him to answer a question, “Some people can make mistakes, Grayson. But you are not one of those people. Why?” (234). Grayson eventually arrives at the right answer: “someday, it’s going to be me” (234). Tobias Hawthorne agrees and promises Grayson that Grayson will inherit the fortune and be the new head of the Hawthorne family.

Wanting Jameson to deliver his secret in private, the Proprietor sends Branford away. The Proprietor promises that if Jameson wins the Game, the Proprietor will destroy any record of the secret and that if Jameson loses, the Proprietor will not pass the secret down to his heir. Jameson summarizes his secret on the parchment, “a capital H, the word is, two lowercase letters at the very end: v and e” (238). He tells the Proprietor where to find proof of the secret, a bead filled with a clear liquid that Jameson kept hidden in a pocket watch. The Proprietor gives Jameson an invitation to the Game. The minute he opens it, a powder erupts from the envelope, and Jameson passes out.