Chapter 39: Timonium, Maryland

Hopkins handled the family’s relocation flawlessly and far more quickly than anyone expected.

The visa work, travel clearances, and final arrangements that might have consumed months became a sequence of completed notices in Kaito’s files. By the time Emiko’s last obligations in Singapore were finished, their departure date had been confirmed, the house in Timonium had been furnished, and Ethan Fallen Furniture had completed the work Kaito had approved from across the ocean.

The corporate apartment Hopkins had offered was never needed. Kaito redirected the allocation to the international movers, and their life in Singapore was packed into secure containers instead: books, research materials, clothes, photographs, artwork, personal furniture, and the smaller objects that made up the history of a family. Everything had been shipped to Maryland before they left.

The house was waiting. So were the cars.

Kaito’s Camry, Emiko’s Corolla, and Hana’s Corolla sat in the drive beneath the late-summer Maryland sun. The leasing company had already been formed, the registrations completed, and the insurance documents placed in the study. None of it required another conversation. It was simply done.

They entered the house together.

The main floor was cool after the heat outside, quiet beneath high ceilings and softened by the rugs Ethan Fallen’s designers had placed throughout the rooms. The house had been furnished with the kind of care Kaito had demanded: nothing overdone, nothing chosen merely because it looked expensive. The rooms were elegant, but they were meant to be used. The living room opened toward the garden. The dining room had space for family meals and the larger gatherings the previous owners had clearly enjoyed. The kitchen was fully equipped, including the six-burner gas range left from those earlier years of entertaining.

Emiko stood just inside the entryway and looked around.

The house did not ask anything of her.

It did not need to be searched, furnished, organized, stocked, secured, or made functional. The weight of the relocation had been lifted before it reached her. Kaito had turned what could have been months of disruption into a front door opening beneath her hand.

Hana and Midori took the floor plan upstairs.

They returned a short time later, composed and settled in the way they always became after making a decision.

“The movers have the assignments,” Hana said.

Kaito looked up from the folder in his hand. “Good.”

“We took the bedrooms with the adjoining baths,” Midori added. “The rooms connected by the shared bath remain open.”

“The nursery, Kumiko, and guests,” Emiko said.

Midori nodded. “That was the practical use of them.”

Kaito gave them a small approving nod, then made a note in the moving schedule.

Hana glanced through the front window toward the three cars.

“The registration documents are in the study?”

“Top drawer, left side,” Kaito said.

“And the Maryland driver’s handbook?”

“Beside them.”

Hana nodded once.

Midori looked at her sister. “You have not driven in Maryland yet.”