Chapter 168: Le Château de Clairmont.
Lukas returned to Philadelphia late in the afternoon, the sunlight mellow as it filtered through the towering buildings around the hotel. The ride back had been quiet. Even Jay and Roy, who usually cracked jokes or argued over music, remained thoughtful after the visit to the orphanage. Something about that morning had shifted the mood.
Once inside his hotel suite, Lukas dropped his coat and shoes near the door, stretched a little, and headed straight for the couch. He didn’t switch on the TV or even check his phone. The calm from the church still lingered inside him, and for the first time in weeks, he let himself truly rest.
He woke up a few hours later to the sound of the doorbell. Still in his joggers, Lukas walked over and opened the door to find Henry standing there, holding what looked like an armful of folders and documents.
"Took you long enough," Lukas said with a tired smirk.
Henry grinned. "Well, I didn’t want to interrupt your little Sunday spiritual journey. I heard the whole town followed you to an orphanage. You just had to become a folk hero, huh?"
Lukas chuckled. "Come in. What’s all this?"
Henry stepped in and dropped the folders on the coffee table. "You said you wanted to move to Princeton, right? I started the search. Found a few listings you might like. Ranging from small estates to mansions. Some are pretty quiet; some are practically fortresses."
Lukas sat down, flipping open the first folder. There was a wide two-story colonial-style home surrounded by tall trees. Clean white fencing. Price tag: $2.4 million. He nodded slowly.
"Looks like something my mom would love," he said.
Henry pointed to the next. "This one’s more modern. Open glass walls, a big kitchen, a full gym, and a home theater. It’s listed for $5.8 million. Gated, comes with a pool."