The Final Gambit

Avery makes some anonymous donations online, then talks to Jameson on the phone. They discuss the mysterious round metal disk that Tobias Hawthorne II (“Toby”), Tobias’s secretly adopted son, took from Avery at the end of The Hawthorne Legacy. Toby had originally left the disk to Avery’s mother, Hannah.

For context: When Avery inherited Tobias’s fortune, it was assumed Toby was dead. Avery discovered that Toby was alive—but in hiding, pretending to be dead. Toby was ashamed of his part in contributing to a fire that killed three teenagers: Colin Anders Wright, David Golding, and Kaylie Rooney. Kaylie was Avery’s aunt—Hannah’s sister. At the end of The Hawthorne Legacy, Avery met Toby, who revealed that he was a Laughlin, not a Hawthorne. Toby is the child of Mallory Laughlin, the daughter of the current Hawthorne House groundskeeper and housekeeper, Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin. Tobias Hawthorne and his wife, Alice O’Day, adopted Toby secretly and passed him off as their own. Toby discovered the truth as a teenager.

Toby also revealed that he had a daughter, Evelyn, or “Eve,” and that he wanted to keep Eve away from the corrupting wealth of the Hawthorne family. At the end of the conversation, Toby took the mysterious metal disk. Jameson and Avery are still curious what it is. Jameson tells Avery, “We’ll figure out what the disk was. […] The world is the board, Heiress. We just have to keep rolling the dice” (7).

Nash asks Avery if Alisa has brought Avery the paperwork to create a trust for her inheritance yet. Avery isn’t sure if she wants to establish the trust or not.

Jameson surprises Avery on her birthday, and they spend the day together. They return to Hawthorne House, where a surprise party waits. People there include Nash, Xander, Jameson, Avery’s best friend, Max, and Avery’s sister, Libby. Also present is Thea Calligaris, the Hawthorne grandsons’ cousin. Thea is the daughter of Zara Calligaris; Zara is the sister of Toby and Skye Hawthorne (the Hawthorne grandsons’ mother; each boy has a different father). Also present is Rebecca Laughlin, Mallory’s daughter. To Avery’s surprise, Grayson is also there.

Avery wakes up the night after her 18th birthday with Jameson in bed beside her. She leaves Jameson asleep in bed and finds Grayson. Before Avery and Jameson solidified their relationship, Avery also had a flirtation with Grayson, resulting in a love triangle between her and the brothers. This was complicated by the fact that Grayson and Jameson had previously fallen for the same girl, Emily Laughlin, Rebecca’s sister. Emily’s death tore Grayson and Jameson apart.

Although Avery is with Jameson now, she still has a strange dynamic with Grayson and has to remind herself: “I [am] with Jameson. I [love] Jameson” (18). Avery’s bodyguard, John Oren—known as “Oren”—interrupts their conversation. Oren announces that a girl named Eve is at the house. Avery realizes this is Toby’s daughter—who she’s kept secret from everyone but Jameson.

Avery meets Eve for the first time. She’s shocked by how similar Eve looks to the deceased Emily, noting, “Seeing her would kill Grayson” (21). Eve and Toby have been in hiding. Eve has now come to Hawthorne House because Toby has been kidnapped. Avery, knowing Toby didn’t want Eve near the Hawthornes, asks why Eve sought them out instead of going to the police; Eve claims that Toby told her she could trust Avery, and that she couldn’t report a supposedly dead man missing anyway. Grayson interrupts the conversation, and he is shocked to see someone who looks so much like Emily.

Avery explains to Grayson who Eve is. Grayson is still shocked to learn of Eve’s existence—and to realize that Avery was aware of it. Avery invites Eve into Hawthorne House, despite her misgivings: “I wondered if this was what Pandora had felt like the moment she opened the box” (27).

Avery and Grayson inform Jameson of Eve’s arrival. Grayson says they should protect the girl “[b]ecause she’s Toby’s daughter, and that makes her one of [them]” (30). Avery is uncertain, as she doesn’t trust Eve; neither does Jameson. Eve insists that she’s only there because she wants help getting Toby back safely.

Avery fills in Max and Xander about Eve. Xander suggests a game of “Chutes and Ladders” to welcome Eve to the house. Avery wants to use the opportunity to assess Eve’s character.

Grayson, Xander, Eve, Avery, Jameson, and Max prepare for a game of Hawthorne-style Chutes and Ladders: It’s a “real world” version, with the objective being to get to the roof of Hawthorne House first. To get your climbing equipment, you have to share a secret. Eve talks about her history as they prepare for the game. Eve was the product of her mother’s affair; her entire family knew it and treated her less-than as a result. She wasn’t invited to family reunions and didn’t get presents at Christmas like her half-siblings, Eli and Mellie (servants at Hawthorne House who appeared in past books). “They wanted me to be invisible,” Eve tells Avery (42). The game begins.