Chapter 80

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• From Dust to Ashes: A scorned Bride    Chapter 82

  Julia.I woke up feeling like a stranger in my own skin. My body was heavy, not from sleep, but from the burden of every choice that led me here. One month. That’s how long I’d lived in this godforsaken mansion with Santos, and already it felt like I’d aged ten years.The ceiling above me seemed to lean in like a threat. I stared at it, my thoughts spiraling. Why did I sign that contract? What had I truly expected—that Santos would honor his promise, help me get my companies and properties back from Benjamin? That he’d be decent, just this once?I was a fool. A blind, desperate fool.The silk sheets clung to my legs like shackles. I sat up, running a hand through my tangled hair. I used to wear designer gowns and run boardrooms. Now I was caged, humiliated, forgotten.The door slammed open so hard it cracked against the wall.“Get the fuck out of my room!” I shouted before I even registered who it was.Santos strolled in, laughing, his arm around a bleached-blonde woman wearing little

• From Dust to Ashes: A scorned Bride    Chapter 81

  Grey.People still talked about Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic torch in Atlanta — a moment etched in memory. There hadn’t been a dry eye anywhere.Why were we so emotional? Because one of the world’s greatest athletes stood there, shaking and barely able to speak — a far cry from the man who once moved with the grace of a dancer. The man who used to float around the ring now trembled uncontrollably.We always held onto images of athletes at their peak. When a brilliant mind like Stephen Hawking’s was confined by a failing body, we accepted he could still thrive in thought. But when a body failed an athlete, it felt tragic — like clipping the wings of a soaring bird. The higher they flew, the more painful the crash.It was a Friday, and I found myself once again in Michael’s office. His official name was Dr. Robert Owens — a curious blend of Scottish and Welsh — but I’d never called him anything but Michael.He was a compact, muscular man, built like a fighter, not a neurosurgeon. T

• From Dust to Ashes: A scorned Bride    Chapter 80

  Grey.As far back as I can remember, I haven't allowed myself to get drunk since I heard that Camilla was pregnant, I wanted to be the best father for my baby. Apparently, that’s what thoughtful, responsible, well-adjusted dads do when they welcome a child into the world — drown themselves in alcohol. But then, Camilla had made it quite difficult for me to bond with the unborn child.You get a new car? You steer clear of drinking. A new house? You can't afford to drink. But a new baby? No, then you have to “wet the baby's head.” For me, that meant throwing up in the back of a cab looping endlessly around Marble Arch.Even when Grey told me about Catherine's death, I didn’t drink. I didn’t need to. I just went out and cleared. And no, the hangover didn’t linger, but the guilt’s a different story. That part never left.Then came today. Lunchtime. Two double vodkas. The first time I’ve ever done that. I didn’t even want the buzz so much as I wanted to numb my brain. To erase the image th

• From Dust to Ashes: A scorned Bride    Chapter 79

  Chapter 77Camilla."I want to see the photographs," I said after few minutes of silence.Raphael slid a couple of ring-bound folders across the desk in my direction. “I need to make a call,” he added. “We might be onto something. A woman’s gone missing in Los Angeles—an X-ray tech. Her flatmate hasn’t heard from her in two weeks. Age, height, hair match our Jane Doe. And here’s the kicker, she’s a nurse.”After he stepped out, I opened the first folder and started flipping through the images at a quick pace. Earlier, when I had seen the body, her arms had been placed along her sides. Her wrists and inner thighs had been obscured from view. A self-harmer, maybe? Covered in stab wounds, ones inflicted by her own hand? It sounded implausible. But the timing, the history... it was probably nothing. Just a cruel coincidence.The first images captured the wider scene, bare ground scattered with rusty oil drums, coils of wire, scaffolding poles. The Grand Union Canal curved along the backgr

• From Dust to Ashes: A scorned Bride    Chapter 78

  Camilla.I’d reached the point where I had to expose Julia and her mother, but first I needed proof. I had to dig up every person they’d silenced over the years. I wanted them behind bars, and my psychology degree was about to pay off.One of the unwritten truths of the National Health Service was that “dead wood floats.” It was a part of the culture, that quaint reluctance to remove the incompetent. And it suited my purposes.I walked into Westtime Mortuary, where the duty supervisor, bald, square-jawed, with pouchy jowls, pulled a face as soon as he saw me.“Who sent you?” he demanded, his tone clipped.“I’m to meet Detective Inspector Raphael.”“He didn’t tell me. No appointment on file.”“Can I wait here for him?”“No, only family members of the deceased can use the waiting room.”“Then where?”“Outside.”His sour scent mixed with stale sweat clung to the air. He looked exhausted, probably had pulled an all-nighter. Normally, I’d have empathy for tired shift-workers, just like I d

• From Dust to Ashes: A scorned Bride    Chapter 77

  Julia.The second Camilla stepped out of the front door, I felt the air leave my lungs. Like the earth had tilted for a second and thrown me off balance. Her face was the same, but her eyes… they burned with something new. I didn’t have time to think about it before I heard the front gate swing open behind me. My mother stormed down the steps like a woman possessed.“You stupid, useless bitch!” she screamed, her palm colliding with my cheek so hard my head snapped sideways.I stumbled backward, shocked not by the slap, those came easily but by the look in her eyes. Panic. Rage. The kind only a woman backed into a corner can carry.“Mama, what?”She slapped me again.“She’s alive, Julia!” she screamed, her voice cracking. “What the hell are we supposed to do now? Do you know what this means?! Every fucking thing we built, everything we stole, everything we hid, she’s going to take it all back!”I felt my heartbeat rise, my skin prickling under her fury. I reached up and touched my che