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CHAPTER 22
Data de publicação:
2026-02-01 15:10:06
Último capítulo
Ashes Of His Regret Chapter 127
Damien's POVI am three rows back in the gallery.I chose the seat deliberately close enough to see her face, far enough that the cameras can't easily put us in the same frame. Marcus suggested the back row. I compromised. Three rows. I am not going to sit at the back of this room while Esmeralda testifies about the seven years of her life that were taken from her.She walks to the stand and she counts the steps.I notice because I know her. Because I have watched her closely enough to recognize the small things she does when she is managing the distance between what she feels and what she shows. The counting is grounding. It's something Dr. Chen suggested months ago she told me about it one evening, almost offhand, and I filed it away the way I file everything about her.Eleven steps.She sits.She is composed in a way that has nothing to do with performance.That is the thing that I want the room to understand and cannot say from this gallery seat. That her composure is not armou
Ashes Of His Regret Chapter 126
Esmeralda's POVThe walk from the plaintiff's table to the witness stand is eleven steps.I count them.Not because I'm nervous I told Damien this morning that I was ready and I meant it and I still mean it. I count them because counting is a way of being present in a body that wants to float slightly above itself. Eleven steps. Solid floor. My heels on marble. Real.I sit.The courtroom settles.Adriana stands.And we begin.************************"Ms. Voss… can you describe for the court the nature of your relationship with Morrison Manufacturing before your marriage to Julian Voss?""My father founded Morrison Manufacturing twenty-three years ago. I grew up in that company. I worked there during summers through university. When my father's health began to decline I became more formally involved in operations." I pause. "It was not just a business to our family. It was the thing my father built with his hands from nothing.""And during your marriage to Julian Voss how did your in
Ashes Of His Regret Chapter 125
Esmeralda's POVThe morning of the hearing I wake up at five and I lie still.Damien is awake beside me. I know his awake from his asleep the quality of his stillness is different. Right now he is very still in the way of someone who is being careful, giving me the space of the morning without filling it.I appreciate it more than I know how to say.So I say something else."I'm ready," I tell the ceiling."I know," he says."Not performing ready. Actually ready.""I know the difference," he says. "That's why I'm not arguing."I turn my head to look at him.He's looking at the ceiling too. Profile sharp in the early dark. The man who has been beside me through every piece of this the evidence, the arrest, the acquisition, the motions, the preparation. Who sat in my kitchen at six in the morning and read my statement before it went out. Who showed up at a courthouse he didn't need to attend because he wanted to be there."After today," I say."After today," he agrees."Whatever the
Ashes Of His Regret Chapter 124
Julian's POVThe night before the hearing, Richard comes at seven.He doesn't usually come at seven. Seven is outside the scheduled visit window, which means he had to file a special request, which means he has something to tell me that couldn't wait until morning.I sit across from him at the table in the visitation room and I wait."The anonymous tip," he says.I go still."What about it?""She knows about the witness." He sets his briefcase on the table, doesn't open it. "Esmeralda's attorney filed a motion this evening requesting disclosure of any undisclosed witnesses the defense intends to call. The judge fast-tracked it given the proximity to the hearing." He pauses. "We have until nine AM to either disclose or withdraw."I look at him."Withdraw," I say.He blinks. "Julian""Withdraw. If she knows about it, the witness is useless. Whatever they were going to say, Adriana Colts has had time to prepare a counter. Using them now just makes us look desperate." I lean back. "Withd
Ashes Of His Regret Chapter 123
Esmeralda's POVI go to the grave on a Wednesday.No particular reason for Wednesday except that the week is quiet in the middle and I have a two-hour gap between a Morrison meeting and a call with my attorney and I have been meaning to come for weeks. Since the acquisition. Since I put his name back at the top of a letterhead and felt the particular weight of that and didn't know where to put it.I bring flowers. White one, he always said coloured flowers at graves were for the people standing above the ground and white ones were for the person below it. I never asked him what he meant by that. I wish I had asked him more things.The cemetery is quiet.A Wednesday thing, or a grey-sky thing. The kind of day that doesn't attract visitors.I stand at the stone and I don't try to make it a speech. I've never been good at talking to people who can't answer back and he would have had no patience for performance anyway. He was a direct man. He wanted the plain thing said plainly.So I sa
Ashes Of His Regret chapter 122
Damien's POVMarcus brings the subpoena to my office in person rather than sending it through, which tells me before I even open it that it contains something he wants to see my face when I read. I read it. Set it down. Look at him."Prosecution," he says. "Not defense.""I can see that.""They want your account of Suite 1410. What you witnessed, what you heard, the sequence of events from your position." He pauses. "They're using you to corroborate the confession… even though Julian pleaded guilty, the premeditation argument is stronger with a second voice confirming what happened in that room.""I know why they want me, Marcus.""And you're fine with it?"I look at the subpoena again.A formal document. My name on it. The date.Five days before the sentencing hearing."Yes," I say. "I'm fine with it."Marcus exhales, "Julian's team will cross-examine you," he says."I know.""They will go after the marriage. The acquisition. Every possible angle that connects your testimony to a pe
Ashes Of His Regret CHAPTER 77
ESMERALDA'S POVMy phone wakes me at 6:23 AM.Not the alarm. The buzzing.Constant, relentless buzzing.Text after text after text.I grab it, still half asleep.47 missed calls.132 text messages.What the—Then I see the news alert.BREAKING: Is Hale Marriage a Fraud? Contract Details ExposedMy
Última atualização : 2026-04-05Ashes Of His Regret CHAPTER 58
DAMIEN'S POVThe footage is grainy but clear enough.Table 14 at Lucienne. Camera angle from the bar.Her foot. His foot.Under the table where she thinks no one can see.I watch it three times.Then pour another drink.Then watch it again.The way she leans forward when she talks. The way he mirro
Última atualização : 2026-03-30Ashes Of His Regret CHAPTER 53
DAMIEN'S POVI watched the footage three times.It's from the coffee shop. Angle from the security camera across the street. You can barely see their faces but I can read body language.The way Julian leans forward.The way Esmeralda leans back.The flowers he brought that she left behind.Marcus
Última atualização : 2026-03-28Ashes Of His Regret CHAPTER 46
JULIAN'S POVVivienne won't stop talking."—and then the caterer said the orchids weren't available in white, so I had to settle for cream, which completely throws off the color scheme for the nursery reveal party—"I'm not listening.I'm watching Esmeralda across the ballroom.She's wearing red. S
Última atualização : 2026-03-27
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