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Chapter 109

作者: Kimberly Ingrid
last update 公開日: 2026-04-04 04:00:27

The prosecution's office smells like recycled air and burned coffee, and there are three of them waiting for me when I arrive Thursday morning.

Lead prosecutor Adriana Colts is not what I expected. She's compact and precise, somewhere in her mid-forties, with the kind of eyes that don't blink enough. The two associates flanking her are young and quiet and taking notes before anyone has said anything worth noting. I like that about them. I like people who understand that preparation is a form of
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  • 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 121

    Esmeralda's POV“Seat!" Her voice thundered in the room, I had no choice but to adjust myself. Adriana Colts does not believe in gentle preparation.I understand this within the first fifteen minutes of our session. She sits across from me in the prosecution's conference room with a legal pad and the particular stillness of someone who has done this hundreds of times and has stopped finding it uncomfortable, and she looks at me and says:"I'm going to ask you questions the way Matheson & Crane will ask them. I need you to answer as if I am the enemy. Because in that room, I won't be asking. They will.""Understood," I say."Don't perform strength. Don't perform composure. Just answer the question that was asked and nothing more.""Understood.""And when I go after you and I will go after you I need you to stay exactly where you are, don't be defensive or cold, just be present.""Understood."She picks up her legal pad.And she begins.*****"Mrs. Hale. At the time of your marriage

  • Ashes Of His Regret    Chapter 120

    Damien's POVThe morning of the motion hearing, she's up before five.I hear her before I see her, the quiet movement through the room, the bathroom light, the particular sound of her getting ready when getting ready means something. There's a difference between the mornings she's preparing for Morrison and the mornings she's preparing for something else. The rhythm is different. More deliberate.I lie still and listen.She comes out of the bathroom at five forty-seven, already dressed. Navy, she gravitates to navy when she wants to project something precise. Not the softness of blue. The authority of it.She sees me watching."Go back to sleep," she says."I was never asleep."She moves to the mirror. Checks something.. a small, final check, the kind that isn't really about appearance. It's the gesture of a person confirming that what they see matches what they feel."You don't have to come," she says."I know.""The hearing is routine. My attorney will be there. Adriana's team is p

  • 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

    last update最終更新日 : 2026-04-05

  • Ashes Of His Regret    CHAPTER 74

    VIVIENNE'S POVCharlotte is three hours old when Celeste arrives.I'm exhausted, I haven't slept, haven't showered. Still wearing the hospital gown.But I sit up when she walks in."Vivienne, darling." She's carrying flowers. Expensive ones. "How are you feeling?""Tired. Sore. But okay.""And the

    last update最終更新日 : 2026-04-04

  • Ashes 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

    last update最終更新日 : 2026-03-30

  • Ashes 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

    last update最終更新日 : 2026-03-28
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