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Chapter 162
publish date:
2026-05-05 00:49:04
Latest chapter
Ashes Of His Regret Chapter 162
lila's POV A phone call from Marcus?...not even a text, a phone call Which is either old-fashioned or deliberate and with Marcus I am beginning to understand that there is no difference between those two things. He does not do accidental things. Everything he does is considered.I am in the middle of something when my phone rings and I see his name and I sit very still for approximately three seconds before I answer."Marcus," I say."Lila." A pause.... brief, functional. "Damien mentioned you're working on a piece about corporate foundation launches. For the business journal."I wrote that piece two months ago.Damien mentioned it to Marcus two months ago.Marcus is calling about it now.I note the timeline and say nothing about it."I finished that piece," I say. "It ran last month.""Right." Another pause. Not embarrassed — recalibrating. "He also mentioned you were starting something new. About women in executive leadership."This is true. I am starting something new about women
Ashes Of His Regret Chapter 161
Esmeralda's POVThe house is quiet in the way it only gets after nine PM.Margaret has been asleep for an hour, the particular settled sleep of a five-month-old who has exhausted herself completely and is now entirely committed to unconsciousness. I checked the monitor twice. Damien checked it once after me and didn't tell me he was doing it, which is the kind of thing he does that I notice and don't comment on because it is simply him and I have learned that some things don't need words.I am in the kitchen when he comes in.Not looking for anything, standing at the counter with a glass of water I poured twenty minutes ago and haven't touched, reading Julian's letter again. The folded pages are open in front of me. I have read it four times today. Each time I finish I fold it and put it away and then twenty minutes later I take it out again.Damien comes in and sees me and sees the letter and doesn't say anything.He goes to the cabinet. Gets a glass. Pours water.He stands on the ot
Ashes Of His Regret Chapter 160
Esmeralda's POVThe first three words are: "i see her."Not what I expected.I sit with those three words for a full minute before I read further. Because they are... not manipulation. I know Julian's manipulation the way you know the particular smell of something that has burned you before. This is not that. These three words have a quality I have not encountered in anything Julian has ever directed at me.They are plain.I read on.*****The letter is two pages.Handwritten, his handwriting, which I spent seven years reading on notes and cards and documents. It sits strangely, seeing it again. Not with pain. With the particular distance of something that used to be close and has since been moved to a different room.He writes:" I see her. On the news. In the coverage of the IPO announcement. Morrison Manufacturing going public. Your father's company brought back to what it was supposed to be and then further. I saw the photograph of you at the press announcement and I thought....th
Ashes Of His Regret Chapter 159
Esmeralda's POVThe letter arrives on a Wednesday.My attorney calls first, that is the arrangement, she receives anything from Julian's legal representation before it reaches me, a boundary established after the first letter and maintained since. She calls at nine-fourteen AM while I am in the Morrison boardroom reviewing the IPO launch numbers and I step out into the hallway to take it."There's a letter," she says.I already know what kind."From his legal team?" I ask."From him," she says. "Directly. Handwritten. Addressed to you." A pause. "I've reviewed it. It's not a legal communication. It's personal."I stand in the hallway.The boardroom behind me. The numbers I was reviewing. The IPO two weeks away. Margaret Rose's photograph on my phone screen which I look at approximately forty times a day without quite knowing I'm doing it."I'll send it over," she says."Yes," I say."You don't have to open it.""I know.""Or respond.""I know."She sends it.It arrives in my inbox at
Ashes Of His Regret Chapter 158
Damien's POVI notice at the bread course.Not immediately… I am having a conversation with Esmeralda about the pediatrician appointment and Margaret Rose's weight percentile and whether the pediatrician's concern was genuine or precautionary. These are the conversations of our life now and I am entirely present in them.But I notice.Marcus is looking at Lila.Not the way he looks at things generally — Marcus has a particular professional attentiveness that he applies to most situations, a form of comprehensive awareness that makes him good at his job. This is different. This is the look of a man who has just encountered something he didn't account for and is recalibrating without realizing he's doing it.I say nothing.I return to the pediatrician conversation.*****By the main course it is clearer.They have separated from the larger table conversation not dramatically, just the natural way of a dinner where four people have two conversations and the conversations drift along diff
Ashes Of His Regret Chapter 157
Lila's POV"It's not a setup," Esmeralda says."You're saying that a lot," I say."Because you keep looking at me like it's a setup.""It feels like a setup.""It's dinner." She adjusts Margaret Rose on her hip without looking down, she does this now, the effortless physical fluency of a woman who has been carrying a baby for four months and has integrated it entirely into her movements. "Damien wanted Marcus to come. Marcus is coming. You are coming. It is dinner."I look at her."Where is this dinner?""Arlo's.""Arlo's is a date restaurant.""Arlo's is a restaurant.""With candles.""Many restaurants have candles.""Esmeralda."She looks at me. The composed face. The perfectly neutral expression of a woman who has testified in federal sentencing hearings without flinching and is currently applying that same composure to the question of whether this is a setup."It's not a setup," she says.It is absolutely a setup.*****I wear the green dress.Not because of any particular intent
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 Updated : 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
Last Updated : 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
Last Updated : 2026-03-27Ashes Of His Regret Chapter 15
CELESTE'S POVI'm having tea at the club when Margaret Pierce slides into the chair across from me, her face alight with gossip."Celeste, darling. I heard about Julian and that Laurent girl. How exciting!"I smile, the practiced expression of a woman who's perfected social graces over sixty-two ye
Last Updated : 2026-03-19
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