Chapter 1 A Grave Promise

I watched the Lennox family convoy disappear into the distance, digging my nails deep into my palms.

I pulled out my phone, my voice frighteningly calm. "Grayson, I'll need you to dig up a grave. The Lennox family's ancestral tomb, specifically."

Grayson West sucked in a sharp breath at my audacious request.

"The Lennox family is one of the wealthiest and most influential families in Kingswell. They have people guarding their ancestral tomb. You couldn't even get a fly in there!"

So what? I'd dig up even the grave of the King of Hell himself.

After hanging up, I immediately searched my navigation app for the worst-rated public restroom nearby.

Just then, my phone vibrated with an incoming video call from Dakota.

She showed me a close-up of my mother's urn, with her lavish study visible in the background.

Dakota scoffed, then spoke in a low, threatening voice. "Have you made up your mind? You have 24 hours to transfer the title to the old house to Walter. I'm running out of patience."

My breath hitched, and hatred surged through me so fiercely that I nearly crushed my phone. "If you touch my mother's ashes…"

She wanted the house transferred to Walter? The nerve.

It wasn't until the third year of my marriage to Dakota that I learned the truth about what had happened after Walter left the country in a fit of anger.

He'd been kidnapped and tortured by a criminal organization from Cragfall.

Dakota deeply regretted what had happened. Because Walter and I had the same blood type, she tortured me until I became his personal blood bank.

"Stop stalling, Asher. You owe him this. If it weren't for you, he wouldn't have suffered so much."

Her impatient voice pulled me out of my memories.

I gave a faint smile and looked at the most infamous abandoned public restroom on a toilet-review blogger's blacklist.

"Dakota, keep an eye on your family's ancestral tomb."

Dakota paused in surprise, then mocked me even more contemptuously.

She raised the urn high. With a loud crash, the sandalwood box shattered into pieces.

"Stop wasting my time and transfer the house already. Otherwise, next time, your mother's ashes will end up in a stray dog's bowl."

Dakota dismissively hung up. My reflection appeared on the dark screen, my expression tightly restrained.

Hadn't Lennox Group built its success on the marriage alliance and my father's support?

If Dakota was determined to dig her own grave, I'd give her a gift she'd never forget.

I still had a few trusted people inside the company, so I immediately called Lennox Group's finance department.

"Mason, compile the financial statements from the past few years and email them to me."

I stared coldly at the reports in my inbox, then submitted them anonymously to the Department of Revenue.

I'd barely hung up when Walter's video call came through.

When I'd first met him, he'd been gaunt, frail, and covered in wounds. Now, after living off my blood, he actually looked healthy.

Holding a scruffy mutt, he turned the camera toward the ashes scattered across the floor and gave me a taunting smile.

"Asher, Dakota's been telling me how much of an eyesore this is. I'll have Ollie clean it up for you. Sounds good?"

I started a screen recording, my voice cold and sharp. "Touch my mother's ashes, and I'll make sure your final resting place is no bigger than an urn."

Walter's smile faded slightly, but he still looked at me arrogantly.

"Asher, be smart and sign the divorce agreement already. Otherwise, the more you care about something, the more I'll want to destroy it."

"Good boy, Ollie. Go on, lick it!"

Laughing wildly, Walter pressed the dog's muzzle against the ashes on the floor, forcing him to lick them.

Rage shot through me, and I clenched my teeth so hard until my gums hurt.

"You want me to sign the divorce agreement? Over my dead body!"

Walter rolled his eyes and hung up in disgust.

A dozen or so seconds later, I took a deep breath and contacted the Blue Ridge Excavator Crew.

Just then, Grayson texted to say that everything was ready.

"Mr. Blake, we've assessed the site, and the plan is workable. We can start before dawn tomorrow. But there are several additional burials in the Lennox family tomb. You'll need to be there in person to identify the main coffin."