Semua Bab From Dust to Ashes: A scorned Bride : Bab 91 - Bab 100

Benjamin.Chaos. That’s all my life had become.I flew down the hotel stairs two at a time, my boots thudding against the marble like a war drum. I jumped into my car and started the engine with shaky hands, still hearing Santos’ words echoing in my head.“You work for me now.”Screw him. Screw this city. I needed to get out. Now.I hit the gas so hard the tires screeched, the smell of burning rubber curling into the air as I peeled out of the parking lot. I didn’t even look back. I couldn’t. If I did, I’d start second-guessing myself, and I didn’t have the luxury of time. Santos didn’t forgive. Santos didn’t forget. And Santos definitely didn’t let anyone run.I reached my apartment in what felt like minutes, though my heart was pounding like it’d been hours. My fingers fumbled with the keys. The damn door wouldn’t open.“Come on, come on!" I cursed under my breath, shaking until the lock finally clicked. I pushed through the door and didn’t even bother turning on the lights.There w

Grey.I was halfway down the stairs, sliding my watch onto my wrist, when the scream tore through the hallway. And immediately I knew who it was.Camilla.“Cam?” I called, already sprinting up the steps.Another cry, shorter this time, like someone was silencing her.I didn’t knock. I slammed the door open.My mother’s hand was raised.“Hey!” I barked, loud enough to stop everything. Camilla flinched. My mother froze mid-swing. The room held its breath.“What the hell is going on?”My mother turned, her face a mask of betrayal and contempt. “Grey, get in here. Look at what this little..” She glanced at Camilla with disgust. “..this liar’s been hiding.”Camilla was shaking, cornered near the dresser, cheeks red, arms crossed over her chest protectively. She looked at me like I was her last defense.“I don’t know what’s happening,” she whispered.“Don’t play innocent,” my mother snapped. “Look.”She shoved her phone into my hands with such force I nearly dropped it. “This was sent to me

Grey.The moment I stepped into my house, an anger I hadn’t known I was capable of surged through me like a wildfire. My hands curled into fists so tight my knuckles went white. The stench of smoke still hung faintly in the air, and a blackened, charred smell clung to the walls of Kaidan’s room. But what made me see red wasn’t the damage, it was the fact that no one had noticed until it was almost too late.I didn’t even pause to take off my coat before I whipped out my phone, my fingers shaking with rage as I dialed the security team on duty. I barked out the command, “Get all of them here. Now.”Minutes later, every security guard who had been on duty at the time of the fire filed into the living room, faces tight with apprehension. The head of security, a stocky man named Briggs, stepped forward cautiously.“What the hell happened?” I demanded, voice low and dangerous. “How the fuck did a fire break out in Kaidan’s room and none of you noticed? I want you to look me in the face and

Camilla.“You’re not listening to me!” I snapped, slamming the door to my room so hard the frame trembled. “I said I’m not going to Hamilton, Grey! I don’t care what deal you made or what plans you had. It’s not happening!”He was right behind me, the click of the door shutting a hair’s breath louder than the thundering of my heart. “You don’t have a choice,” Grey said.I turned, eyes blazing. “Excuse me? Last I checked, you don’t own me.”“You signed a contract,” he bit out, stepping toward me. “And that contract includes public appearances.”“Hamilton isn’t a public appearance. It’s halfway across the goddamn country! It wasn’t in the agreement and you know it!”He stopped just inches away, tall, unbending, frustratingly beautiful even as fury twisted through his expression. “You think this is about a contract, Camilla? This is about my family. About Kaidan.”I swallowed hard. The name was always my weak spot.Grey must’ve seen that flicker behind my eyes because he stepped back sli

Camilla.Darkness wasn’t silent.It pulsed with echoes. “Camilla... Camilla…”I wanted to answer. I wanted to stand up immediately. But something was holding me down. My body felt heavy, my limbs like stone, but it wasn’t exhaustion. It was grief. Grief so dense it could suffocate. I heard the name again louder this time. I recognized it now.“Camilla, wake up!”Rachael.A gentle nudge shook my shoulder. Then another. My eyelids fluttered open slowly like I was resurfacing from water too deep. Light stabbed into my vision, and I winced.Rachael’s face hovered above mine, framed by the dull gray sky. Worry etched across her features like cracks in porcelain. “Thank God,” she whispered when she saw my eyes open. “You’re awake.”I sat up on the patch of grass I didn’t even remember collapsing onto. My throat ached like I’d been screaming, but I didn’t remember screaming either. Maybe I had. Maybe I’d just done it inside my head.“They’re dead,” I murmured, and the words barely made it pa