Lahat ng Kabanata ng From Dust to Ashes: A scorned Bride : Kabanata 51 - Kabanata 60

Grey.I got to my office just a few minutes past nine. The door slammed shut behind me a little harder than I intended, echoing through the room like a gunshot. And immediately all the staffs started looking for something to do because none of them wanted to get fired.I walked over to my desk, tugged at the top drawer, and pulled out the bottle of Hennessy I kept there for days exactly like this—days when nothing made sense.The amber liquid sloshed into the glass, smooth and unbothered, unlike the storm inside my head. I didn’t sit at first. I stood there, one hand in my pocket, staring blankly out of the window like the skyline might offer some kind of answer.Camilla… or was it Ivory?I dropped into the chair and took a long sip. The burn felt good, something tangible. Something real. Because everything else? Felt like a damn hallucination.If Ivory was Camilla… if she had truly come back from the dead, then what the hell happened to her? Where had she been all these months? And m

Grey.For a moment, my voice caught in my throat. I could still hear her words echoing through the room, bouncing off the walls like some sick joke the universe thought I needed.“I’m sorry, what did you just say?” I asked, slow and deliberate.Maya folded her arms, calm and unflinching. “You heard me, Grey. I was pregnant. With your child. Two years ago.”The room spun just slightly, but I grounded myself with a hand on the edge of the desk. “You’re insane. You mean to tell me you’ve had a kid… for two years, and you’re just showing up now?”She gave me a look like I was the one being irrational. “When I found out I was pregnant, I didn’t want you in the picture. I was furious. You broke up with me, remember?”I laughed. Actually laughed, a sharp, bitter sound that didn’t feel right coming out of my mouth.“You were furious?” I snapped. “You cheated on me, Maya. With one of my staff. I walked in and caught you with him. In my house.”“I know,” she said quickly. “And I regret that. Bu

Julia.Benjamin’s voice was still ringing through the air like a bad anthem, loud, ugly, and desperate. I stood by the window in my office, watching him down below through the thick glass, pacing in front of the building like a rabid animal, security flanking him but not daring to touch him unless ordered.“Tell that bitch to get down and face me! Get down Julia! Get down and face me, because this would be the last face you will ever see!”I grabbed my phone, cool and calm, walked out to the balcony, and hit record.“Mark my words!” he screamed, face twisted with fury, pointing up as if he knew exactly where I was watching from. “You’ll regret this, Julia! You won’t live to see the end of what you’ve started! You seem to have forgotten who I am so fast? I’ll take everything. You hear me? EVERYTHING!”I smiled.Perfect.Once I had the full video—his threats, the foaming rage, the loss of control—I walked back inside and shut the balcony doors behind me. My fingers moved quickly, effici

Grey.I stood still, and watched Maya with so much anger.Maya kept on talking like the talkative that she was, but I wasn’t really listening to what she was saying anymore. Not after she pushed that child forward and declared him my son.My son?No. That boy wasn’t mine. He couldn’t be.She had some damn nerve, showing up here, in my home, with a boy I’d never seen in my life and dropping a bomb in front of my family like it was just another polite evening visit.I didn’t move. My fists were clenched tightly at my sides, nails digging into my palms. My eyes, however, never left Maya’s smug, porcelain-doll face.Ivory.Where was Ivory?I turned instinctively, heart stammering, searching for her. But the space where she stood moments ago was empty.Gone.“Maya,” I muttered under my breath. “You just have to ruin everything you touch.”I pivoted, ignoring Maya and her circus act, heading toward the hallway. I needed to find Ivory. I needed to explain.But before I could make it three st

Benjamin.I didn’t recognize the sound that came out of me when the last bottle smashed against the wall. Glass rained down like snow, scattering across the hardwood floor already littered with overturned furniture, shattered vases, and the remains of what used to be my life.I stood in the middle of it all, hands tangled in my hair, fists pressed so hard against my skull it felt like I could crush it just to make the pressure stop. My chest heaved. I couldn’t breathe right. The walls were closing in.“Fuck!” I roared, slamming my palm against the wall. The sting grounded me for half a second.The phone call still echoed in my mind.“Rose didn’t make it. She died that night, Benjamin. I’m sorry.”The night of Julia’s attack. The same night everything exploded. And now Rose was dead.God. God.I dropped to my knees, eyes burning, throat tight. Tears came before I could stop them, thick and hot, pouring down my face as my hands trembled. “She did this,” I whispered. “Julia… she planned