All Chapters of Ashes of Betrayal: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

After Cassia left, I sat in what was left of the funeral hall. The tears would not stop.I gathered every grain of my father's ashes I could find. I drove him to the grave myself. I buried him quickly. I did not want those two coming back.That night, Stella's message came.[Tomorrow. Be here.]My face tightened. I printed the divorce papers and went to bed.I drove out to Stella and Hudson's villa in the morning. The gate was locked.Before I could knock, Stella's voice came through the speaker on the gate."Kneel there and wait for Hudson to wake up and apologize. You ignored my message last night. Hudson is upset."I kept my face expressionless. "Do you think I'm that cheap? I'm here to sign the divorce papers."The gate opened. Several of her staff rushed out and pinned me to the ground.They sneered."She told you to kneel, so kneel. You don't get up until Hudson wakes."She said you wouldn't bring the ashes, so she sent people to dig up the grave early this morning…"

Chapter 2

A sound came out of me that I did not recognize."No!"My body moved before my mind did. I lunged for the urn.Too late.It hit the ground between us. The lid came off.The white ash that had been my father drifted out, light and weightless. It settled on the wet ground, mixing with the dirt.The world stopped.I sat where I had fallen. The white was the only thing I could see.That had been my father.That had been the man who tucked me in when I had a fever, the man who taught me to ride a bike on the road in front of our house, the man who looked at me and said I was the best thing in his life."Dad..."The sound that came out of me was something broken, almost inhuman.Stella was startled for a moment. Then her expression twisted into something like satisfaction. She looked down at me."Serves you right!"Her voice was not loud, but it cut deep. "If you hadn't gone after Hudson, the urn wouldn't have fallen. This is on you."I knelt in the dirt. Tears streamed down m

Chapter 3

Her eyes went venomous. She spoke slowly, making sure I heard every word."Letting my son use his ashes as a potty was already giving him face. If it weren't for you, I would have fed his ashes to the dogs.""What... what did you say?"My voice trembled. I could hardly believe my ears.Hudson walked over, arms folded, then hooked an arm around Stella."Damon, if it weren't for your father, Zane would have been aborted long ago."His eyes reddened. "When Stella was pregnant, your father used the excuse of bringing soup to visit her, but he put abortion drugs in it.""If I hadn't discovered it in time, Zane would already be…"I clenched my teeth, cutting him off."Impossible. My father would never do something like that."My father was the gentlest man I had ever known. Even when he found out Stella had cheated and was carrying another man's child, he only said to me, calm but firm, "Just divorce her. You and I will live our own lives."He had never once thought of harming a

Chapter 4

Stella forgot the rest of it. She was at the boy's side in two strides.The skin on him was already pink, then red. Hives rose in a pattern across his belly and his shoulders. His face was hot.Stella's eyes flooded with red. She turned and grabbed me by the collar."What did you do to my son?"I shook my head. The grip cut off my air."Tell me, what did you put on the clothes? What did you do to Zane?"Her voice was shredded."You animal! He's a baby. You're as evil as that old man of yours!"The words went through me like a hot iron."I didn't… I didn't do anything to him."I had not. I would never. There was no way I would do anything to a baby.To Stella, that meant nothing."You're saying it was Hudson? He is the boy's father. A father wouldn't hurt his own son."I had no answer.She let me go. Her gaze shifted to the urn in my arms."You won't take this when it's offered? Then I am taking it from you."You will not see your father's ashes again."She reached.Th

Chapter 5

Cassia took in the room with one look. Glass on the carpet. Stella over me. Me on the floor, holding the urn.She did not slow down. She crossed the room in three steps. She caught Stella's arm in that half-second of confusion, then pulled the urn out of her hands.She moved into Stella's space. Stella swung at her. Cassia caught it.I did not wait. I clamped my arms around the urn and crawled, hands and knees, glass under me, out to the SUV. I yanked the back door open and folded into the seat."Cassia! Now!"Cassia broke off cleanly and got into the driver's seat. The SUV sped out of the villa as Stella and Hudson shouted after us.She drove me to one of her places.The moment I stepped inside, I lost control. I held the urn to my chest and sobbed.If I had not been blind back then… if I had not insisted on marrying Stella… none of this would have happened to my father.He had already suffered so much.And even after death… he still couldn't be spared this humiliation.It

Chapter 6

Cassia nodded."So, the boy isn't his?""No."If Stella found out the man she had been protecting was not actually the father of her son, the look on her face would be something to see.Cassia handed me a second folder.I read it. It was twenty percent of the equity in Vance Group.I looked up."I bought it for you. Combined with what you already hold, you are now the largest single shareholder of Vance Group."I want her under your foot."The tears came again. I had never had anyone do anything like this for me.A few days later, Vance Group called an emergency shareholders' meeting to vote me off the board.I came in late on purpose. Stella was already in the chair seat. She looked like she had already won.She lifted her chin when she saw me."You came back? Did you hide your father somewhere?"Don't think I'm done with you. You brought that woman into my house. This isn't over."Now get out."Hudson held five percent of the shares. He was seated below."Damon, I su

Chapter 7

The room shifted.The shareholders who had been sitting on Stella's side of the table stopped looking at her.Stella took half a step back. She had to brace herself on the edge of the table to stay on her feet. She stared at me. The look on her face held too many emotions to name–anger, unwillingness, envy, and, most of all, fear.She had never imagined that the man she had once toyed with and humiliated would one day stand before her like this, strong enough to crush everything she was proud of."Fake. This has to be fake."Damon, you think a forged contract can fool everyone?"I let out a cold laugh."Whether it's real or not, the room can decide."I tapped the table lightly, my gaze sharp."As the largest shareholder of Vance Group, I propose we reopen today's agenda."First item, removal of Stella Vance from all positions within Vance Group."The boardroom doors closed heavily behind me.I let out a long breath.With Cassia's help, I had won the first crucial battle.

Chapter 8

What I did not see was that Stella was watching from the stairs.Her hand closed on the railing until her knuckles went white.The look on her face was a stew of anger, jealousy, and one feeling she could not name.We had divorced. Not even an hour ago, I had walked into a boardroom and taken her seat from her.So why was the sight of me with another woman lighting her up like this?She had thrown me away, so why did she care?"Stella, let's go home."Hudson came up behind her and pulled at her sleeve.She knocked his hand off. "You go. I have something to do."He stumbled. The color drained from his face, hurt and resentment flashing through his eyes.He shot one last look at me and Cassia, then walked off into the crowd.Stella waited for him to disappear. Then she came down the steps and walked straight toward us."Damon."I turned.She stood a few steps away, her face dark."Whatever you did today," she said, her voice low, "I will make you regret it."Cassia steppe

Chapter 9

Stella drove a fist into a tree near the courtyard.A few minutes earlier, watching me with Cassia, something had moved in her that she had not been able to name. She had walked over with the half-formed thought that if I knelt, she might actually forgive me.She had been forty percent of the way to forgiving the man whose father she had publicly defiled.She drove home with her face burning.The villa was dark. The only sound was a low, careful voice coming from the upstairs bedroom.She walked up the stairs barefoot.Hudson's voice came through the door. He was talking to someone she could not see."What do we do? The kid is starting to look like neither one of us. She'll figure it out."Not his?Stella's stomach dropped.What?The words echoed in her head and burned. The blood drained from her hands. Her body went rigid.Hudson kept talking."I tried everything to get her pregnant. Nothing worked. Turns out I can't father a child."So I took advantage of that night whe

Chapter 10

A few days later, a story broke about Vance Group.A senior executive had assaulted a low-income college student the company had been sponsoring.The story moved fast. The market took it harder. Vance Group lost more than half its market cap in a day.Retail investors dumped their positions. Institutional shareholders followed. Nobody wanted to hold paper that was about to be in court.Cassia stepped in and bought everything she could touch. Every share went into my account.I came out the other side holding sixty percent. The company was mine.Then the story turned. The student admitted she had taken money from the executive and decided he had not paid enough. She had made the assault up.The market went the other way. Vance Group hit a high it had never seen. The shares went limit-up at the open.Only I knew the trade. Cassia had played the whole thing to put me in the chairman's seat.Stella came to find me a few days later.She looked thin and exhausted."Damon, I know e

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