Todos los capítulos de Ashes and Obsidian: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 10

The moment I stepped past the estate gates, the phone in my pocket started buzzing violently.My mother was calling.The second I answered, Gordon's furious roar exploded through the speaker."You little bastard. You think you can just walk away?"You think you can get away from us?"You'll be at the banquet at the Regency House Hotel tonight if I have to drag you there myself, and you'll wait on Gloria Dane."If you don't, I'll take your grandfather's ashes out of the family chapel and pour them down a sewer."At the word grandfather, my steps stopped.It felt as though an invisible hand had closed around my heart, and murderous fury rose behind my eyes.When I was fifteen, the Blackwells finally brought me back from the countryside.My mother hated my accent and the smell of my secondhand clothes.She thought I embarrassed her and could barely stand to look at me.Damian wore expensive suits and had the staff call me a street beggar and a fraud.Inside that frozen house,

The ballroom went silent.Every laugh died in someone's throat.Wine ran down Gloria Dane's thinning scalp.It dripped across her custom suit.She looked like a plucked bird left out in the rain.Gloria stood stunned for two full seconds.Then she let out a furious scream."You bastard. You threw wine at me?"Gordon looked like his soul had left his body.He pointed at me, furious and terrified at once."You ungrateful animal. Are you trying to destroy this family?"I'll beat you to death myself."Damian shouted from the side, feeding the fire."Dad, he doesn't respect you at all."He doesn't even care what happens to Grandfather's ashes."Something vicious came into Gordon's eyes.He turned toward the doorway and roared at his assistant."Bring me the black box."The assistant hurried in carrying a dark urn in shaking hands.Everett's ashes were inside.Everything behind my eyes went tight.A dull blade seemed to carve straight through my heart."Gordon Blackwell

I watched the clowns trip over each other and said nothing.I was carefully lifting the ash out of the broken glass, gathering it against my chest a handful at a time.Helena looked at what I was holding.Then she saw the blood running off my fingertips.Her eyes went red, and a vein stood out across her forehead.She turned on Gloria and the Blackwells with fury burning through her face.Damian still didn't understand what he was standing next to."Ms. Drake, forget the lunatic. Let's go talk about the investment in the private lounge."Helena didn't answer him.She crossed the ballroom and came straight to me.Every guest watched in horror, expecting me to be arrested or shot.Instead, the woman who ran Obsidian Crown's North American empire went down with a heavy crack.Both knees hit the glass-strewn marble.The glass cut through her trousers, and blood soaked into the fabric.She didn't seem to feel it. Her voice shook with rage and grief."I got here too late. You

Helena stood on the stage with a face like a coming storm.Instinct made her glance up toward the private gallery.Without my word, she wouldn't move.She forced her fury down and spoke through her teeth."Enough."To the Blackwells, her restraint looked like fear.Damian laughed even louder."What's the matter, Ms. Drake? Frightened?"It's a little late for that."He wound both arms around Cassandra's neck and pitched his voice into a whine."Cassandra, I don't want to look at her anymore."Make her kneel down and apologize to me."And that so-called Sovereign is just a man hiding behind a title."When he shows his face, make him hand me Obsidian Crown's North American division."Cassandra laughed and caught Damian by the chin."My beautiful boy's right."To hell with the Sovereign."He's nothing to me."If he stays hidden, fine. If he shows up, I'll put him down too."Cassandra raised a handgun and pressed the muzzle to Helena's forehead."Three seconds, Drake."

Three years later, in the hottest and most remote penal mine in Kembala, the temperature climbed past a hundred and twenty degrees.Damian's face was covered in infected sores, and nearly all his hair had fallen out.Heavy shackles hung off his ankles.With bleeding hands and no fingernails left, he clawed at the rock.Nearby, Gordon and my mother had gone skeletal and looked thirty years older.The overseer's barbed whip tore across their backs.The wounds opened again and again.At mealtime, the other prisoners got spoiled bread.Their bowls held mostly stone dust and foul mud.The Sovereign's standing order denied them anything better.They crouched in the dirt, crying as they forced it down.The grit cut their throats, and blood came up with every swallow.A giant outdoor screen stood at the center of the compound.It was carrying a live global broadcast.Helena and I were getting married.I wore a one-of-a-kind suit and the ceremonial insignia of Obsidian Crown's hi