All Chapters of When the Evening Wind Dies: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Simone Laurent stared at the black card I had pushed back toward her. Her brow knotted tight."Spencer, playing hard to get was cute the first time. Keep doing it and it just looked pathetic."She tossed the card onto the crate of scratch-offs, where it landed with a sharp clatter. "Fine, do not take it. Sounds like your father was tough enough to hold out a few more days."My heart seized at the mention of Dad. She had no idea. The man tough enough to have sheltered me from everything was lying in a cold drawer at the funeral home, broken beyond recognition from the fall.I did not say a word. I crouched down, picked up one of the scratch-off tickets, and dragged my fingernail across the silver coating. The dry, rasping sound filled the silence of our wedding night, sharp enough to cut.Simone stood over me, watching. She seemed to wait for me to snap, confront her, or wrap myself around her legs and beg her not to leave the way I used to.I did none of that. I kept scratching,

When Judith Calder arrived, Dylan sat at Simone's side, peeling grapes for her. Judith took one look at the scene and smiled with approval."Dylan had sense. He knew how to take care of people. Not like a certain someone, looking like death from the moment he walked through the door. What a way to start a marriage."I stood at the foot of the stairs with Dad's death certificate clenched in my fist. When she said the word "death," my grip tightened without thinking.Simone glanced at me, her eyes cold and indifferent. "Mom was here. Were you going to pour her some tea or just stand there? Did the Holts forget to teach you any manners?"I walked over in silence and picked up the teapot. My wrist still shook from the 6-mile walk the night before, and every muscle in my body ached. The moment I began to pour, Dylan let out a sharp yelp and jerked back against Simone."Ow! That was scalding!"The water had not touched him. Simone reacted instantly, shoved me away, and the scalding tea

With the five million, the arrangements for Dad's funeral went smoothly. I chose a south-facing plot on the hill, the kind of spot he always loved, with a view that stretched across the whole city.The day of the cremation was overcast. I did not notify any relatives or friends. After the Holts went bankrupt, every person who once clamored to be close to us disappeared overnight, afraid of being tainted by association.I carried the urn alone through the empty cemetery. The wind was strong enough to make my eyes sting.My phone vibrated relentlessly in my pocket. It was Simone.I did not want to answer, but she kept calling over and over until I finally gave in."Spencer! Where the hell were you?" Deafening music and the clink of glasses poured through the speaker."There was an important business reception tonight. Get over here. Now.""I could not." I was looking at Dad's name on the headstone. My voice was barely above a whisper."Could not? What could you possibly have goin

That night, Simone sat outside my bedroom door until morning. I heard her on the phone the entire time, her voice kept low but unable to hide the fury and regret bleeding through."Why did no one tell me?"Something this serious happened to the Holts and none of you thought to say anything? Were you all useless?"Find out who went to collect that debt. I would destroy every last one of them."It would have been funny if it were not so pathetic. While Dad was alive, she turned a blind eye. She even made things worse.Now that he was dead, she wanted to play the role of the grieving, righteous protector. What was the point?The next morning, I packed my things. There was not much to pack as very little in this house ever truly belonged to me. All I had were a few changes of clothes and Dad's urn.The designer watches and couture suits Simone bought me over the years, I left hanging in the closet. If I was going to make a clean break, I was going to make it complete.When I came d

After that night, I quit the convenience store and began processing my paperwork to leave the country. I wanted to start over somewhere with no Simone and no past.The day before my flight, a piece of news tore through the city's social circles.I was packing when my phone exploded with messages. A buddy sent me a news screenshot. "This was karma. What went around came around."The headline read, "Wealthy Woman's Kept Man Steals Cash and Flees, Beaten to Death in Violent Confrontation."The photo had been blurred out, but I recognized the body curled in a pool of blood immediately. It was Dylan.After Simone threw him out of the villa, he did not leave the city. He was too accustomed to spending freely to survive on anything less. It did not take him long to find his next mark.With that pitiful face of his, he latched onto a woman at a nightclub, a recently returned heiress named Jolene Marsh.Jolene was known for her wild lifestyle, her explosive temper, and a serious streak o