Chapter 97

Evelyn's lips trembled as she bit back her words. Her gaze drifted toward the window where ominous gray clouds loomed overhead, threatening to unleash their fury.

With each passing mile, the scenery grew increasingly familiar. Evelyn's fingers dug into the leather seat as tension coiled tightly around her spine.

The car lurched to a stop. Alexander exited with effortless grace while Evelyn was hauled out roughly by his security team.

Her breath caught when she recognized their location.

"Alexander! Why would you bring me here?" Her voice cracked as she called after his retreating figure, but the man didn't even glance back.

They'd taken her to the sacred ground where she'd buried both her grandfather and her stillborn child. Her legs gave out completely as the guards shoved her forward.

Collapsing onto the damp earth, Evelyn clutched her abdomen where the tumor throbbed. She swallowed hard against the pain before lifting her tear-filled eyes.

Alexander stood before her like an ice sculpture - beautiful, untouchable, radiating cold fury.

"Why...here?" Evelyn rasped, her vision swimming as misty rain began to fall.

Alexander crouched suddenly, his warm fingers gripping her chin with deceptive gentleness. His striking eyes held a terrifying glint.

"So you can finally understand true despair."

"What?"

The first snowflakes began drifting down, obscuring his cruel expression as Evelyn struggled to comprehend.

"Proceed." He released her abruptly with that single command.

The sharp sound of metal striking stone shattered the silence. Evelyn whirled around to see Alexander's men attacking the gravesite with pickaxes.

Her world tilted violently.

"Stop! Please, don't!" She scrambled to her feet, but Alexander caught her wrist in an iron grip.

"Please, I'm begging you!" Sobs wracked her body as tears streamed down her face.

She turned desperate eyes toward Alexander, but his lips curled in a chilling smile. "Now you know fear? Where was this fear when you harmed my child?"

"Alexander, I swear I never hurt Ethan! Make them stop!"

Every old wound in Evelyn's battered soul screamed in fresh agony. The pain burrowed deep into her bones, more excruciating than any physical torment.

The grave crumbled under the assault. Soon, two urns emerged - one large, one heartbreakingly small.

Evelyn's lungs seized. Her vision blurred as violent tremors overtook her body.

"No...please...I'll admit anything! I'll say I hurt Victoria and Ethan! Punish me however you want, just don't desecrate my grandfather and my baby's resting place!"

She collapsed at Alexander's feet, forehead pressed to the cold ground in abject supplication. She'd confess to any crime, bear any false accusation.

Still, Alexander remained unmoved. He reached down and lifted the smaller urn, examining it with detached curiosity.

Evelyn clutched at his trousers, her face ghostly pale. "Please...that's your daughter too, don't—"

"My daughter?" Alexander's laugh was glacial. "I have one child - Ethan Blackwood. As for this..."

He studied the ashes in the glass vessel for one endless moment before opening his fingers.

The shattering glass echoed like a gunshot as precious ashes scattered across the frozen ground.