Selindra moved closer, her steps measured, her presence composed. When she spoke, her voice was soft—too soft—like silk wrapped around a blade, as she addressed me through the private communication channel reserved for inner-circle members.

“Morwen,” she began, her tone laced with feigned sorrow, “my Danny passed unexpectedly… illness took him faster than we could prepare for. I was devastated, and I asked Don Thorian to stay with me. Please… don’t hold it against us.”

Her words carried a gentle cadence, almost pleading—but her gaze betrayed her. There was something beneath it. A quiet assertion. A silent message that needed no voice: With me, he will always choose to stay.

I let out a faint, humorless breath.

“Oh,” I replied coolly, my face unreadable, “your Don is remarkably loyal.”

Thorian’s expression tightened at once, irritation flickering across his features. I could almost feel the tension radiating from him.

“Morwen,” he snapped, his voice edged with frustration, “can you at least try to be reasonable? Selindra just lost someone important to her, and yet you still find a way to mock her?”

The speed with which he rose to her defense did not go unnoticed.

I turned my gaze toward him slowly—sharp, cutting, enough to make the air between us feel heavier.

Without offering another word, I stepped forward and shoved him aside with a controlled but deliberate force, my hand pressing briefly against his shoulder before I walked past him.

My movements were calm. Precise.

But inside, everything burned.

Thorian remained still for a moment, clearly caught off guard. There was confusion in his eyes—perhaps even disbelief. It might have been the first time he had seen me walk away without anger, without shouting, without breaking down in front of him and Selindra.

I left the estate grounds in silence, each step intentional, measured.

Not long after, his voice returned through the private line—quieter this time, almost cautious.

“So this is about Ashley?” he asked. “Because I didn’t pick her up myself? Is that why you’re still holding on to this? Isn’t this… a bit excessive?”

He had made the mistake, yet somehow, I was the one expected to carry the burden of it.

“Yes,” I answered flatly, my tone distant and stripped of emotion. “Everything is my fault.”

That seemed to unsettle him.

There was a pause—then his voice shifted. Softer now. Less commanding. Almost… apologetic.

“Selindra was in no state to be left alone,” he explained. “Danny’s death hit her hard. I was worried she might fall apart, so I went to her immediately. Ashley… is she upset with me? I’ll make it up to her when I get back. She’s a good girl. She’ll forgive me, won’t she?”

If he had paid even the slightest attention to the operations around him—to the people under his own roof—he would have already known the truth. The silence. The absence. The void where our daughter should have been.

But his focus never strayed far from Selindra.

“You don’t have that opportunity anymore,” I said quietly, turning away once more and shutting him out completely.

Suddenly, his hand closed around my arm.

Firm. Insistent.

“Why are you saying that?” he demanded, confusion bleeding into his voice. “Fine. I’ll handle Ashley myself from now on. I’ll pick her up every day, personally. Just stop dragging this out, Morwen.”

For the first time in years, he was the one bending.

If things had been different—if Ashley were still alive—maybe that small shift would have meant something.

But there was no undoing what had already happened.

“Let’s arrange a time,” I said coldly, pulling my arm free from his grasp. “We’ll finalize everything and end this… arrangement.”

I didn’t wait for his reply.

I walked away without hesitation, without turning back even once.

Behind me, Thorian stood rooted in place, something unfamiliar creeping into his expression. A dawning realization. A sense of something slipping beyond his control.

His frown deepened as he reached for his phone, dialing one of the household staff.

“Amelia,” he ordered curtly, “bring the most expensive doll you can find to Ashley. Tell her to convince her mother to stop this nonsense.”

I had barely reached the outer gates of the cemetery when a message cut sharply through my earpiece—the caretaker’s voice, strained and urgent.

“Ma’am Morwen, someone is tampering with your daughter’s grave!”

The words hit me like a gunshot to the chest.

For a second, I couldn’t breathe. Then I turned on my heel and ran—straight through the cold night air, past the rows of silent tombs, everything else fading into nothing. The only thing that mattered was Ashley.

Ashley… she had always been full of light. Bright, warm—like she carried her own sun wherever she went. She loved daisies more than anything, those simple flowers that followed the daylight. I still remembered her telling me once, eyes shining, that she wanted to fill our entire backyard with them someday.

She never got the chance.

So I did it for her.

After we buried her, I covered her resting place with daisies—no headstone, no name carved in stone. Just endless white blooms, growing quietly, holding every piece of love I could no longer give her.

Thorian… look at this, I thought bitterly, grief clawing at my chest. Look how many daisies there are. Danny would’ve liked this place, wouldn’t he?

But the moment I arrived—

Everything inside me snapped.

Selindra was already there.

An urn had been placed into the ground—her ground—while two of Thorian’s men shoveled dirt back into the grave. The daisies I had planted were crushed beneath their boots, torn apart without care. And off to the side—

Ashley’s urn.

Discarded like it meant nothing.

“What the hell are you doing?!” My voice broke into a scream as I rushed forward, shoving the men away with all the force I had left. My hands trembled violently, barely holding back the urge to lash out. “Who gave you permission to touch her grave?!”

Selindra recoiled instantly, pressing herself against Thorian as if seeking protection. Then her voice slid into my earpiece again—soft, trembling, perfectly crafted.

“There was no marker,” she said gently. “It looked… abandoned. But it was beautiful, covered in flowers. I thought Danny would find peace here.” She paused, her tone turning fragile. “I even had the caretaker reach out to the family… offered compensation. Why are you reacting like this? You’re scaring me.”

Every word made my skin crawl.

I didn’t waste another second.

Grabbing a shovel from one of the guards, I dropped to the ground and started digging frantically, clawing through the disturbed soil, desperate to undo what they had done—to bring Ashley back to the place I had made sacred for her.

“Morwen, stop!” Thorian barked, stepping in and yanking the shovel from my hands.

I looked up at him, my vision blurring with rage.

“You’re disgusting, Thorian,” I hissed, my voice shaking as I fell to my knees and started digging with my bare hands instead. The cold earth cut into my skin, but I didn’t care.

Selindra’s panic spiked, her voice suddenly sharp over the line.

“Stop her! Don’t let her touch Danny!”

Two men grabbed me from behind, dragging me away from the grave.

“Let go of me!” I screamed, struggling violently against their hold, my entire body shaking with fury and grief.

Thorian stepped closer, his face completely devoid of warmth.

“Selindra just lost someone important to her,” he said coldly. “And now you’re ruining his burial? You’ve crossed the line, Morwen.” His gaze hardened further. “Apologize to Selindra. Now.”

Thorian’s voice cut through the private line again—cold, sharp, leaving no room for defiance. It wasn’t just a command; it carried contempt.

“Apologize,” he ordered flatly, “to the woman whose ground you just disrespected.”

For a moment, everything inside me seemed to collapse under the weight of it.

He was asking me to bow—to her—after what she had done.

Grief surged up like a tidal wave, nearly choking the life out of me. I lifted my gaze to him, fury blazing behind my eyes, my jaw clenched so tightly it hurt. When I answered, my voice was iron.

“Never.”

Selindra’s presence slipped in again, subtle and poisonous, her tone smooth as velvet but laced with malice.

“Thorian,” she murmured softly, “you always said your wife was composed, admirable… but look at her now.” A faint, mocking note crept in. “She’s hysterical. If the organization sees this… what will they say about you?”

That did it.

Thorian’s expression darkened, his patience thinning as his gaze locked onto me with visible disgust.

“Do you hear yourself?” he snapped. “Stop embarrassing me.” His voice hardened further. “Go home. Stay with Ashley. How can you just leave her alone like that?”

My teeth ground together, the bitterness rising uncontrollably.

“Do you even care about her?” I shot back.

His reply came instantly, firm, almost offended.

“What kind of question is that? Of course I do. Everything I build, everything I handle—it’s all for her. She’s my only child.” His tone carried pride now. “When she grows up and becomes part of another family, I’ll make sure she leaves with everything she deserves. She’ll stand tall because of me.”

Every word hit like a blade.

The anger inside me exploded, tangled with grief so deep it felt suffocating.

“Stop lying to yourself, Thorian!” I snapped, my voice shaking. “If you actually cared, you wouldn’t have left her alone out there—for her.” I shot a glance at Selindra. “She was six. Six years old. Did it ever cross your mind that she might’ve been terrified? That she needed you?”

“Why do you keep dragging this out?” he barked, losing what little patience he had left. “You’re making a scene over nothing!”

Before I could react, he moved.

With a careless, almost irritated motion, his foot struck the urn lying near the disturbed soil.

A hollow crack echoed.

The container rolled, then tipped—spilling its contents across the ground.

Ashley’s ashes scattered into the dirt.

For a second, my mind went completely blank.

When I saw her body that night, broken on the pavement, it felt like my world had ended. But this—this was worse. This was her own father destroying what little remained of her.

A gust of wind swept through, lifting the ashes into the air like pale smoke.

“No… no, stop!” I struggled violently against the men holding me, reaching out desperately as if I could gather her back with my bare hands.

But there was nothing to hold on to.

The ashes slipped through my fingers, carried away—gone just like that.

The last piece of her… gone.

My strength gave out. I collapsed onto the ground, my hands digging uselessly into the soil, searching, hoping, refusing to accept that there was nothing left. Tears blurred everything.

Selindra stepped closer.

Without hesitation, she pressed her heel down over the scattered remains, grinding them into the earth as if they meant nothing.

Her voice came low, almost amused.

“Morwen,” she said, “it’s just someone else’s ashes. Why all this drama?” She tilted her head slightly. “If you didn’t want Danny resting here, you didn’t have to make such a spectacle.”

“Stay away from me!” I snapped, surging to my feet and shoving her hard.

She stumbled backward and fell, hitting the ground with a dull thud.

That was enough.

Thorian’s temper snapped completely.

In an instant, he closed the distance and struck me across the face. The impact rang through my skull—but it was nothing compared to the pain tearing through my chest.

“You left Ashley alone just to act out your jealousy toward Selindra,” he said coldly, his voice rising with anger. “You’ve failed in every way that matters.” His eyes burned with accusation. “How did my daughter end up with a mother like you?”

I didn’t answer.

I couldn’t.

“Go ahead,” he continued harshly, “keep crying over ashes that mean nothing. But from this moment on, Ashley is under my authority alone.” His tone turned final, absolute. “You’re no longer fit to raise her. I won’t let you influence her any further.”

Then he reached for his phone, dialing without hesitation.

“Amelia,” he said, voice clipped, “take Ashley to the private residence. Morwen is not to see her unless I say so.”

There was a pause on the other end.

Longer than expected.

When Amelia finally spoke, her voice was unsteady—almost breaking.

“Don… Ashley…” she hesitated, then forced the words out. “Ashley died the day you didn’t pick her up.” A shaky breath followed. “The grave covered in daisies… the one Miss Thayne chose for her dog…”

Silence.

“That’s where Ashley’s ashes were buried.”