Silas was the kind of man who never flinched.
He stayed stone-faced through everything through the beating, through the threats, through the humiliation. Even when he bit off his own tongue, it didn’t look like panic. It looked like a decision made with cold precision.
No matter how far we pushed him, he never begged. He never pleaded. He never showed fear.
And still... I couldn’t stop the resentnt burning in my chest.
He might have been following soone else’s orders, but he was the one who ruined my life. Who knew how many lives were sitting on his conscience?
Now he was gone, just like that, and it felt too easy.
I gripped the fabric of my clothes until my fingers ached, frustration tightening my throat. We had watched every angle. Even when Sheila and Camilla got close to him, we kept eyes on them. His als were handled by people we trusted. His room was controlled.
So how did he still end up dead?
Camilla couldn’t accept it either.
She stroked Silas’s cold face with shaking fingers, tears falling onto his skin like she could warm him back to life. "I’ll take you with ," she whispered, voice cracking.
Then she tried to lift him.
She dragged his arms over her shoulders like she truly believed she could carry him away. But a body is heavy, and he was tall more than six feet and completely limp. No matter how she tugged, he didn’t move an inch.
She didn’t have the strength.
Adam noticed the blood spreading beneath her and rushed forward. His voice was urgent, almost pleading.
"You’re pregnant, Camilla. Think about the baby. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for your child. Silas is gone, but his son is still here. You have to protect him."
Camilla’s tears poured harder. Then she scread, wild and desperate, "No! He’s not dead! He’s sleeping. He promised he would always be with !"
The doctor arrived, and the staff tried to pull her back gently, talking over one another in panic.
"You need to focus on the baby."
"You can’t lose that too."
"You’re carrying his child."
"The baby..." Camilla repeated, like she was hearing the word for the first ti.
Her hand flew to her stomach.
Only then did she look down and see the blood. So much of it. It had soaked into the floor beneath her knees.
Sothing in her face shifted shock snapping into terror.
She grabbed the doctor’s sleeve with both hands. "Please. Save my baby. I can’t lose him. I already lost Silas... don’t take my child too."
They had to pull her away.
Adam stood there afterward, eyes bloodshot, staring at Silas’s still body. A son who had never once called him Dad.
"What a curse," he whispered, and the grief in his voice made the room feel colder.
He’d only had one child with his first wife. And Sheila after complications with her first pregnancy had never been able to have another, no matter how badly Adam wanted it. Silas was the missing piece they’d lost for years.
Now Silas was dead.
The only hope left for an heir was Camilla’s unborn child.
Adam had already confird it was a boy.
He turned to the doctor like a man clinging to his last thread. "Make sure you save the child."
Everyone rushed to focus on Camilla, but I followed Theo back to Silas.
Up close, I saw it.
His lips had turned a deep, unsettling purple.
Poison.
The realization hit hard, sharp as a blade. Poison didn’t just happen.
But where did it co from?
Neither Sheila nor Camilla had enough ti alone with him. We didn’t let anyone near his food. We watched his room. We watched the staff.
And yet he died under our roof.
"Autopsy," I said, my voice colder than I felt. "We need to know exactly what happened."
Theo nodded imdiately. "Yes, ma’am. I’ll make sure we get answers."
I trusted Theo. But I also knew this would fall on his shoulders. Silas dying in Hale territory would be treated like a failure, even if it wasn’t one.
The entire house sank into chaos after that.
I heard Jeffrey skipped breakfast and went straight to the family chapel. When I found him, he was already kneeling, praying to ancestors that couldn’t answer him.
"Jeffrey," I said gently, "your body isn’t what it used to be. You have low blood sugar. Eat sothing first."
He looked up at , eyes red and exhausted. "Riley... you ca at the right ti. Help pray. Ask them to protect Camilla and the baby."
"Of course."
I took the incense, but my gaze snagged on sothing that sent a chill through .
A morial tablet with my na.
The Hales had placed it in their chapel under Julian’s wife.
Seeing my na carved like I belonged to the dead made my stomach twist. I lowered myself to kneel, trying to ignore the strange tightness in my chest.
Then a gust of wind swept through the room.
The candles flickered. The flas bent low. The incense smoke swirled like sothing had disturbed the air on purpose.
I barely had ti to bow when a loud crash echoed across the chapel.
A tablet had fallen landing right in front of .
I looked up.
Oliver Hale.
His morial.
A cold shiver crawled up my skin. And I hated that even I soone who had died and co back couldn’t shrug off the feeling that the room had suddenly grown crowded with unseen eyes.
"Ma’am, careful!" a bodyguard shouted.
He yanked to my feet just as the wooden table holding the incense cracked. The burner toppled and shattered against the floor. So incense sticks snapped in half. Others went out completely.
Jeffrey froze, face drained of color. "Broken hope..." he murmured, voice trembling. "Is this a sign the Hale bloodline will be wiped out?"
One of the guards checked the table quickly. "Sir, it’s old. It probably cracked on its own."
But it didn’t feel like "just old."
Not after everything.
My eyes went back to Oliver’s tablet, now dusted with ash. Unease settled deeper in my chest.
I might not care about the Hales the way they cared about themselves, but I didn’t want Lewis to suffer because of their sins.
I steadied Jeffrey with a hand on his arm. "It’s a coincidence," I said firmly. "Don’t read too much into it."
Jeffrey shook his head slowly. "Riley... you’re still too young. You wouldn’t understand."
He waved for servants to clean the ss, then pushed himself upright with effort. I tried again to get him to eat, but he refused.
"I’m not hungry," he said. "Go check on Camilla."
We went upstairs together. The mont we reached the door, the doctor stepped out, face tight.
Jeffrey rushed forward. "How is she? Is the baby okay?"
The doctor’s expression softened with regret. "Mr. Hale... I’m sorry. We couldn’t save the baby. We need to perform a D&C on Ms. Morrigan now."
Jeffrey’s face went gray.
"No..." he whispered. "We couldn’t save it..."
I reached for him, even though comfort felt useless in monts like this. "Jeffrey... it’s okay."
But his voice cracked anyway. "It’s karma. This is the punishnt for what we did to Oliver. If revenge is coming, let it co for . Adam is innocent... and so was his grandson."
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