Ashes of Betrayal

At my father's wake, my wife came in carrying her son. The boy was less than two years old. He was not mine.

In front of me, in front of every person there to mourn my father, she opened the urn and held the boy over it.

I screamed and lunged for the urn. The Vance security team was on me before I cleared the aisle. They held me on the floor. My father's ashes, mixed with the boy's urine, smeared across my face and into my mouth. I could not stop crying.

Stella Vance straightened her skirt.

"Zane has been crying every night. Our adviser said the ash of an honored elder will calm a child like that. Good for his health."

The taste of metal came up the back of my throat. Before I could move, she was already at the door.

"Have his ashes dried out by morning. Zane will need it again tomorrow night."

By the time I came back to myself, she was gone.

I held the rage in. I sent her one message.

"You think you're going to do this to my father. You're insane. The divorce papers are coming."

After that, every message I sent was blocked.

I turned to the woman next to me, the woman who had stood beside me my whole life. And I said, "I will sign the company over to you. Help me bury Vance Group."

Cassia Wynn looked at me a long time.

"I don't want the company. I want you."

I went still.

Then I said, "Yes."

After Cassia left, I sat in what was left of the funeral hall. The tears would not stop.

I gathered every grain of my father's ashes I could find. I drove him to the grave myself. I buried him quickly. I did not want those two coming back.

That night, Stella's message came.

[Tomorrow. Be here.]

My face tightened. I printed the divorce papers and went to bed.

I drove out to Stella and Hudson's villa in the morning. The gate was locked.

Before I could knock, Stella's voice came through the speaker on the gate.

"Kneel there and wait for Hudson to wake up and apologize. You ignored my message last night. Hudson is upset."

I kept my face expressionless. "Do you think I'm that cheap? I'm here to sign the divorce papers."

The gate opened. Several of her staff rushed out and pinned me to the ground.

They sneered.

"She told you to kneel, so kneel. You don't get up until Hudson wakes.

"She said you wouldn't bring the ashes, so she sent people to dig up the grave early this morning…"

The blood drained from my face. Forgetting about the divorce, I struggled to my feet and tried to run for the cemetery.

Slap.

The blow knocked me hard to the ground. My cheek scraped against the gravel, tearing the skin.

When I looked up, my father's urn was already in front of me again.

Every hair on my body stood on end. My voice trembled uncontrollably.

"Stella! That's your father too! You're a monster!"

I lunged for the urn again and again, fighting those guards with everything I had.

Every time I was just about to grab it, they threw it somewhere else.

My whole body shook. My heart was in my throat.

I don't know how long passed before Hudson and Stella finally showed up.

Hudson had a smile in his eyes. Stella looked at him with nothing but indulgence.

"You put on quite a show."

Two days of rage exploded at once. I charged forward and shoved Hudson to the ground.

He cried out. Stella's expression darkened.

"Stop!

"If you don't stop, I'll smash the urn!"

My mind snapped back instantly. I looked at Stella in shock and fury.

The urn she was holding high suddenly slipped from her hand.

My pupils widened…