CHAPTER 58: REMEMBER ME

Julian’s eyes stayed locked on me. I could feel the storm inside him even before he spoke guilt, grief, confusion... and something else I didn’t want to name.

After a long moment, his shoulders dropped, and his voice came out low and heavy.

"My first mate is gone," he said. "It doesn’t matter who I marry now. I’ll let Aunt Riley handle everything."

How dramatic.

Julian and Camilla...

If acting were a pack sport, they’d both be crowned champions.

He plays the grieving, loyal mate.

She plays the fragile, misunderstood girl.

I’d let their performance go on long enough. I couldn’t allow Camilla’s plans to slip any further. Not after what she’d already done. I needed both of them contained. No more chaos. No more destruction.

Camilla finally stepped into the silence, her voice soft and trembling.

"Julian... would you really mate with someone else? After everything between us?"

Her act had lost its shine.

Her hold on Julian was slipping, and she knew it.

His voice sliced through the room.

"I’d rather bind myself to a pig than look at you again. Don’t say my name. It makes my skin crawl."

The same venom he once threw at me.

The same coldness I had lived under.

Funny how quickly loyalty dies when temptation is no longer convenient.

He kept saying he still loved me.

But those words felt rotten now like he was trying to soften his guilt by pulling me back into his orbit.

Jeffrey finally lost his patience and lifted a hand.

"Enough. Mr. Morrigan, sign the agreement. Take your daughter and leave. As of today, she has no connection to the Hales."

Malcom didn’t even flinch.

No disappointment.

No fatherly pain.

Just acceptance like he’d expected the deal to end this way.

Vivian, though... she looked like someone had driven a spike through her chest.

"Nolan," she whispered, "give Camilla your coat."

He obeyed, draping it over Camilla’s shoulders.

Vivian brushed her daughter’s cheek gently.

"Sweetheart... even if the Hales reject you, you still have us."

"Thank you, Mom," Camilla whispered, shaking just enough to seem believable. "You’ve always been good to me."

Vivian smiled softly. "You’re my daughter. Who else would I protect, if not you?"

I stepped forward slowly. My voice stayed calm, but the edge beneath it was sharp enough to cut.

"It’s beautiful," I said. "Seeing such love between a mother and daughter. But tell me, Mrs. Morrigan... do you still remember your older daughter? The one who died so brutally her body couldn’t even be recognized?"

Vivian stiffened.

Camilla’s head snapped toward me, hate blazing in her eyes.

Vivian pulled Camilla behind her, voice hardening.

"Miss Ashbourne, my family has done nothing to you. Why are you so determined to tear us apart?"

"Tear you apart?" I gave a cold laugh. "Is that what you think I’m doing? Speaking the truth is ’tearing your family apart’?"

I stepped closer, just enough for her to feel the chill in my tone.

"Not even a week after your eldest daughter’s funeral, your younger daughter was already climbing into her brother-in-law’s car. Should I describe what happened inside, or would you like to do it?"

Vivian’s face flushed with rage. "That’s enough!"

But I didn’t stop.

Not today.

"Camilla unzipped Julian’s pants and reached inside. Tell me was she searching for car keys? Or something she already knew too well?"

Vivian trembled.

Camilla froze.

And I watched them closely.

Vivian had known. She’d simply chosen to look away.

Now I was forcing her to face what she’d protected all along.

And that was only the start.

I took one more step forward, my voice like a blade sliding cleanly through the air.

"At the banquet," I said, "do you remember what your innocent daughter did under the dinner table? She slipped off her undergarments and handed them to Julian. And the moment they disappeared into the greenhouse, she bent forward and presented herself to him bold as anything."

"Enough!" Camilla screamed, voice cracking.

She hadn’t expected me to speak so clearly.

Or with such certainty.

Too bad for her.

I wasn’t done.

She always assumed someone like me born into a strong bloodline, trained to stay composed would smile, nod, and obey every unspoken rule of the pack. She never expected I’d flip the entire room on its head.

Even with her thick skin, her face went pale. Her scent tightened with fear, and the soft chatter around us shifted sharp whispers cutting through the air.

But I didn’t stop.

"You want me to be quiet now?" I asked, my voice steady but edged with something dangerous. "Where was that modesty when you were on your knees behind the greenhouse, trying anything you could to keep Julian’s attention?"

A low ripple of discomfort moved through the hall. Malcom shifted. Her brothers stared at the floor, their pride bruised. They never imagined their "perfect" sister would drop so low just to cling to a stronger future.

Vivian trembled, pointing at me like I’d struck her. "You’re so young! How can you speak so shamelessly, so disrespectfully? Where is your decency?"

I met her gaze without flinching. My pulse pushed against my skin, my instincts humming under it.

"Respect?" I repeated quietly. "Then tell me, Mrs. Morrigan... how did someone like you raise a daughter so manipulative, so heartless? She looks polished on the outside, but you and I both know she’s rotten to the core."

Then I turned to Camilla.

I didn’t raise my voice. I didn’t need to. The air shifted with me, following my steps like a warning.

I leaned in, close enough that she would feel the weight of my presence. "Tell me, Camilla," I whispered, "do you ever think about your sister the one who’s dead? She wasn’t even cold before you were in her fiancé’s arms. Doesn’t it bother you? Doesn’t it keep you awake at night? Aren’t you afraid she might come back for you?"

Camilla gasped, stumbling back. Her energy cracked like glass, her posture collapsing. For a moment, she looked like she might drop to the floor entirely.

Malcom rushed to steady her. He smelled like panic the kind that comes when a billionnaira alliance is about to vanish. "Camilla, breathe. You alright?"

She nodded weakly... until she looked at me again.

And then she really saw me.

Not Elena.

Riley.

The fear in her expression flickered then sharpened. She straightened slightly, the predator inside her waking up.

"So this was your plan?" she hissed. "Push me out so you can climb higher? You think taking me down puts you in the perfect place as the lady of this family?"

In her head, I wasn’t Riley reclaiming anything. I was Elena’s grieving shadow, hungry for a seat that wasn’t mine.

Fine. Let her believe whatever makes her sleep at night.

I smiled at her slow, calm, steady. "Whether I deserve this seat or not... I’m already sitting in it. And unlike you, I didn’t trade myself for scraps of affection. You gave everything away and still got tossed out like trash."

Her jaw tightened. Her anger rolled off her like heat, heavy and sour.

Before she could snap back, I stepped closer.

"Watch yourself," she said, voice shaking. "Pride comes before a fall."

I tilted my head slightly, smiling like her threat amused me. "True. But if anyone falls, it’ll be you. You’ve done so much wrong that even the ground remembers your sins."

I leaned in until she stopped breathing.

"Remember how she died? Broken. Shattered. Nothing left but pieces. Imagine those pieces dragging themselves across your floor at night. Imagine hearing them scrape toward your bed."

"Stop!" Camilla screamed.

Good.

Let her be afraid for once. Let her finally taste the fear she sowed.

This wasn’t over.

Not even close.