Broken Vows and Buried Twins novel Chapter 103

Hester stopped in her tracks.

The rain drummed against her umbrella, a rhythmic *pitter-patter* that sounded incredibly loud in the desolate quiet of the cemetery.

She turned around.

Julian was clad in a sharp black suit. Behind him, Neil held an umbrella over his head.

They stood a few feet apart in the rain, staring at each other in total silence.

The man’s eyes were bloodshot, the harsh crimson contrasting sharply with his terrifyingly pale, gaunt face.

Anyone could see he was in horrific shape.

But Hester just stared at him, her gaze perfectly calm and devoid of a single ripple of emotion.

After a long time, Julian’s Adam’s apple bobbed with immense difficulty. His bloodless lips parted. "I'm sorry."

Two words. Hoarse and brittle.

They scattered into the misty rain, so quiet they were barely audible.

It was far too little, far too late.

After everything that had happened, how could two words possibly erase the damage?

Hester had no desire to speak to him. She merely reminded him in an icy tone: "The mandatory waiting period ends in exactly one week. When the day comes, I expect you at the Civil Affairs Bureau right on time to finalize the divorce papers. Julian, I ask nothing else of you. Just for this one last time, keep your word."

Without another word, Hester pulled her gaze away, turned on her heel, and began walking away.

The rain grew heavier. Her slender silhouette holding the umbrella slowly blurred into the downpour.

It was a perfect mirror of the day Julian had turned his back on her, vanishing coldly into the rain.

"Cough—"

A harsh, agonizing cough broke the silence, immediately followed by Neil’s panicked gasp, "Mr. Weston!"

...

Hester turned her head to look at her.

Gael continued, "It really was Julian’s enemies who kidnapped her. Word is, by the time Julian and his men found her, she barely looked human. She's at a private hospital right now. I had someone poke around... yikes. Her face is completely ruined, and her legs are shattered."

Hester frowned. "Who would be that ruthless?"

"That's what's so bizarre! I could only trace it back to some overseas cartel, nothing more. And apparently, whoever snatched her did it purely to torture her. They didn't demand a ransom or negotiate. They just brutally tortured her, filmed it, and sent the videos straight to Julian. If Julian’s team hadn't tracked her location when they did, Melody would absolutely be in a body bag right now."

"No ransom demands?" Hester’s brow furrowed in thought. "They couldn't have just kidnapped her specifically to torture her out of pure spite, right?"

"Who knows!" Gael scoffed coldly. "Either way, it's exactly what she deserves! That’s what she gets for biting the hand that fed her and proudly playing the mistress! Strutting around town, showing off someone else's husband... well, karma didn't miss!"

Hester pressed her lips together, staying silent.

Something about this felt incredibly wrong.

Julian had been in the corporate bloodbath for years and had plenty of enemies, but the only ones psychotic enough to pull a stunt like this were the gang from five years ago.