The Flower That Grew from Ashes novel Chapter 144

"What about him?" she asked softly. "What about Hackett?"

Harriet's eyes instantly filled with tears.

"Dr. Lehman, he... He resigned."

"Or rather, the hospital suspended him first, and then he just handed in his resignation. None of the hospitals in Cresthaven will touch him now."

"He moved out of the estate too. He's living alone in a tiny apartment downtown. He refuses to see anyone. He just locks himself in his room all day."

Harriet paused, as if recalling a specific memory.

"Once... about two weeks ago. I went back to the Sargent Residence to clean it up and air the place out for you."

"I looked down out the window and saw his car parked right under that old locust tree in front of your building."

"It sat there from noon until the sun went down."

"He didn't step out of the car once. He just sat there, the entire time."

"It wasn't until it was pitch black outside that he finally drove away."

Harriet's voice continued through the phone speaker.

But Annelise could barely hear her anymore.

An image had surfaced in her mind, entirely unbidden.

That familiar black Mercedes, parked as silently as a solitary grave beneath the old locust tree she had watched grow since childhood.

The windows rolled up tight, the figure inside entirely obscured.

But she knew the man sitting in that darkness.

What was he thinking?

Was he feeling regret?

Spite?

Or was he just acting like a lion cast out of his territory, pointlessly patrolling a kingdom he had long since lost?

Annelise didn't know.

And she didn't care to know.

She just felt as if an invisible hand had gently, momentarily squeezed her heart.

It didn't hurt.

It just made it a little hard to breathe.

She exchanged a few more pleasantries with Harriet, reminding her to take care of her health, before ending the video call.

The apartment instantly plunged back into silence.

Outside the window, the sky had completely darkened.

Annelise walked to the glass, looking down at the hurried, unfamiliar figures walking along the street below.

She was suddenly overwhelmingly grateful that she had left that land behind.

"Ms. Sargent."

"Legally speaking."

"You are free."

Annelise didn't remember how she hung up the phone.

She only knew that she stood perfectly still in front of those giant floor-to-ceiling windows for a very, very long time.

Free.

She chewed on the word silently, over and over again.

It tasted bitter. Astringent. Tinged with the faint, salty taste of tears.

Then, she slowly turned around.

She walked over to the dining table she had temporarily converted into a workstation.

A bunch of white ranunculus she hadn't finished trimming that afternoon still lay across the wood.

She picked up the cold floral shears and resumed cutting away the excess leaves.

Snip, snip, snip.

Her movements were precise and unwavering, like a surgeon performing the most meticulous operation of her life.

A single, crystalline drop of water slipped quietly off a pure white petal, landing squarely on the back of her cold hand. She couldn't tell if it was condensation that had pooled on the petals. Or the tear she had finally failed to hold back.