Chapter 4

Cedric didn't spare them a glance. He walked straight over to me, stopped in front of Nora's coffin, and quietly placed a blue iris on it.

His act caught me off guard. Nora was fond of blue irises, which I had never mentioned to him.

Cedric said quietly, "Sorry I'm late."

Lucas's face turned ashen. "This is my daughter's funeral."

Cedric turned to him. "Are you sure you want to play the father card here?"

Those words stung Lucas. Everyone from the Moretti Family looked unsettled.

Lucas took a step forward, but one of the Moretti Family elders blocked his way. "People from the Valen Family shouldn't be here."

"I'm here to take my fiancée home," Cedric replied.

The cemetery fell silent. Even Sophie's sobs stopped.

Lucas looked at me, panic showing in his eyes. "Elena, what did he mean?"

I slipped my hand out of my black glove. Cedric opened a small box. Inside was a delicate blue diamond ring without fancy embellishments. Its blue looked like Greyhaven's sea after the rain.

Five years ago, he gave me a choice. Five years later, I finally took his hand.

As the ring slipped onto my finger, Lucas panicked. "Are you out of your mind? Nora was buried just now, and you're getting engaged to my biggest enemy right here at her grave?"

I looked at him. "You were celebrating Sophie's birthday while Nora was fighting for her life, and now you want to talk about dignity?"

His face went pale.

Sophie screamed, "Elena, you're doing this for revenge!"

"You're right," I admitted it so quickly that she was caught off guard.

I turned to Lucas. "Didn't you say your lawyer would send me the divorce papers tomorrow?" I pulled out the papers from my bag and handed them over. "I've taken care of it for you."

Lucas didn't take them. The documents dropped at his feet; the wind caught the cover and flipped it open.

The papers included divorce papers, the application for liquidation of shared property, and the application to investigate the freeze of Nora's medical trust.

There were also the application for a hearing on the responsibility for the emergency delay at Greyhaven Medical Center, and a temporary preservation order for the Moretti Family's Blackhaven accounts.

Lucas stared at the last document, his face turning pale. "You messed with the Blackhaven books?"

I took Cedric's arm. "I'm not messing with it. I'm simply reclaiming what's rightfully mine."

*****

Cedric's car carried a faint scent of cedar.

I sat in the back seat, still wearing the black mourning gloves for the funeral. The blue diamond ring pressed against my finger, its weight unfamiliar.

Outside, the cemetery faded into the rain and mist as we drove away.

I didn't look back. Cedric handed me a cup of warm water. "Lucas is going to chase us."

"He won't be able to catch us now." I took off my gloves. There were crescent marks on my palm, left by my own nails.

Cedric saw it, but he kept quiet, which was great for me.

Lucas always asked why I was upset. But before I could answer, he'd brush it off, saying I was overthinking.

Cedric simply asked, "Where are the Blackhaven books?"

I pulled a small silver key from my bag. "In Nora's toy safe."

His brow twitched. "You hid the books in a kid's toy safe?"

"Lucas never cared about Nora's toys."

Then, there was a brief silence in the car.

I stared out the window, watching the coastline slide past. "And he never paid attention to her drawings, her prescriptions, or her birthday wishes."

Cedric didn't try to comfort me, but said, "Then he doesn't deserve anything she left behind."