The Alpha King is unavailable 170

Attached was a photo of Ethan kneeling before Lily's Moonstone Tombstone, his head bowed.

My first instinct was protective rage. How dare he visit her now, after ignoring her for so long? But something else stirred within me - a recognition that despite everything, he was Lily's

father.

My fingers hovered over the keyboard before I typed my response: "He's Lily's father. Let him

1. be. He owes her this penance."

I stared at my own words, surprised by them. For the first time, I acknowledged Ethan's right to

mourn our daughter.

215

< Chapter 100: Ashes and Rede...

(Ethan's POV)

+15 Points

I knelt before my daughter's moonstone tombstone, the cold ground seeping through my pants. The cemetery was silent except for the occasional rustle of leaves in the night breeze.

The polished stone gleamed in the moonlight, Lily's smiling face captured in the colored

photograph embedded in the granite. She looked so happy, so alive blood- spattered child I'd seen in the surveillance footage.

nothing like the pale,

"Lily," I whispered, tracing her name with trembling fingers. "I'm so sorry."

The words felt pathetically inadequate. What apology could possibly make up for years of

For missing her

voice on the phone that last time: "Daddy, can you come be with Lily? Lily

and the

response: "Don't be like

sob tore from my throat, raw and agonizing. I had failed her

child.

breaking. "I was going to make it

going to

offered no absolution, no forgiveness. Just the stark

name etched in stone.

I knelt there, memories washing over me. Not memories of time spent with Lily - those were

lavished attention on Emma,

eastern sky began to lighten, casting a silvery glow across

the end of my night-long

rose to my

diminished by grief.

hoarse

walked slowly toward the cemetery gates, my body

Chen was waiting outside, leaning against my car. His usually impassive

3/5

100 Ashes and

straightened quickly when

greeted me with a

nodded in acknowledgment, too

his eyes darting away from mine. Something was

demanded, my voice sharper

hesitated, clearly reluctant

patience wearing thin.

+15 Points

"It's about the

of the incident. "Darius Reed.

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