Encore of the Avenging Muse (Sylvia and Rupert)

Chapter 502

By now, the house was nothing but a hollowed-out skeleton, charred and broken.

After the firefighters finished, the garden was a muddy swamp, waterlogged and ruined.

Sooty puddles oozed across the scorched earth-everything, in that instant, was lost.

Orson spoke carefully: "Ms. Lloyd set up a candle timer in the kitchen. By the time anyone noticed, it was already too late."

Rupert stood stone-faced in front of what was left of the house, letting the bitter wind tangle his hair and sting his eyes.

Through the thick haze of smoke, he could almost make out two shadows under the blackened beams, one tall, one small.

He reached out, desperate to grab them, but Sylvia's voice echoed in his mind.

"Rupert, I hate you."

"The day I moved in, I set this place to burn."

And Sylvia had done it.

She burned away every last thing in that house.

Even those fleeting days of happiness.

Suddenly, Rupert thought of something. Without a second's hesitation, he turned and dashed through the mud-churned garden, heading for the veggie patch.

The soil, pounded by fire hoses, had been stripped bare, exposing the seeds they'd planted just days before.

Rupert crouched down, scooping up a handful of earth, searching for any sign of life.

He crushed a seed between his fingers-it was rotten through.

he clenched his

Spring would never come.

even

really did hate him, enough

now she'd forgotten

of

side had soaked through his bandages, staining his shirt with a fresh

"Mr. Rupert!"

...

settled, fireworks lit up the night sky, painting

and silent. The only light came from the window, illuminating the silhouette of a

around his waist,

around his pale face. His eyes reflected nothing

filter, crushed it

even notice, just reached for

that moment,

thick cloud of smoke. He marched over and snatched the cigarette from

even

him, pulling out another cigarette. He didn't

knocked and

are ready. First flight out

"Okay."

dropped to the lighter in

the lighter away. "What the hell is wrong with

replied

around the medical file, his

How she ended up trying to kill herself? Are you really that

Haven't you seen how