No Mercy, No Forgiveness

The phone alarm rang. Geoffrey glanced at the time, clocked out right on schedule, leaving Sean alone in the office.

The office was empty.

Sean clenched the Heirloom Pendant in his hand until blood seeped from his palm before finally releasing it.

Stepping outside, he spotted Stuart lying barely breathing on the roadside. “Take him back,” he coldly ordered.

Pearl.

An eerie silence filled the rooms. In the corner of the living room sat a glaringly bright red case, jarringly out of place.

Geoffrey returned home precisely on time and settled onto the sofa Maureen used to favor.

Everything felt the same, yet utterly different.

He didn’t know how long he’d sat there when his gaze drifted to that case.

Sean had sent it over–Maureen’s belongings. He hadn’t opened it until now.

Approaching the case, Geoffrey bent down and lifted the lid.

The passcode was painfully simple: his birthday.

He knew because Maureen had used his birthday for every lock in this villa.

Inside lay everyday items and clothes, sparse for a woman’s belongings.

Geoffrey couldn’t bring himself to sift through them. He shut the case again.

Without eating, he retreated to the bedroom they once shared.

The moment he entered, Maureen’s cremation urn and her black–and–white photo stared back at him.

Skeletal remains couldn’t yield DNA after cremation, but Geoffrey remained certain–Maureen wasn’t dead…

She absolutely wouldn’t die!

She wouldn’t dare die!

How could someone as pain–averse as Maureen dare to die?

She was just deceiving herself to be with Gareth.

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Maureen’s

him

unusually early the

his assistant delivered

seemed unchanged–until subtle shifts

bowl at the dining

more photograph in the

texts when

light

started leaving work earlier.

entire company witnessed his

lived, Geoffrey deliberately worked

exchanged knowing

Sutton despise

died, he

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were an accomplished man like Mr. Sutton, I’d never fancy some deaf woman with no sense of

only I were as pretty as her, I’d make sure to look my best

assistant, overheard their conversation and spoke

but he was

but work, having people look for

behavior wasn’t just because Geoffrey hated

never gave

Eve, snow was falling

the past, Maureen would always accompany Geoffrey back

different. Geoffrey

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Chapter31

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talkative man he was when Maureen first left, now Geoffrey mostly sat alone,

a hurry and left in a hurry for

Pearl, the snow lay white and

it felt like

stood by the floor–to–ceiling window, lighting one cigarette after

you’d better not let me

behind him

mother, Heather, dressed extravagantly, walking

wrong

you’ve become a different person