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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had Gareth investigated–perpetually single, Maureen’s prince charming, her childhood

him

early the next morning.

washing up, his

seemed unchanged–until subtle shifts

less bowl at

photograph in the

nagging texts when

welcoming light upon returning

started leaving

company witnessed his

Maureen lived, Geoffrey deliberately worked

exchanged knowing

Sutton despise that deaf

since she died, he clocks out on

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Mr. Sutton, I’d never fancy

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

conversation and spoke up to stop

but he was better at reading

Geoffrey had been doing nothing but work, having people look for Maureen,

this behavior wasn’t just

passed, and Geoffrey never gave up

Eve,

the past, Maureen would always accompany Geoffrey back to the old estate for New

was different. Geoffrey went

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Chapter31

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Maureen first left, now Geoffrey mostly sat

a hurry and left

the snow lay white and pure, a beautiful

for some reason, it felt like

by the floor–to–ceiling window,

not let me find

behind him

to see his mother, Heather, dressed extravagantly, walking

wrong

feels like you’ve become a different