Where Petals of Vengeance Bloom

Chapter 263

Flames danced wildly against the night, devouring blood-soaked clothes and gloves until they were nothing but ash.

The firelight flickered over her face, revealing features carved from marble-icy, aloof, and impossibly serene.

She had a delicate, ethereal beauty: her eyes, dark and fathomless, were as cold as a winter lake, impossible to read, distant and unapproachable. Beneath a sculpted nose, her lips were thin and pale, as though brushed by a winter frost, exuding a chill that held the world at arm's length. She looked like a masterfully carved statue-elegant, untouchable, and wholly apart from her surroundings.

A slim, tall figure, wrapped in black from head to toe, she moved with a grace that concealed strength. Each subtle shift of muscle beneath her clothes suggested not just fragile beauty, but a power that could turn deadly in an instant.

Mandy Shaw gazed at the pile of ash, and only then did the wrath burning inside her finally begin to subside.

The reason she'd snapped and beaten Vincent so savagely-that story started about an hour earlier.

It was Friday night, and the weekend stretched ahead.

May had been pouring all her energy into looking after Claire lately; thinking back, it had been nearly a month since she'd last seen her own precious daughter.

So, she'd called Mandy, and the two planned to meet for dinner at a cozy bistro downtown.

Over simmering broth and tender slices of beef, Mandy checked in on Claire, her concern plain-her greatest worry was always whether Claire was truly safe and well.

how Sean, Aberdeen, and Grace had all

this, Mandy finally felt her anxieties

in Mandy's eyes. Her grip on her fork tightened, knuckles

answer to her. Mandy Shaw would never let

outlet-until, through the restaurant's bright window,

a single thought took root, growing wild and furious: This

neutral and said to May, "Mom, my advisor just messaged me. Something urgent came up at school. You

finally let her go, watching as Mandy hurried out into the

Vincent at

onto a deserted side street, she struck. She pulled out the heavy duffel bag she'd brought, yanked it over Vincent without hesitation, and unleashed a brutal flurry

the bag, howling in pain,

barely move, she dragged him into a shadowy

grabbed a chunk of concrete from the ground and brought it down hard on Vincent's leg-again and again, until his lower limb was a ruined mess of blood and

time Mandy finished, it was nearly

stood beneath a streetlamp, her

phone, she was just about to call a cab when a blast of bright headlights washed over her, forcing her to squint and

sleek Porsche rolled to a