Where Petals of Vengeance Bloom

Chapter 422

No matter how desperately he struggled, the bodyguards dragged him away.

His anguished cries echoed through the cemetery, lingering in the chilly air-a sound that tugged painfully at the heart.

Sean checked his watch, then turned to Amara. "Amara, it's time for us to go."

She nodded, her gaze drifting to the photo of Claire on the headstone. "Mom, Dad and I will come see you again soon."

Ethan wandered aimlessly down the street, his mind a tangled haze. His steps were unsteady, his eyes vacant, haunted by the memory of Claire's black-and- white portrait on the gravestone.

He kept mumbling under his breath, a broken mantra: "No way... I don't believe it... Claire must still be alive. You're all lying to me..."

Everything around him blurred into insignificance. He drifted along the wide avenue with no destination, lost in his own world.

Then, suddenly, a girl in a white dress caught his eye.

Her features her eyes, her smile-looked so much like Claire's.

Ethan's pupils widened in shock and a wild hope flashed across his face. "Claire? Claire—!"

took off after her, frantic, but the girl was already slipping into the back of

life, and the car

himself to the edge, his vision

voice hoarse and desperate: "Claire, don't go! Please, just look at me one more time! I was wrong, I promise I'll never treat you like that again. I'l protect you, I'll

he

if he'd lost his mind. Ethan didn't

on the curb and he tumbled to the

barely noticed. He reached out toward the direction the car had disappeared, as if

sidewalk as the crowd shifted around

idea how long he stayed there before finally, slowly,

it home, night had already

front door, still dazed, only

As Ethan approached, the man straightened and spoke in a quiet, measured tone.

in subtle ways, but

Claire, he should have paid a far steeper price, but Sean had only driven the Cole

as cold and guarded as ever,

face hardened. "What