Chapter 319
Gemma’s POV
The days that follow are a grim, passing in a blur.
My mother is cremated quickly, the process feeling both too fast and agonizingly slow.
I move through it all in a daze, my body operating on some remote, automatic pilot. I manage to select a burial plot, my finger pointing to a spot on a map, the decision feeling both significant and utterly meaningless.
The day of the funeral arrives, and the sky weeps where I cannot. A relentless, heavy rain drums against the windows of the funeral home, turning the world outside gray.
Grandpa approaches, leaning heavily on his cane. “Gemma, my condolences…”
He begins, his voice a low rumble. My eyelashes tremble, but I cannot form words. There is nothing to say. Zina, Jace, and Molly are there, a solid wall of support, their presence a quiet comfort I am too numb to fully feel.
Then, I see them. Reyna and Angela, hovering at the entrance like carrion birds drawn to the scent of death. Cassian’s bodyguards immediately block their path.
“Cassian, Gemma!”
1/4
Reyna stubbornly calls out from over their shoulders in a
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< Chapter 317
Lucky Draw
parody of concern. Mom and I just wanted to come and see Lisette off.“”
Something inside me, something that had been frozen solid, suddenly cracks. I don’t think, I just move. I cross the room in a few swift strides, my hand connecting with Reyna’s check in a slap that cracks through the muted whispers of the room.
The sting in my palm is the first real feeling I’ve had in days.
Get out! Don’t pollute this place with your presence.
Gemma, why did you do that?
Reyna whines, clutching her face, but I see the smirk Angela tries to hide. She’s happy. She’s glad my mother is gone… she came here to feast on my grief.
If you don’t leave, I’ll have my mom’s soul go find you. I’ll have her take you and your daughter away with her into the depths of hell.
It’s a vicious, superstitious threat, but it hits its mark. I see the superstitious fear flash in their eyes, the guilt of their own rotten deeds rising to the surface.
They are cowards at heart.
If you won’t let us in, we don’t care either!
Angela snorts before she turns and practically drags a stunned Reyna away, retreating from the spectral threat I’ve conjured. 2/4
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Lucky Draw
away, I sit on the wet, cold earth in front of the fresh headstone, oblivious to the rain soaking through my black dress.
Cassian tries to stay, his presence a silent offer of support, but I drive him away with a look. Zina and the others try to persuade me, but I convince them to leave too.
I am alone. The only sound is the steady patter of rain on stone and earth. I pull the worn, folded letter from my pocket, the paper damp from the humidity.
Mom…. I never thought of you as a burden. Why couldn’t you wait a little longer for me? Just a little longer, and I would have been free. I would have divorced him, taken you abroad, far away from all this trouble.
The questions pour out of me in a desperate, unanswered litany. Why couldn’t she wait? We had made plans… we were going to go out and sit in the sun.
I don’t know how long I sit there. Time has lost all meaning. Eventually, I feel a presence. Cassian has been waiting, and he approaches as I finally, slowly, get to my feet. “Gemma, let me take you home,” he says, his voice careful.
I look at him, and a bitter, broken laugh escapes me. “I have no home left.”
The words are the absolute, devastating truth. My mother was my home. With her gone, I am completely rootless.
A flicker of panic crosses his face. “No, you do. Oakhaven will always be your home!”
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