Eve Of A Thousand Wakes

004 Confrontation

The Palmer Estate sprawled across three thousand acres, a kingdom unto itself. At its heart stood Palmer House—a Chateauesque mansion raised between 1856 and 1892 by Reginald Palmer, the family's long-dead founder.

It was the largest privately owned house in the city—over fifty thousand square feet of marble and money. Jake Grayson might have been the richest man in Norwich, but the Palmers were royalty.

Ashley was ushered into the house by a head butler she didn't recognize. "Who are you?" she asked, puzzled. "Where is Marvin?"

Marvin had been the head butler at the mansion even before Ashley was born. He had practically raised her after her mother passed away.

The man's eyes raked over her—shabby clothes, hair that hadn't seen shampoo in weeks—and his frown deepened. She was wealthy again, technically. She just hadn't had the time, or the will, to look it.

"I'm Levi," he replied, trying hard not to be rude. "Miss Scarlet asked Marvin to retire after Mr. Arthur passed away. He'd gotten too old."

Scarlet had gutted the staff and rebuilt it in her own image. Ashley's jaw tightened. She hadn't set foot in her own birthplace since her wedding day.

Levi led her through the guest hall. Generations of Palmers stared down at her from their portraits as she passed.

The old grandfather clock—1921, Howard Miller—still ticked in the corner, exactly where it always had. She could practically feel the give of the nut-brown Persian rugs beneath her, as familiar as a heartbeat.

For a moment, nostalgia swallowed her whole—memories of frolicking through these very halls as a child, of Dottie, the pet tigress who'd once been her closest playmate, before Arthur remarried and everything changed.

Mary, her stepmother, had brought along Scarlet, a child from her previous marriage, and driven Dottie out of the mansion because she hated pets.

Ashley's jaw clenched hard enough to ache. Scarlet—the ungrateful child who'd grown up into a woman capable of murdering her own father.

Before she called the police, before anything else, Ashley needed to look that monster in the eye.

"Would you prefer a bath and a change of clothes first?" Levi asked, breaking into her thoughts. He couldn't stop frowning at her appearance.

The head butler couldn't quite reconcile the woman in front of him with the Ashley Palmer once crowned the most beautiful heiress in Norwich City. Now she looked like she'd been living on the street.

"No, thank you, Levi," Ashley replied. "Just tell me where Scarlet is."

Levi pursed his lips irritably but kept his expression cool and professional. "She's in the third-floor library. I'll show you the way."

"There's no need to usher me," Ashley snapped. "I know where the library is. But if my husband, Jake, arrives, bring him straight to me."

Levi nodded and left, grumbling under his breath.

'I'll kick out this idiotic butler once I have my company and properties back,' Ashley told herself. 'And I'll have to undo everything Scarlet has ruined.'

Ashley reached the third-floor landing and entered the library. Scarlet, the current CEO of Palmer Industries, was leaning over a strategy table in the middle of the room.

Several project maps lay across the table. Her secretary stood beside her, taking notes.

When Scarlet saw her, her whole face lit up—warm, delighted, utterly convincing. She dismissed her secretary and rushed over to hug her stepsister like nothing in the world was wrong.

Twenty-three, slender, faintly gothic with her short dark hair, she looked every bit the loving sister she was pretending to be.

"Oh, sister! You're a sight for sore eyes!" Scarlet exclaimed condescendingly. "We're having a grand party this evening at our Alpine Hills Lake House. If you clean yourself up, you're welcome to come!"

"Stop the dramatics, Scarlet!" Ashley thundered. "I know now what a snake you are! Your fake love won't fool me anymore!"

Scarlet's expression shifted from shock to smugness. "What are you talking about? I'll always love you, even if you've become downtrodden. I mean, look at you—you look like you walked out of the sewers! No wonder Jake divorced you!"

Ashley's lips quivered—not from hurt this time, but from the sheer effort of holding back what she knew.

The divorce. The takeover. The humiliation. Her father's murder. Scarlet sat at the dead center of every single one of them, smiling the whole time.

Ashley bit down on her lip until it steadied her. Her eyes narrowed on her stepsister's face. This was it. "Why did you do it?" she demanded.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow. "Why did I do what?"

"You snake! You killed Dad! Let's see what Jake thinks of you once I show him your true colors!"

Scarlet took several steps back, her face twisted with shock. "Lies…" she mumbled. "Dad's car went off a cliff. What nonsense are you blabbering?"

"No! You were the one who abducted Dad! And then stabbed him seven times in that abandoned garage! I've seen everything with my own eyes!"

"What rubbish!" Scarlet growled—but something in her voice cracked halfway through the word. The specific details were landing, one by one, like hits she couldn't block. She knew.

Scarlet spun away, sobbing into her hands. "You can't prove your lies!"

"Keep your crocodile tears to yourself, bitch!" Ashley raged. "I have video evidence. You thought you could get away with the crime, but a CCTV camera recorded you! You're going to prison!"

Scarlet stopped sobbing. The transformation was instant, total—like a switch flipping in the dark. She turned around with a flourish, grinning, all pretense of grief gone.

The villainess cocked her head and laughed, low and delighted, like she'd been waiting all along to finally drop the act.

"Yes." Scarlet's smile didn't waver. "I killed Dad. I stabbed him myself, and I watched him bleed out on that garage floor, and I enjoyed every second of it." She took a step closer, eyes glittering. "And you're next."