Attached was a photo of Ethan kneeling before Lily''s Moonstone Tombstone, his head bowed.


    My first instinct was protective rage. How dare he visit her now, after ignoring her for so long? But something else stirred within me - a recognition that despite everything, he was Lily''s


    father.


    My fingers hovered over the keyboard before I typed my response: "He''s Lily''s father. Let him


    1. be. He owes her this penance."


    I stared at my own words, surprised by them. For the first time, I acknowledged Ethan''s right to


    mourn our daughter.


    215


    < Chapter 100: Ashes and Rede...


    (Ethan''s POV)


    +15 Points


    I knelt before my daughter''s moonstone tombstone, the cold ground seeping through my pants. The cemetery was silent except for the asional rustle of leaves in the night breeze.


    The polished stone gleamed in the moonlight, Lily''s smiling face captured in the colored


    photograph embedded in the granite. She looked so happy, so alive blood- spattered child I''d seen in the surveince footage.


    nothing like the pale,


    "Lily," I whispered, tracing her name with trembling fingers. "I''m so sorry."


    The words felt pathetically inadequate. What apology could possibly make up for years of


    neglect? For missing her final moments?


    I remembered her voice on the phone thatst time: "Daddy, can youe be with Lily? Lily is


    sick, and the treatment hurts..."


    And my cold response: "Don''t be like your mother, full of lies.”


    A sob tore from my throat, raw and agonizing. I had failed her in every way a father could fail a


    child.


    "I built you an amusement park," I said, my voice breaking. "I was going to make it up to you. I


    was going to be better."


    The tombstone offered no absolution, no forgiveness. Just the stark reality of my daughter''s


    name etched in stone.


    Hours passed as I knelt there, memories washing over me. Not memories of time spent with Lily - those were painfully few - but memories of opportunities missed. Birthdays I''d skipped, school events I''d ignored, bedtimes I''d missed.


    All while Ivished attention on Emma, a child who wasn''t even mine.


    The eastern sky began to lighten, casting a silvery glow across the cemetery.


    Dawn was breaking, marking the end of my night-long vigil.


    My joints were stiff as I finally rose to my feet. My Alpha strength, usually so reliable, seemed


    diminished by grief.


    "I''ll return tomorrow; Lily," I promised, my voice hoarse from unshed tears. "Every day, until you forgive me."


    I turned and walked slowly toward the cemetery gates, my body heavy with grief.


    Maxwell Chen was waiting outside, leaning against my car. His usually impassive face looked


    < Chapter 100 Ashes and Rede.....


    troubled, and he straightened quickly when he saw me.


    "Alpha King," he greeted me with a slight bow.


    I nodded in acknowledgment, too drained for words.


    Maxwell shifted ufortably, his eyes darting away from mine. Something was wrong.


    "What is it?" I demanded, my voice sharper than intended.


    He hesitated, clearly reluctant to speak.


    "Maxwell," I growled, my patience wearing thin. "Tell me what you''re hiding."


    +15 Points


    He took a deep breath. "It''s about the man who attacked Mrs. Winters in Deste Hollow."


    My jaw tightened at the mention of the incident. "Darius Reed. What about him?"


    "During interrogation, he mentioned the ne he stole from Mrs. Winters," Maxwell said


    carefully. "The one you... recovered."


    I remembered the crystal pendant I''d taken from Darius Reed after tracking him down. The


    ne Olivia had fought so desperately to protect.


    "What about it?" I asked, though something in Maxwell''s expression made my stomach clench


    with dread.


    "Darius Reed said Mrs. Winters became hysterical when he took it," Maxwell continued. "She


    told him it contained her daughter''s ashes, kept as a memento..."


    The world seemed to tilt beneath my feet. The pendant - Lily''s Ashes Crystal Pendant - had


    contained my daughter''s remains.


    And I had thrown it into the Moonlit Reflection Pool in a moment of blind rage.


    The horror of what I''d done crashed over me like a physical blow. I had discarded my own daughter''s ashes as if they were nothing.


    "Alpha King?" Maxwell''s voice seemed toe from far away.


    "Take me to the Stone Estate," I ordered, my voice barely recognizable. "Now."


    Maxwell didn''t question me, just opened the car door and slid behind the wheel. The drive passed in a blur of self-loathing and desperate hope that the pendant might somehow be


    recovered.


    As soon as we arrived at the estate, I leapt from the car and ran toward the Moonlit Reflection Pool. The morning sun glinted off its surface, deceptively peaceful.


    15 Points


    Without hesitation, I removed my ck Alpha Overcoat and plunged into the frigid water. The cold shocked my system, but I barely noticed as I began searching the bottom of the pool with desperate hands.