Burn Me Once, Burn With Me novel Chapter 561

Her question dropped the temperature in the room to freezing. The old patriarch, who had been sitting quietly, pushed himself to his feet with his cane, his face livid. “If what Pearl says is true, Hanley was already involved with Violet when he married Frieda!”

Pearl’s mind was racing. “But I remember Violet being introduced to Hanley as Frieda’s best friend.”

“What if…” Sylas interjected, caught up in their speculation. “What if they already knew each other before Frieda was even in the picture?”

The suggestion landed with a sickening thud. The expressions around the room were beyond grim. They exchanged glances, and in each other’s eyes, they saw the same simmering rage.

“It’s possible,” Pearl said, her hands clenching into fists. “Ruby and Gennifer are only a few years apart. Even for a mistress to work her way in like that would take time. Sylas’s theory makes more sense—that Violet and Hanley were a team from the start. If that’s true, Violet deliberately got close to Frieda, becoming her most trusted friend… Was it all part of their plan?”

As Pearl connected the dots, a cold dread washed over her. If this was all true, then Hanley and Violet had been plotting against Frieda for years. And Frieda, the innocent lamb they had all sheltered, had walked right into their trap.

“Sylas,” the matriarch said suddenly, her voice sharp. “When you’re feeling better, there’s something I need you to do for me.”

He looked over at her and nodded without a second’s thought. “Of course, ma’am. Whatever you need.”

“I want you to investigate Hanley and Violet’s past,” she commanded. Years ago, they had disapproved of the marriage, but their only leverage was threatening Frieda with disinheritance. They had never dug too deeply into Hanley’s background, dismissing him as a mere social climber. Now, she realized he was a spider who had been weaving his web for a very long time, just waiting for Frieda to fall into it.

Sylas understood the gravity of the situation. “Consider it done,” he promised. “I’ll have my people start on it right away.”

The matriarch finally gave the young man a long, appraising look. He had a handsome, roguish charm, but when it came to Ruby, he was fiercely loyal and dependable. After everything that had happened with Ruby’s first marriage, all they really wanted was to bring her back to the Capital and make up for years of suffering.

“Kid,” the old woman said, a cryptic note in her voice as she pushed herself to her feet, “I hope I’m not wrong about you.”

Pearl’s eyes flickered. She knew what her mother meant. “We’ll be going now,” she said to Sylas. “You get some rest.” She then escorted the two elders out of the room.

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify