Chapter 16
Chapter 16: Ashes in the Hearth
Sunday morning brought the final purge.
Emma was in the master suite, supervising the maids as they packed the last of Victoria’s lingering possessions—mostly trivial things: forgotten scarves, bottles of expensive perfume, a stray pair of pearl earrings left on the nightstand.
In the back of the walk-in closet, tucked beneath a row of winter coats, Emma found a small, velvet-lined shoebox.
She opened it. Inside was a collection of photographs. Polaroids and glossy prints. None of them featured Richard. They were pictures of Victoria and Daniel. Vacations they had taken when Richard thought his wife was at a "wellness retreat." Smiles. Sunsets. Stolen kisses captured on camera.
A sickening wave of nausea rolled over Emma.
She didn't show them to her father. He had suffered enough indignity.
Instead, she carried the box downstairs to the main living room. She lit the gas fireplace, watching the artificial flames roar to life. One by one, she dropped the photographs into the fire.
She watched the glossy paper curl, blacken, and turn to ash. She watched Daniel's face melt. She watched her mother's joyful, deceptive smile burn away into nothingness.
May you like
When the box was empty, she tossed that in, too.
The past was highly combustible. It only took a spark to make it disappear.
