Burn Me Once, Burn With Me novel Chapter 372

“Cassian, that was the year autumn began to fade. Do you remember how bitterly cold the winters get in Quinborough?”

Ruby lifted her head slightly, her gaze drifting far away, as if she’d been transported back to that frigid winter.

The city’s top attorney, the richest man in Quinborough—Cassian—his wife thrown behind bars.

But even worse than her public fall from grace was the torment she’d face inside those prison walls.

“In prison, if even one person turns against you, it doesn’t take long before the whole place does. Can you guess how I got these scars?”

She let out a soft, almost careless laugh, her tone light, as if she were recounting the life of someone she barely knew.

“They called me vile, said I was shameless, accused me of crawling into men’s beds. In the dead of winter, they’d dump ice-cold water over me, force me to scrub the entire cell block alone. The slightest mistake, and they’d yank my hair or slap my face. Beatings became routine. But eventually, even that wasn’t enough—they started comparing wounds, trying to see which cut would make me scream louder.”

Ruby’s eyes met Cassian’s, her face free of the fear or numbness she’d once known in that place.

“By the seventh month, my belly was so swollen I could barely walk. But that was prison—Mira wasn’t even born full-term. Even when spring finally came, she was still so frail. I was the lowest of the low; even if someone spilled their hot water or dropped a piece of bread, no one ever thought to give it to me. For Mira’s sake, I begged and pleaded, I got down on my knees—I had no dignity left. That year, the only thing that kept me alive was Mira.”

Cassian’s lips quivered; he could barely whisper, “Please, don’t go on.”

“Cassian, whatever I once felt for you—it’s long since gone.”

She watched him from a distance—whether the sorrow swelling in her chest came from these memories or something else, she couldn’t say. Tears welled up at the corners of her eyes, glistening on her lashes, but she never let them fall.

Ruby drew in a deep breath, swallowing every ounce of grief and bitterness.

At least, it was all over now.

She’d finally woken from that nightmare.

Cassian’s hands shook as he picked up the report, his gaze immediately finding the number—99.9%.

He closed his eyes, and the weight of his grief threatened to shatter him.

Just as Ruby had said.

By now, any pleas or apologies were meaningless.

He… he really had no right.

Suddenly, Cassian remembered everything he’d done.

For a scratch on Gennifer’s arm, he’d pulled every doctor from Veyne Private Medical Center—leaving Mira burning with fever, nearly costing her life.