Burn Me Once, Burn With Me novel Chapter 433

Hanley let out a cold snort.

After all his years in the business world, he was far more cautious than Gennifer ever was.

Gennifer finally looked up, relief softening her features as she took in Hanley’s confident demeanor.

Though she didn’t fully relax, a smile bloomed on her lips. She leaned in, affectionately looping her arm through Hanley’s. “Dad, I knew I could count on you to have everything under control.”

Her praise clearly pleased Hanley.

Still, he couldn’t help but recall how, not that long ago, he’d actually considered leaving Gennifer behind to go abroad with Violet and the others. Now, sitting beside his daughter, he felt a twinge of unease.

He covered it with a quick cough, his hand to his lips. “Alright, with everything going on, Ruby and her people must be scrambling right now. Let’s head back to the apartment and check on your mother and brother.”

Subtly, Hanley slipped his arm from Gennifer’s grasp.

She didn’t seem to notice the shift in his mood. Instead, she followed with a new spring in her step, almost skipping as they made their way out.

They got into the car, one after the other.

“Take us home,” Hanley instructed the family driver.

The man nodded, immediately steering the car in the direction of Gennifer’s apartment.

Halfway there, a sharp ring broke the quiet inside the car.

Hanley glanced at the dashboard screen—Violet was calling.

“What is it? Gennifer and I were just heading over to see you,” Hanley said, his tone gentle.

But on the other end, there was no immediate reply. Only the distant sounds of voices and hurried footsteps came through the line.

A sense of unease crept up Hanley’s spine, and before he could speak again, Violet’s shrill voice pierced through the noise. “Hanley! I’m pregnant!”

“What?!”

For once, Hanley’s usually calm composure slipped. He tightened his grip on the phone. “Violet, are you sure?”

Violet’s voice was shaky, nervous and excited all at once, barely audible over the commotion around her. “My period was late for weeks, and I started to worry… So I came to the hospital for a checkup.”

Hanley pulled the phone away for a moment, overwhelmed by a rush of conflicting emotions he couldn’t even begin to sort out.

Of all times, Violet had to get pregnant now?

“So you’re at the hospital?” Hanley forced himself to sound calm.

“Yes,” Violet replied.

Hayley’s fingers danced over the keyboard, zooming in and out on the grainy footage.

“There’s evidence of tampering,” she said finally, setting the mouse aside with a satisfied smirk.

Ruby narrowed her eyes.

Just as she’d thought. There was no way the Graysons could have tracked down decade-old security footage so easily.

But…

Ruby’s gaze swept the dark, blurry video, taking in every detail.

Surveillance technology wasn’t as advanced back then. Even zoomed in, the images were little more than fuzzy figures and indistinct hospital corridors.

“Though… this section here, I don’t see any signs of editing,” Hayley said, pausing the video on a frame showing Hanley in the hospital morgue.

In the far right corner of the image, the “Morgue” sign glowed an eerie green, casting a ghostly pallor over the scene.

“That’s Violet from Stormhaven,” Hayley noted as the doctor on screen gave a brief order to the nurse. The nurse nodded, then rolled a shrouded body into a refrigerated chamber.

Ruby narrowed her eyes, fixing on the supposed corpse beneath the white sheet.

Something about it felt very wrong.