Where Petals of Vengeance Bloom novel Chapter 422

No matter how desperately he struggled, the bodyguards dragged him away.

His anguished cries echoed through the cemetery, lingering in the chilly air—a sound that tugged painfully at the heart.

Sean checked his watch, then turned to Amara. “Amara, it’s time for us to go.”

She nodded, her gaze drifting to the photo of Claire on the headstone. “Mom, Dad and I will come see you again soon.”

......

Ethan wandered aimlessly down the street, his mind a tangled haze. His steps were unsteady, his eyes vacant, haunted by the memory of Claire’s black-and-white portrait on the gravestone.

He kept mumbling under his breath, a broken mantra: “No way… I don’t believe it… Claire must still be alive. You’re all lying to me…”

Everything around him blurred into insignificance. He drifted along the wide avenue with no destination, lost in his own world.

Then, suddenly, a girl in a white dress caught his eye.

Her features—her eyes, her smile—looked so much like Claire’s.

Ethan’s pupils widened in shock and a wild hope flashed across his face. “Claire? Claire—!”

He took off after her, frantic, but the girl was already slipping into the back of a sleek black Bentley.

The engine roared to life, and the car pulled away, leaving Ethan far behind.

He ran after it, pushing himself to the edge, his vision swimming with tears.

He cried out, voice hoarse and desperate: “Claire, don’t go! Please, just look at me one more time! I was wrong, I promise I’ll never treat you like that again. I’ll protect you, I’ll cherish you, I’ll give you everything—just please, stay…”

But no matter how he begged, the car never slowed.

Passersby glanced at the scene with uneasy curiosity, some even staring as if he’d lost his mind. Ethan didn’t notice. His world had narrowed to that vanishing Bentley.

Brian’s expression was as cold and guarded as ever, his features shadowed by a trace of lingering sorrow.

Ethan’s face hardened. “What do you want?”

Brian gestured toward the house behind him. “I’d like to buy your family’s house.”

The Cole family had clawed its way back from ruin, thanks to Brian’s business acumen. Over the last decade, he had rebuilt their fortune—perhaps not to its former glory, but he was now a millionaire in his own right.

Ever since the Cole family’s resurgence, Brian had wanted to buy Linwood Manor. But with Ethan in prison, he’d had no choice but to wait.

Claire had lived in this house for three years. Brian just wanted to be close to the place she’d called home, hoping to find traces of her life there.

Ethan let out a cold, bitter laugh. “You really think I’d sell you the house Claire lived in?”

A flicker of pain crossed Brian’s face, almost too quick to notice. “Ethan, for the past ten years, I’ve thought about her every single day. I just want to start over somewhere she once was. I want to feel closer to her.”