He Wanted an Heir, So I Gave Him Ashes Chapter 02

He Wanted an Heir, So I Gave Him Ashes Chapter 02

I swiveled in my chair and finally looked him in the eye.

The glow from the monitor cast a cold light on my face. I even managed a smile—a perfect, bloodless smile befitting the mistress of the house.

“You’re right, Rhett,” I said, my voice as light as a feather drifting onto the hard Texas earth. “You’ve done your duty to the Walker bloodline. I understand.”

I paused, watching the relief wash over his face before I delivered the killing blow.

“Speaking of which, why are you here? I heard there’s a party in town celebrating Beau’s one-month birthday. You should be there.”

Rhett’s face tightened. A crack spiderwebbed across his composure. “What are you talking about? I came to take you to the stables. The thoroughbred we ordered has arrived.”

As if my indifference had finally gotten to him, he lunged forward and grabbed my wrist, trying to physically reassert his control.

Just then, his phone rang, the sharp sound slicing through the frozen air of the study.

Daisy’s tearful, panicked voice crackled through the speaker, loud enough for me to hear every word.

“Rhett! Beau has a fever! The ranch doctor isn’t here today… I don’t know what to do. He won’t stop crying… Please, you have to come, hurry!”

I saw irritation flash across Rhett’s face. He glanced at me, a reflexive, assessing look. But he barely hesitated. He was already turning toward the door.

He stopped at the threshold.

The glass door of the study reflected his tall frame, and mine. In that blurred image, he saw me still sitting in my chair, my face a blank mask. No anger. No sadness. A delicate statue, devoid of a soul.

My calm seemed to unnerve him more than any hysterical outburst could have.

“Ellie, wait for me at home,” he ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument.

He paused, then tossed out what he clearly thought was an olive branch. “I had Henry deliver the antique Winchester we had restored for our anniversary. It’s in our room. We’ll solve this, Ellie. We will.”

The door clicked shut.

He was gone.

Gone to comfort his other woman and their son.

The room fell silent. Henry, the old butler who had served the Walker family his entire life, came in with a glass of water. He looked at me, his clouded eyes full of a sorrow he couldn’t hide.

“Madam… you shouldn’t have to endure this.”

“It’s all right, Henry,” I said, my voice steady.

He set the glass down gently beside my hand. As he drew closer, he saw the financial report I had printed, dense with numbers, and the few damp spots that had blurred the ink.

It wasn’t water.

It was tears.

Henry sighed and quietly withdrew.

I took a deep breath, wiped the tear stains away with my fingertips, and finished the last sentence of an email in my encrypted inbox. I clicked send.

A reply popped up almost instantly.

It was from my lawyer.

“Ellie, the agreement has been drafted as requested. Ready to execute at any time.”

Reading that line, I finally smiled. A real smile.

One week.

In one week, I would take everything that belonged to me and leave.

This ranch, this marriage, and Rhett Walker himself—I would settle every last account.