Chapter 7 - The Empty Grave
Three days later, Adrian drove out to the private cemetery outside the city where Evelyn was buried.
He didn’t bring security. He didn’t bring flowers.
He walked alone across the damp grass until he reached the marble headstone bearing Evelyn’s name. Just beside it was the smaller white marker for Lily.
Adrian stood before them for a long time, the wind rustling the branches of the old oak trees above.
He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small chisel and a mallet.
He knelt down beside the small white marker that said Lily Vale.
With steady, deliberate strokes, he tapped the stone, modifying the inscription so it no longer marked a tragedy, but rather a memorial to a lie that had failed.
“The past is buried here,” he whispered to the wind. “The future has come home.”
He stood up, brushed the dust from his knees, and looked out across the rolling hills toward the horizon where the sun was beginning to set, painting the Chicago sky in shades of gold and white.
Evelyn had once told him to decide what kind of man Lily would see when she looked at him.
As he turned his back on the cemetery and walked toward his car, Adrian knew the answer.
May you like
He was a protector. He was a father.
And he was a man who would burn the entire world to the ground before he ever let anyone touch his family again.
