The Inheritance of Ashes

I had just flown back to my home town, after finishing my design degrees abroad.

The moment I landed, I received a message, my grandfather arranged a marriage for me since birth.

He promptly dragged me to the Thorpe estate, to finalize the engagement.

I got bored listening to the old men drone on, so I slipped out to wander through the family's sprawling gardens.

Suddenly, a woman stormed up to me and slapped me hard across the face.

"Who the hell are you, you little tramp? How dare you steal my things!"

I cupped my stinging cheek, staring at her in shock.

She tilted her head back, her voice dripping with the kind of arrogance that sounded like charity.

"That ruby on your finger? That was a birthday gift from Mr. Thorpe himself! Can a Fvcking homeless like you, even afford to wear something expensive more than 10 dollar?"

My mouth fell open.

I was about to tell her it was mine when she slapped me again, even harder this time.

"Do you have any idea who I am? I am the future Mrs. Thorpe! This entire estate will be mine one day!"

I pulled out my phone, and right in front of her, I sent a message to the contact saved as "Fianc."

"Maxwell Thorpe, there's a rabid dog in your garden. Are you going to handle it, or should I do it?"

To my surprise, the message was immediately followed by a red exclamation mark. He blocked me!

I almost laughed out.

The engagement wasn't even official, and he'd already blocked me.

"Where did you sneak in from? Give Miss Whitmore back her ring immediately!"

An older maid rushed toward me, but I sidestepped her easily.

"I am an honored guest of the Thorpe family," I said, my voice cold.

"Is this how you treat your guests?"

Cassandra scoffed and pulled out her own phone, dialing the man who was supposed to be my fianc.

A deep, smooth voice answered on the first ring.

"What is it, Cassie?"

He has a nice voice. Grandfather has good taste, at least in that.

"Maxwell, darling! There's some wretched girl who snuck into your house claiming to be your guest, and she stole the ring you gave me!"

I cut through her sickeningly sweet tone, before he could get the wrong idea.

"Mr. Thorpe, my name is Eleanor Crawford. Your fiance."

He paused for a beat, as if trying to place the name.

When he spoke again, his voice was laced with ice.

"What fiance? No one enters the Thorpe estate without an invitation.

Otherwise, you'll be dealt with as a trespasser."

Then, his tone melted back to honey.

"Cassie, don't be upset. It's just a ring. I'll buy you a new one when I get back."

This pigeon's blood ruby was my parents' engagement ring.

One of a kind in the entire world.

As I was seriously reconsidering this alliance, Cassandra bent over laughing, her eyes raking over me with contempt.

"You? Look at you! Your clothes don't even have a brand name! And you have the nerve to call yourself Maxwell's fiance? That's hilarious!"

I had been studying fashion design abroad.

The clothes I was wearing were my own creations, of course they didn't have a label.

My designs were sought after by socialites across Europe, but this woman didn't recognize them.

It made me question her credentials.

Her farce had ruined my mood. I turned to leave.

Cassandra blocked my path.

"Didn't you hear what Maxwell said? You need an invitation to be here! You claim to be a guest? Where is it?"

I rolled my eyes and dug into my pockets, but came up empty.

I suddenly remembered my grandfather saying, we wouldn't need one.

She saw my hesitation, and her smirk widened.

"I knew it! You're a liar! Guards! Get the ring off her finger, tie her up, and throw her out!"

I shielded the ring with one hand and took a step back, my expression hardening.

Several household staff members approached me, one of them speaking with a hint of pity.

"Miss, you should give the ring back to Miss Whitmore. If you don't, you won't even know how you are going to be tortured."

"Yeah, that ring is a symbol of their love. Mr. Thorpe and Miss Whitmore grew up together. He won't spare you when he finds out."

"I saw it with my own eyes. A guy once accidently spilled a drink on Miss Whitmore's dress. The next day, his hand was just... gone."

The staff's warnings only fueled Cassandra's sneer.

"Did you hear that? Now, get on your knees, place this ring respectfully in my hand, and then get the hell out of here. Otherwise, you'll end up just like the man who dirtied my dress."

In my entire life, I had only seen people kneel before me.

The last person who dared to speak to me like that, has been fertilizing a pine tree for years.

I stepped forward and slapped Cassandra across the face.

Her head snapped to the side, her eyes wide with disbelief.

"Bitvh! You dare to hit me?!"

she shrieked, clutching her cheek and ordering her maids to attack.

A smirk played on my lips.

Before I went abroad, my grandfather, fearing I'd be in danger on my own, had personally trained me in martial arts.

A few beefy housekeepers were nothing.

A few quick strikes sent them stumbling back, dazed and confused.

"Pathetic," I muttered, shaking my slightly numb fist.

I turned to leave, ignoring Cassandra's enraged screams.

Suddenly, one of the maids shouted, "Mr. Thorpe is back!"

I looked up to see a man in a tailored suit striding toward us, his face a mask of cold fury.

In an instant, Cassandra's vicious expression melted away, replaced by heartbreaking fragility.

She threw herself into Maxwell Thorpe's arms.

"Maxwell, darling! You're finally back! I was being bullied by this BITVH!"

I had to admit, Maxwell was handsome enough to be a movie star.

It was a shame that, he was engaged to me, but also cradling his childhood sweetheart with such tender concern.

I curled my lip in disgust.

I needed to call my grandfather and tell him this wedding was absolutely off.

I ignored their little drama and headed for the garden exit.

"You! Stop right there," Maxwell's voice cut through the air, cold as steel.

"You think you can just walk away after hitting my woman?"

He didn't even look at me, his attention focused on gently wiping away Cassandra's tears.

From behind him, several bodyguards moved to block my path.

I let out a resigned sigh and turned back to him.

"Mr. Thorpe, my grandfather is currently in your grandfather's study discussing our engagement. If they were to find out about this, it wouldn't look good for you, would it?"

At the mention of his grandfather, the maids' expressions flickered.

"What? Is she really his fiance?"

"Who cares? Look how protective he is of Miss Whitmore. This engagement might not even happen."

"Exactly. We'd better not say the wrong thing and get on Miss Whitmore's bad side. With her temper, she'll make our lives a living hell."

The word "engagement" seemed to enrage Maxwell even more.

His face darkened.

"What engagement? I never agreed to anything. Besides, my grandfather adores me. He would never force me to marry a nobody from god knows where."

Cassandra looked up from his embrace, her eyes gleaming with triumph.

"Maxwell and I are childhood sweethearts. Do you, a bitvh, deserve the title of Mrs. Thorpe?"

I nodded slowly.

A scumbag and a shrew.

They were made for each other.

Still, my grandfather had told me that, of all the families who had sought an alliance with ours, the Thorpes had put in the most effort.

I had met the elder Mr. Thorpe a few times, he was a wise and kind man.

I could only imagine the storm that would erupt, when he found out his grandson had single-handedly destroyed the union he had worked so hard to secure.

But there was nothing to be done about it.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

I shook my head with a sense of pity and was about to leave for good, when Cassandra shrieked again.

"Don't let her go! The ruby ring you gave me is still on her hand!"

At Maxwell's signal, his bodyguards seized me, their hands grabbing for the ring without a shred of gentleness.

But the ring had been custom-fitted to my finger.

They pulled and twisted, but it wouldn't budge.

"Cassandra," I said, a mocking tone in my voice, "if this ring is yours, why does it fit my finger so perfectly?"

My taunt only enraged her further.

She shook Maxwell's arm.

"She's fatter than me, obviously! She must have forced it on, and now it's stuck!"

"Then use a power drill!"

My face paled.

This was bad. I hadn't brought my own security today.

Maxwell's bodyguards were big, and there were too many of them.

I fought back, but they quickly pinned me to the ground.

Cassandra stepped her feet on my face, her eyes alight with manic glee.

Her blood-red nails dug into my chin.

"Not so tough now, are you?"

She slapped me with all her might.

The grit from the garden path scraped against my skin, drawing blood.

Maxwell stared down at me for a moment, a cold smile playing on his lips.

"Cassie, did you hurt your hand? Want to see something even more fun?"

Her eyes lit up.

"Tie her to the boat in the middle of the pond!"

My eyes widened in horror.

I looked at Maxwell's face, which was twisted with a strange excitement.

Did he know something about me?

"No! You'll regret this!" I screamed.

Cassandra's voice was a cocktail of disdain and thrill.

"Regret? That word isn't in my vocabulary. But you? You're about to regret ever touching what's mine."

The guards dragged me to the pond in the center of the garden and threw me into a rickety old boat, tying me down with coarse ropes.

Before I could even open my eyes, they flipped me onto my stomach.

A high-pitched whirring sound filled the air as a power saw descended toward my hand.

A searing pain shot up my arm, and I screamed.

Blood splattered onto the pigeon's blood ruby, making it gleam with a sinister light.

"Oh dear, looks like another one's about to learn a lesson the hard way."

"Such a pretty girl, too. Had to be stubborn. Now Mr. Thorpe won't let her off.

She'll lose a finger, at least."

"It's too brutal. I can't watch."

The maids and servants chattered on the edge of the pond, but their voices were a distant buzz.

The pain made me screech wildly.

The old, dilapidated boat rocked violently, slapping against the water.

The scene was horribly reminiscent of the night my parents died at sea.

A deep-seated terror clawed its way out of my mind.

My face turned ashen.

My hands, acting on their own, flew up to hold my head as blood from my finger trickled down my cheek.

"No! Please! Let me off this boat!"

But Cassandra and Maxwell just stood on the shore, watching the spectacle as if it were a play.

He even kicked the boat, sending it drifting toward the center of the pond.

I forced my eyes open and saw Cassandra clutching the ring, her face a mask of triumph.

Maxwell had his arm around her, whispering, "That ring is tainted with her filthy blood now. Throw it away. I'll buy you a new one."

And then, as I screamed, they casually tossed my parents' ring into the murky water.

"Maxwell Thorpe! Aren't you afraid of what my grandfather will do to you?!"

He just laughed, his eyes full of contempt, as if he were looking at a piece of trash.

"Your grandfather? Who the hell is he to demand an explanation from me?"

"Your family is just you and that old fossil now, isn't it?"

"You was jinx enough to get your own parents killed, and you wants me to marry you? In your dreams!"

His wordsget my own parents killedwere a dagger to my heart.

My pupils constricted.

On my eighth birthday, my parents were supposed to be on a cruise, coming home to celebrate with me.

But a storm had rolled in.

The captain of our yacht advised them to wait it out in port.

But I had called them, crying, telling them how much I missed them.

So they took a smaller boat, determined to make it back for me.

Just as they were nearing the shore, a freak squall hit.

A fifteen-foot rogue wave crashed over them.

Right in front of my eyes, their boat capsized and disappeared into the churning sea.

The scene flashed before my eyes, triggered by Maxwell's cruel words.

I curled into a ball on the boat, trembling uncontrollably, tears streaming down my face.

All I could do was whisper the same words over and over.

"Daddy... Mommy... I'm so sorry. I don't want you to come back for my birthday anymore..."

Cassandra clapped her hands, delighted by my suffering.

"So she's a jinx! No wonder she has such a foul aura! Maxwell, darling, we should stay far away from her, or her bad luck might rub off on us!"

Abroad, no one knew my past, so it was never mentioned.

At home, to protect me from the pain, my grandfather had forbidden anyone from speaking of it.

He'd even had the lake on our estate filled in.

The guilt and grief I had suppressed for so long erupted now, a toxic volcano of self-loathing.

I felt an overwhelming urge to throw myself into the water and atone for my sins.

Suddenly, my phone rang.

It was the custom ringtone I had set for my grandfather.

A sliver of clarity pierced through the fog of my despair.

The Crawford family was just me and him now.

He had already suffered the agony of burying his own children.

If I left him, too... I couldn't bear to think of the consequences.

I took a deep breath, fighting down the impulse, and struggled to reach for my phone.

But Cassandra saw.

She ordered one of the guards to throw a rock at me.

My body, weakened by the depressive episode, was trembling uncontrollably.

The rock hit its mark.

My phone flew from my grasp, its screen flickering twice before going dark as it sank into the pond.

The rock had also punched two large holes in the bottom of the boat.

Icy water seeped through my clothes, making me shudder.

"Eleanor Crawford, weren't you just dying to join your parents? I'm giving you the chance! You should be thanking me!"

Maxwell stood with his arms crossed, watching coldly as I began to sink.

"And that geezer of yours... when he gets here, I'll send your whole family down for a reunion!"

I struggled weakly, but it was no use.

My mind screamed one last, silent apology.

Grandfather... I'm sorry...

Just as the water closed over my nose, I heard the sound of familiar footsteps approaching.

A heavy, sandalwood cane swung through the air.

A voice like thunder roared, "I'd like to see who plans on sending my family to their graves!"