---- Chapter 9 In the weeks after | returned home, | felt like a ghost. | wandered the sun-drenched gardens of the estate in a fog of grief, the loss of my child a heavy, physical weight in my chest. The family doctor came every day. He would take my pulse, his brow furrowed with worry. "Your body has undergone a severe trauma, Ms. Foley," he would say to my father. "She needs rest. And time." My father would listen, his face like stone, then go into his study and | would hear the sound of something smashing against the wall. "I'll kill him," he would mutter to Kaleb. "I'll make him wish he was never born." Kaleb would just stand by the window, speaking quietly into his phone. And the next day, the news would report another disaster for Ignatz's company, another stock plunge, another cancelled project. | knew it was Kaleb's doing. He was the architect of Ignatz's ruin. He was always there. A quiet, constant presence. | would be sitting on a garden swing, staring into space, and he would appear, a shadow falling over me. One evening, the air grew chilly. He appeared as usual, taking off his expensive cashmere coat and draping it over my shoulders. ---- "You'll catch a cold," he said softly. | flinched at his proximity but didn't move. He leaned closer, his breath warm against my ear as he plucked a fallen leaf from my hair. "What are you thinking about so hard?" Before | could answer, a raw, desperate shout echoed from the front gates. "GENEVIEVE! PLEASE! LET ME IN!" Ignatz. He stumbled into the garden, looking like a wraith. He was painfully thin, his expensive suit hanging off his frame. His eyes were wild, bloodshot, and full of a terrifying desperation. "Gen," he choked out, rushing toward me. "I'm sorry. | know everything. | was a fool. Please, forgive me." | just stared at him, my heart a frozen lump of ice. Kaleb stepped between us. He moved with a quiet, lethal grace. Ignatz's eyes narrowed. "Who the hell are you?" Kaleb didn't answer. He just swung. His fist connected with Ignatz's jaw with a sickening crack. Ignatz staggered back, blood spurting from his lip. ---- "That," Kaleb said, his voice dangerously low, "was for what you did to her." He hit him again, a hard, brutal punch to the stomach that sent Ignatz to his knees, gasping for air. "And that was for the child you let die." He grabbed Ignatz by the collar of his shirt, hauling him to his feet. "You broke her heart. For that, 'm going to break everything you have." Ignatz ignored him. He stumbled past Kaleb and fell to his knees in front of me, grabbing the hem of my dress. "Please, Gen, come home," he sobbed, his face a mess of tears and blood. "I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. | swear." He clung to my legs, refusing to let go. | looked down at the pathetic, broken man at my feet. A cold, bitter smile touched my lips. "Home?" | asked, my voice devoid of all emotion. "What home are you talking about, Ignatz?"