Burn Me Once Burn With Me (Ruby Grayson) novel Chapter 402

“What really happened back there, Gennifer?”

Violet’s fingers trembled as she tried to keep her composure in front of Gennifer.

Gennifer could feel the heavy tension hanging in the air between them.

She fixed her gaze on Hanley, her voice tight with insistence. “Dad? You went to see the warden—what did he say?”

Hanley caught the desperate look in Gennifer’s eyes and let out a weary sigh. He had no choice but to recount everything that had just happened. “I tried to leverage my position as CEO of the Grayson Group, offer a few favors, and hope he’d show some sympathy and let you go. But he told me, as a public servant, he can’t bend the rules. He said the order for your arrest came directly from Mr. Veyne, and they filed proper charges. According to Quinborough law, you’ve met the conditions for imprisonment. If they let you go, they’d have no way to explain themselves.”

Hanley looked as if he’d aged ten years in the past hour. On the frantic drive here, he’d already seen the news updates on his phone.

Videos and photos of Gennifer being led away by police were going viral online. The rumors were spreading like wildfire, and the fallout was starting to hit the Grayson Group hard. The company had already been on shaky ground since the recent shift in shares, and now it was teetering on the edge.

He pressed a hand to his forehead in frustration. “How could you suggest such a reckless plan to her?”

Violet blinked, caught off guard, and turned to Hanley in disbelief.

She traced her lips with her fingertip, her tone light but wounded. “Are you blaming me?”

As she spoke, two perfect tears slid down her cheeks, leaving faint trails in her makeup.

Hanley lifted his eyes, catching the shimmer of tears under the harsh lights, but this time they stirred no pity—only a deeper sense of exasperation.

Still, he rose and gently pulled Violet into his arms. “Violet, I’m not blaming you. But after this, not only can’t I get Gennifer out, the Grayson Group is going to take a serious hit.”

Violet heard the weight in his words. She understood exactly how much this all meant to Hanley.

She bit her lip, pushing down her irritation, and turned to Gennifer. “Gennifer, the plan I gave you should have worked. How did it all go wrong? How did Mr. Veyne’s assistant catch you?”

Gennifer’s heart had already sunk to rock bottom. She slumped in her chair, all the fight drained from her, and told them everything that had happened at the hotel in painful detail.

“Ruby! It’s her again!”

When Gennifer finished, Violet’s face twisted with anger.

She hadn’t expected Ruby to be the wild card in her carefully laid plan.

“Mom, Cassian—he even mistook me for Ruby!”

Gennifer broke down in tears, her shoulders shaking with each sob, but with the glass between them, Violet could only watch helplessly from afar.

Hanley’s brow furrowed at the mention of Gennifer.

Now that he’d calmed down, he weighed his options carefully.

Gennifer had grown up spoiled by both him and Frieda. Aside from her reputation as Quinborough’s top attorney, she was no different from any other privileged heiress. And now, because of her, Veyne & Co. was coming after them.

From a business perspective, it was starting to seem like more trouble than it was worth.

“Violet, you’ve spent most of your life abroad. You have no real attachment to Gennifer. The Grayson Group is barely holding together, and just one move from Veyne & Co. could finish us. I built my headquarters here in Quinborough because I wanted to invest in this city. But if I go to war with Veyne & Co. for Gennifer’s sake, all those years of hard work will be wasted.”

Hanley’s voice was low and grave, echoing in the quiet dusk like a mountain about to collapse.

Violet flinched at his words, her fingers curling unconsciously. “You mean…”

Hanley scooped Ulysses into his arms. “Violet, I should thank you for staying by my side all these years, and for giving me a son like Ulysses. Even if Gennifer ends up in prison, at least we still have a child to bring us joy.”

Their eyes met in the cold silence of the night. No words were needed—the look between them said more than any conversation could.

After a long moment, Violet let her head drop, her voice barely a whisper. “Alright.”