Burn Me Once Burn With Me (Ruby Grayson) novel Chapter 472

“Why does it take so long just to bury something?”

Ruby’s low heels clicked across the flagstones as she approached, her voice light and teasing. She crouched beside Landon, meeting his gaze head-on. “What’s on your mind?”

For a moment, Landon was dazzled by how striking she looked in the afternoon light.

He averted his eyes, quickly ducking his head to avoid her steady stare.

A fringe of golden hair tumbled across his forehead, conveniently shielding part of his face and giving him something to hide behind—though it did little to quiet the wild thumping of his heart.

“I… I was thinking about my grandfather,” he murmured.

Ruby’s eyes lingered on him, noticing the heaviness that had settled over his shoulders.

She produced two small folding stools seemingly out of thin air and handed one to Landon.

“If there’s something weighing on you, you can tell me,” she said gently.

Her voice was so warm—so inviting—that, in Landon’s eyes, she seemed transformed into a siren singing on a moonlit lake, every note drawing him in, coaxing him to open up.

This time, it wasn’t just a story he would share. It was the truth of his past.

Landon wasn’t sure where the sudden surge of courage came from.

He looked up, meeting Ruby’s eyes squarely. “Okay.”

“What I’m about to tell you… it’s a long story.”

Back then, his grandmother’s family had been wealthy, and she’d used every ounce of her influence to pressure his grandfather into leaving Veytura and marrying her. But his grandfather never loved her, and her bitterness curdled into resentment. When Landon’s father was born, she tried to cast him aside, wanting nothing more than to sever the tie that bound her to the man who’d rejected her. Still, as cold as his grandfather could be, he couldn’t bring himself to abandon his child.

So, one night, he packed up and left, taking Landon’s father with him. Alone, he raised a son while performing at the local theater to make ends meet. Then, by a stroke of luck, someone recognized his talent, and his life changed overnight—he became a world-renowned concert pianist, finally reaching the heights he’d once only dreamed of, already a man well into middle age.

With fame came new problems. The grandmother who’d once despised him suddenly returned, hoping to reclaim the family she’d lost. But now, for the first time, Landon’s grandfather could say no. Thwarted, she turned her attention to Landon’s father, dangling wealth and status before him until he willingly stepped back into the gilded cage she’d built.

“But you grew up with your grandfather, didn’t you?” Ruby asked softly, gently prodding him forward.

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