Chapter 5

Cecily McNeil POV:

"Misunderstanding?" My voice was a frigid whisper, colder than the tombstone beside us. "There is no misunderstanding, Harris. Just your inexcusable betrayal and her malicious intent." I stared at him, my eyes hard, unyielding. "Get her out of here. Now. Before I do something we'll all regret." I didn't care about politeness anymore. My composure, a carefully constructed facade, had cracked.

Harris sighed, a long, drawn-out sound of a man caught between two immovable forces. He ran a hand through his perfectly styled hair. "Cecily, please. It's just a small burial. Perhaps we can move it to another part of the cemetery. I'll buy a new plot. A private one, just for... pets." He was trying to rationalize, to placate, to sweep her monstrous act under the rug with another financial transaction.

"No." My voice was sharp, cutting through his placating tone. "Absolutely not. This is not a matter of real estate, Harris. This is a matter of respect. Of sacred ground. And what she has done here is unforgivable." My hands clenched, my entire body thrumming with a raw, visceral anger. The ache in my head intensified, a dull throb turning into a sharp, piercing pain.

"This marriage, Harris, is over," I declared, the words echoing in the sudden silence. It wasn't a threat; it was a statement of fact, carved in stone. "I cannot, and will not, tolerate this level of disrespect. Not for myself, and certainly not for my family. My mother, Eleanor, loved you. She saw something in you, something good. And you stand here, enabling this woman to spit on her memory, to defile the very ground she rests in."

His face drained of color. He knew the weight of my mother's blessing, her unwavering support of our union. This was not my usual, quiet disapproval. This was a final decree, a line crossed that could not be uncrossed. "Cecily, no. Don't say that." His voice was low, filled with a sudden, genuine fear.

Just then, Jessica let out a loud, theatrical sob, drawing Harris's attention. "She's being so cruel, Harris! So unreasonable! Does she really think that attacking me is going to solve anything? She's just angry, and she's taking it out on us!" She glared at me, her eyes flashing with a mixture of resentment and fake tears. "You're just jealous, aren't you, Cecily? Jealous that Harris actually cares about someone else's feelings. Jealous that I'm not some cold, calculating art curator who only thinks about money and reputation!"

My eyes narrowed into slits. Jealousy? Me? For this twisted, pathetic charade? Before Harris could react, my hand shot out. I grabbed Jessica' s hair, yanking her head back with unexpected force. She yelped, a genuine cry of pain this time, not a feigned sob. I twisted my hand, forcing her to her knees, her face contorted in shock and fear.

"Jealous?" I hissed, my voice dangerously low, my grip unyielding. "You think I'm jealous of you, you pathetic little creature? You think I envy your sordid affair with my husband? You think I want any part of this disgusting, disrespectful game you're playing?"

Jessica whimpered, her tears now very real, streaming down her face. She looked up at Harris, her eyes pleading. "Harris! Do something! She's crazy! She's going to hurt me!"

"Get out," I commanded, ignoring her pleas. My voice was calm, utterly devoid of emotion, a stark contrast to the violence of my actions. "Dig up that cat, take your disgusting little box, and get out of my family's sight. Or I swear to God, I will bury you both here myself."

Harris' s face was a mask of conflicting emotions. His eyes, dark with anger, swept over my face, then landed on Jessica, still on her knees, crying, her eyes fixed on him in terror. He took a step forward. "Cecily, that's enough. You're going too far."

He tried to pry my hand from Jessica' s hair, but I held fast. He then roughly pushed me away from her. The force of it almost made me stumble, but I quickly regained my balance, my eyes still locked on his. He was protecting her. Again.

"She needs to retrieve the cat herself," I stated, pointing a rigid finger at Jessica. "She dug the damn hole, she can undig it."

"No!" Harris shouted, his face contorted in frustration. He snatched the small velvet box from Jessica' s trembling hands. "I'll do it. Just... just leave, Jess. Go back to the car." He practically shoved her towards my car, which was still parked by the trees, a beacon of escape.

Jessica, stunned, slowly got to her feet, her eyes wide. She cast a venomous look at me, then scurried towards the car, sobbing dramatically as she went. Harris took one of the groundskeeper's shovels, plunging it into the freshly turned earth. His movements were jerky, fueled by a mixture of anger and desperation. He was trying to fix it, to undo her damage, to salvage something.

I watched them go, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. Abandoned. Again. But this time, it felt different. A cleansing, perhaps. The groundskeepers, who had been standing by, looking utterly bewildered, finally looked at me. "Resume your duties," I said, my voice firm. "And fill that hole. Properly."

As they began to shovel the earth back into the small cavity, my eyes caught something else. My breath hitched. On the adjacent plot, my father's plot, a small, polished wooden plaque. It read: "To Arvel, my eternal companion. Always and forever. Jessica."