Chapter 87 Revenge Achieved
"Rufus."
Cecilia spoke at last. Her voice was calm, stripped of any trace of emotion.
"I will never forgive you."
The moment the words left her lips, her form began to fade. From her feet upward, she dissolved into a thousand points of light, scattering into the endless white void.
"No! Cecilia! Don't go!"
He lunged forward like a madman, but his hands closed on nothing but cold, empty air.
"Cecilia!"
His scream tore through the silence. Rufus's eyes snapped open, his body jolting upright.
She had been here.
And she was gone.
His breath came in ragged gasps, sweat soaking every inch of him. His heart pounded so hard it felt like it was setting his entire body on fire. The heat spread through his limbs, a visceral reminder of what he had just endured.
It wasn't a dream.
It was her farewell.
Suspended in the air, Cecilia watched him—watched his disheveled, broken state—with no flicker of feeling in her heart.
His pain, his regret… what did they matter to someone who was already dead?
She simply observed, silent, as Rufus was consumed by the very consequences he had sown.
A soft knock broke the stillness.
Owen stepped in carrying a glass of warm water. Seeing Rufus awake, he froze for a moment, then his face shifted to worried concern.
"Mr. Chapman… you're awake."
Owen hesitated, as though the words he carried were too heavy to speak.
Rufus ignored him, pressing a hand hard against his chest, trying to crush the pain that felt as if it was tearing him apart.
When the silence stretched too long, Owen forced himself to speak.
"Mr. Chapman… I've received word. Miss Ember… she refuses to eat. She says if you don't see her, she'll starve herself to death."
Starve herself to death?
The phrase made Rufus pause.
Slowly, he lifted his head. The bloodless mask of his face twisted into a smile—strange, cruel.
"Is that so?"
His voice was low.
"Then let's go see her."
Blair was locked in a basement room.
At the sound of the door unlocking, she scrambled to her feet, her face arranged into the most fragile, helpless expression she could muster, her eyes brimming with tears.
When she saw it was Rufus stepping inside, hope blazed through her chest, burning away the despair in an instant.
He still couldn't bear to abandon her.
"Rufus!"
She cried out, rushing toward him, reaching for his sleeve—but Rufus turned sharply, stepping aside with cold precision.
She stumbled, catching herself just before she fell.
"You finally came to see me," she said, ignoring her own clumsy recovery, tilting her tear-streaked face up toward him, her sobs raw and aching.
"I know I was wrong. I truly know I was wrong. Everything I did… it was because I loved you too much."
"I was jealous of Cecilia. Jealous that she could rightfully be your wife. I was afraid you'd love her, afraid you'd leave me. Love blinded me… it made me do terrible things."
Her confession poured out in sobs, each word carefully chosen, each note calculated to stir the memory of what they once shared, to coax pity from him.
But Rufus only listened in silence.
His face was motionless, his eyes devoid of any warmth, watching her as she performed with every ounce of effort she had left.
When her sobs grew so deep she could barely breathe, he finally spoke.
"Are you finished?"
The cold contempt in his smile froze her mid-breath.
Blair blinked, confused by his reaction.
"Rufus…"
"Shut up."
His voice cut through hers like a blade. "I never knew your love was so twisted."
He stepped back, as if even sharing the same air with her was revolting.
"You like using drugs, don't you?" Rufus tilted his head toward the doorway, signaling to the men outside.
The door opened.
Doctor Martin Collins, the same man who had overseen Cecilia's examinations, was shoved inside by two bodyguards. His face was ghost-pale, his body shaking uncontrollably.
One of the guards carried a tray. Resting on it was a thick syringe filled with that same unnaturally blue fluid.
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The instant Blair saw it, her blood seemed to freeze.
Fear gripped her throat like iron.
"No… no, Rufus, you can't do this to me!" She understood now, with horrifying clarity, what he intended. She backed away frantically until her spine hit the cold wall, leaving her nowhere to run.
"You say you love me," Rufus said, closing the distance between them step by step. "Then use your body to pay for the crimes your love committed."
"The pain Cecilia endured… you should taste it too."
His voice was calm, but every word landed like a hammer.
"No! Let me go! I'm Blair! Rufus, look at me!" Her composure shattered completely. She screamed, thrashed, and the delicate mask of vulnerability fell away.
Under the guards' restraint, Martin's trembling hands lifted the syringe.
"Please! I don't want this! I was wrong! Rufus, I was wrong! Let me go!" Blair's cries were raw with terror, her nails scraping against the wall, producing a shrill, grating sound.
Rufus didn't flinch.
He watched, cold and unblinking, as the guards pinned Blair's arm and the doctor drove the needle into her skin.
The blue fluid slid into her veins.
Blair's scream ripped through the villa, sharp enough to splinter glass.
Her body arched violently, the agony stealing her voice mid-cry. Her eyes bulged, her frame convulsing in brutal spasms, foam spilling from her mouth.
It was a burn from the soul outward, every cell shrieking in torment.
She twisted, writhed, her body a grotesque knot of pain.
Louis appeared in the doorway.
He spared only a glance for Blair's writhing, broken form before striding to Rufus's side.
"Mr. Chapman, the Ember Group has declared bankruptcy. All assets are frozen and under liquidation.
"Brad himself has been formally arrested for multiple counts of corporate crime and intentional harm.
"All relevant evidence has been submitted."
Rufus listened without change in expression.
He looked down at Blair, curled into herself on the floor, eyes glittering with a ruthless, icy light.
In the air, Cecilia felt it—the chains binding her soul loosening with each word Louis spoke.
Her body grew lighter than it had ever been.
And it was becoming transparent.
So this was it.
She had not lingered because of that hollow marriage, nor because of any lingering affection for Rufus.
She had stayed because the people who destroyed her had not yet been punished.
She had been unwilling to go.
Her will had kept her soul tethered to the world.
Now her vengeance was complete.
Blair was screaming in agony. Brad was in chains.
The weight holding Cecilia down finally dissolved.
She looked at her fading hands, her heart at peace.
What came next—whether she would vanish into nothing or find another life—she did not know.
But whatever the end, it was fine.
So long as in the next life, and the one after, and every life to come… she never met Rufus again.