Chapter 491: She Could Not Change How She Started
"I think Marshal stole Tommy’s daughter... and raised her as his own."
Ashley jolted as if Lucian’s quiet words had shattered the silence. Lucian, on the other hand, simply studied her reaction.
Her eyes darted around as the space between her brows creased.
"Marshal is capable of something like that, don’t you think?" he asked, narrowing his eyes as she stared back at him. "You said it yourself. Marshal might’ve allowed you to be born because he thought he was getting a son. But knowing him, he would’ve killed his mistress and the child the moment he realized he’d been deceived."
And that wouldn’t surprise anyone.
"So why didn’t he?" Lucian continued quietly. "You know him better than I do. Marshal wouldn’t keep a child—wouldn’t single you out for all those years—unless..."
Unless there was a much bigger reason.
Ashley stared at him, his words burning themselves into her mind. Her chest tightened, the muscles in her neck going taut. Before she knew it, a single tear slipped from her eye.
A jagged breath escaped her as she stepped forward and braced her hands against the edge of the sink. Her back hunched as she struggled to breathe.
Lucian closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. He had known this would happen.
"I didn’t want to tell you until I saw the results," he muttered. When he opened his eyes again, he stared at her profile. "I may be wrong, but... I thought it was better for you to know."
Ashley turned her head toward him and caught the conflict in his eyes. She could see the regret there, as if part of him wished he hadn’t told her so soon.
But at the same time...
"Thank you," she breathed, looking back at the sink. "Thank you for telling me."
Lucian pressed his lips into a thin line, unable to accept her gratitude.
Are you okay?
He wanted to ask, but there was no point. He already knew the answer.
All her life, Ashley had lived for the Di Carpios. She had lived for the day Marshal would finally recognize her as his daughter and offer her even a moment of appreciation or validation.
If Lucian had to compare his life to hers, he could honestly say he had been lucky.
He had been lucky enough to meet the late Madam of Dominion. She hadn’t been the best or kindest person. In fact, she had been manipulative, ambitious, and greedy. Because of that, Lucian had learned early not to become emotionally attached to people like her.
He had agreed to join Dominion because he wanted to find Boo, and Dominion was powerful enough to give him that chance.
But Ashley...
She had grown up believing the people around her were her family. From a tender age, everyone in her life had drilled into her the importance of family and a child’s duty to their parents.
Considering everything she had endured, it was already a miracle that she hadn’t turned to alcohol or drugs just to survive it.
"Lucian."
His thoughts came to an abrupt halt at the sound of her voice. He blinked, and his breath caught when his gaze landed on her profile.
"It barely changes anything..." Ashley kept her eyes lowered, her hands still braced against the sink. Her grip tightened until her knuckles turned white.
Then, slowly, she lifted her gaze and turned to face him.
"I’m... already planning to take Marshal’s head. But if this is true..." She let out a breathless chuckle and ran a hand through her hair. "Oh."
The faint smile vanished as she held Lucian’s gaze.
"I’ll make him watch while I slit his wife’s and daughter’s throats."
She had already planned to take Marshal down as swiftly as possible. Letting him watch everything crumble before putting a bullet through his head had been enough for her.
But now?
She could no longer guarantee Isabella and Carmella’s safety.
All she wanted was to hurt Marshal in the cruelest way possible—to destroy him in the way that would cut him the deepest.
Lucian’s lips parted as he stared into her burning eyes. He knew she meant every word. They weren’t empty threats spoken in a moment of anger.
She meant it just as much as she had meant it when she said she would never run away again.
Ashley drew another deep breath and closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them, she reached for him and took his hand.
"Thank you," she whispered, offering him a small smile. "I’m fine."
He didn’t believe her, no matter how much he wanted—or needed—to.
She couldn’t possibly be fine.
"Not fine-fine," she added under her breath. "But I will be. I’m serious. I just... I just need a moment."
The couple held each other’s gaze in silence.
After a while, Lucian nodded and pushed himself away from the sink. He stepped closer, wrapped his arms around her for a brief embrace, and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head.
"I’ll be right outside if you need me."
Ashley pursed her lips and nodded, watching him leave.
The moment the door clicked shut behind him, a jagged breath escaped her. Her temples throbbed, and she raised both hands to massage them.
Lucian’s words replayed in her head like a broken record.
Along with them came flashes of her past—fragments of everything she had endured as a child.
The first time she witnessed someone die.
Scott teaching her how to survive.
Ophelia smiling at her in the aftermath of yet another tragedy.
The first time Ashley held a gun and nearly died because she had felt sorry for the grown man staring at her with desperate, pleading eyes.
She remembered how the gun eventually became an extension of her body, how she learned to pull the trigger without hesitation.
Every mission.
Every success.
Every failure.
Every time she returned to the Di Carpio estate beaten and exhausted, only to find the family enjoying their lives as though she didn’t exist.
It all came rushing back in broken flashes—her pain, her silent tears, and the pieces of her soul being chipped away one by one.
Even the fleeting peace she had felt when she thought she was finally free of Marshal, only for Scott to appear and shove her into Dominion.
Her attempts to escape.
All the years she had spent inside Dominion.
Until her entire life ended with her bleeding out beneath the falling snow.
Ashley drew another deep breath and opened her eyes, staring at her reflection in the mirror.
"You can’t change how this life began," she whispered.
She had died and awakened six months into her marriage. If she had returned earlier, she knew she could’ve done better.
She would’ve been smarter when dealing with the Di Carpios. She would’ve been more selective about how often she risked her neck for them.
She would’ve sought Lucian out sooner instead of foolishly trying to escape a situation she had always been meant to be in.
She wouldn’t have hurt him.
She would’ve gone back for Ophelia sooner. She would’ve stopped allowing Marshal to use her as his weapon long before it was too late.
If Ashley had returned to an earlier point in her life after her death, she would’ve hurt fewer people.
She would’ve hurt herself less.
She could’ve severed her attachment to the Di Carpios before they destroyed so much of her.
But she hadn’t.
She couldn’t change that now.
"What I can change..." she whispered, still staring at her reflection, "is how this life ends."
Slowly, she nodded at the woman in the mirror. "And I will."