Buried Without His Regret Chapter 05
The shrill ring of the phone and the cold stillness of the archive room closed in around Frederick, trapping him in place.
“Mr. Mueller, the public relations team can’t hold it anymore! The servers are about to crash!” Kieran said, his voice shaking.
Frederick finally moved.
He didn’t cry or fall apart. He didn’t even look at my name again.
He turned sharply, grabbed Kieran’s phone, and spoke without hesitation. “Lock everything down from every platform. I want Shannon’s name wiped clean. If anyone brings her up again, make sure they’re finished in this industry.”
After giving the order, he turned to the trembling U.S. Coast Guard staff. “What happened today stays here. If a single word leaks, I’ll make sure your entire family pays for it.”
I followed behind him, watching his straight, unshaken back, and felt a chill sink deep into my bones.
His phone rang again. It was the landline from the Mueller’s residence.
The moment he answered, his mother, Caitlin Mueller, spoke in a sharp voice. “Frederick, what is all this nonsense online? Is Shannon really dead? Are you causing trouble again?”
Frederick stepped into a quiet corner with his back to everyone, his voice unnervingly steady. “Mom, she killed herself out of shame over the plagiarism.”
“It has nothing to do with our family.”
I floated there and let out a silent laugh.
“I killed myself out of shame?”
“Frederick, how can you even say that?” I murmured.
At the hospital, the moment Evangeline saw Frederick, tears streamed down her face.
“Freddie, why would Shanny do something so stupid? This is all my fault. If it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t have…”
She cried like she was heartbroken, but behind his back, she quickly sent a message to someone named Richard Mueller.
“Change of plans. Move now and wipe everything clean.”
Richard was Frederick’s cousin, the one who always followed Frederick around with a harmless smile.
So the two of them had been working together all along, just as dangerous as each other.
Back in that broken house, Nicholas used his bloodied, shaking hands to send out a video.
In it, Frederick kicked Mom aside and stepped on my ashes with cold, deliberate force.
He sent the video anonymously to a gossip blogger with millions of followers.
After that, Nicholas collapsed against the wall, completely drained, but a grim smile spread across his face.
Frederick’s phone rang again.
This time, it was Frederick’s father, Christopher Mueller, the real power behind the Mueller Group.
“I don’t care how she died. Before sunrise tomorrow, I want a proper obituary.
“Our family name can’t be stained.”
Once again, it was all about reputation.
To them, a human life would never matter as much as that reputation.
Late that night, in an empty villa, Frederick sat alone in the dark without turning on the lights.
In the end, he couldn’t hold himself together anymore. He collapsed onto the couch, exhausted, and slipped into a nightmare.
In the dream, he was back on that night three years ago.
He saw me standing on the rocks, the wind lifting my dress and hair.
He couldn’t see my face, but he could see my eyes clearly.
What kind of eyes were those?
What kind of eyes were those?
There was no love and no hate, just an endless, empty void.
Then, he jolted awake, drenched in cold sweat.
In the dark, he gasped for air, his heart pounding violently in his chest.
Frederick stood there like a statue, staring into the corner where the ashes sat.
He didn’t look at me again. He turned and walked out.
The night was heavy as he returned to the empty villa.
In the dark, he didn’t turn on the lights. He just dropped onto the couch.
Just then, his phone rang. It was Richard.
Richard said, “Freddie, don’t let Shannon fool you.
“I checked. With today’s technology, it’s easy to fake an unidentifiable body.”
A flicker of something unhinged lit up in Frederick’s lifeless eyes.
Richard continued, “Shannon is too cunning. She’s using this to get back at you and make you suffer.”