C142 Bella Is alive

Moonlight sliced through the darkness, casting a ghostly pall over Cathleen's sleeping form. Xavier sat motionless, an ominous silhouette against the dim light, as he watched her. Her chest rose and fell with rhythmic certainty, yet her words carved the silence with jagged edges.

"He killed my daughter because our marriage was a sham," she whispered, "and he didn't want me