Faking His Death Chapter 02

Faking His Death Chapter 02

Ethan moved fast. Before long, the body was cremated, and he came back with a sealed urn.

A wake had already been set up in the living room, and the neighbors were already coming by with food and help.

Seeing a living, breathing man reduced to a framed black-and-white photo and a box of ashes made everyone sigh.

I looked hollowed out, and after what I’d lived through last time, I really did resemble a widow who’d been gutted by grief.

Ethan had his arm around Brooke when he spoke to me. “Brooke just found out she’s pregnant. With the crowds and all this stress, she shouldn’t have to sit up through the vigil.”

He guided her down like she was made of glass, his face full of tenderness.

I ignored their little performance, but Brooke turned to me anyway.

“Lena, there’s no man in your house anymore,” she said, eyes bright with greed, dangling empty promises as she tried to squeeze benefits out of me. “Sooner or later you’ll be leaning on my Owen to handle things for you, and you can’t expect that for free.”

Ethan chimed in like it was the most reasonable thing in the world. “You still have some gold bangles and earrings from what you brought into the marriage, right? Give them to Brooke.”

“You’re a widow with a kid,” he added, voice smooth and cold. “You don’t need anything that fancy.”

My head snapped up, and I stared at him until my vision shook.

Those were my mom’s heirlooms—what she’d saved up for her whole life—and the only thing she left me before she died. How dare he.

Ethan didn’t look guilty for even a second. “You don’t wear jewelry when you do chores anyway, so it’ll actually get used.”

“And Ethan asked me to take care of something for him before he died,” he went on. “Give me the cash he kept in your room.”

I stayed silent for a few beats, then covered my face and started to cry.

“There’s no money,” I sobbed. “Ethan’s cash is long gone, and I even drained what I brought into the marriage trying to keep us afloat. I don’t have a single dollar to my name.”

Ethan’s face tightened. “That’s impossible. He told me he still had a little over five hundred.”

I looked right at him, steady as stone. “He lied because he was ashamed. He wanted to sound like he had something saved, that’s all.”

Then I raised my voice so everyone could hear. “Owen, your brother is dead and you’re the only man left in this family. If you won’t even help me, and you’re still trying to take money from me, are you trying to drive me and my child to our graves?”

It was a lie, of course, but Ethan couldn’t argue without exposing himself.

The neighbors glanced at me with pity and started urging him to give his brother’s widow a hand.

Ethan’s jaw worked, his expression dark. “He said he had five hundred. There’s no way he was wrong.”

I gave a short, bitter laugh and stood up, then carried every last thing “Ethan” had left behind out into the open.

“This is all he left me,” I said. “I’ll burn it right in front of you, so you can stop obsessing over what you think he hid.”

I dragged over the metal burn barrel and tossed in his papers and letters, then set his clothes on top and lit the pile.

Ethan flinched like he was about to stop me, then forced himself still, his face turning nearly black.

When I threw in the gifts he’d once given me, he finally snapped.

“Lena, those were Ethan’s presents to you,” he said, voice sharp. “What do you think you’re doing?”

I choked on my words and let the tears spill. “He’s gone. Keeping his things won’t bring him back.”

“And since you two keep cornering me the second he’s dead and demanding money,” I pressed, trembling with anger, “tell me where exactly Ethan had cash to leave me.”

I cried until my face burned, grief and fury twisted together, and the room filled with helpless murmurs.

Ethan’s face stayed rigid and ashen, and all he could do was watch while I burned everything he’d ever owned.

When I went back inside, Nora was sitting there with her big eyes fixed on me, confusion written all over her face.

“Mom,” she whispered, “that’s obviously Dad. Why does everybody keep saying he’s my uncle?”