Emily. The name was like a dagger to my heart, twisting all the old wounds of my past life. How dare they invoke her name? The very daughter they betrayed, who died because of their selfishness. Because of William’s greed.
In my previous life, if they had lifted a finger to help, Emily wouldn’t have died. They had used her as a living organ bank for William and Linda’s child, leaving me with nothing but heartache and ashes.
I clenched my fists, forcing the venom from my voice. “Emily is too young to see her father like this. She loved him so much, seeing him like this would scar her forever. We need to cremate him now—for her sake if nothing else.”
Thomas, eyes full of fury, stepped forward and blocked me. “I am William’s father,” he growled. “I have the right to stop this. You’re not making the decisions here. I am.”
Evelyn's POV
“Mom, Dad, I know William’s death is unbearable, but it’s already happened. The only thing left to do now is to let him rest in peace,” I said, my voice laced with false sympathy. At my subtle signal, a few of my people moved in, gently but firmly guiding Thomas and Nancy to sit down, their resistance brushed aside as if they were unruly children.
As William’s stretcher was pushed toward the cremation chamber, I could see panic flash across their faces, raw and desperate. This wasn’t the carefully crafted sorrow they had displayed earlier. Now, they looked genuinely terrified, their act crumbling in the face of real consequences.
The door to the cremation chamber slid shut with a heavy clang, sealing their son’s fate. That’s when Nancy cracked. “No! No, Evelyn, stop! My son isn’t dead! You’re murdering him, this is murder!” Her scream echoed in the sterile room, sharp and frenzied.
I sighed dramatically, playing my part to perfection. “Mom, I know it’s hard, but William’s gone. You need to accept it. Grieving is normal, but this... this denial isn’t healthy.”
Thomas, seeing that Nancy's outburst wasn’t enough to stop me, tried to salvage the situation. His voice was shaky, his control slipping. “William isn’t really dead. He... he... he was faking it!”
I feigned shock, eyes widening in disbelief. “What? How could that be? I saw photos of the car accident. There’s even a death certificate! Mom, Dad, are you hearing yourselves? This grief is making you lose touch with reality.”