Chapter 2 - The Woman in the Widow’s Place
Three weeks earlier, Rachel had not been invited to the funeral.
Jason brought her anyway.
Emily had watched them arrive through the church’s stained-glass doors.
Jason stepped inside first, dressed in a tailored black suit. Rachel followed in a fitted sleeveless dress, one hand resting lightly on his back.
The gesture was intimate.
Practiced.
Possessive.
Emily moved toward them immediately.
“You need to leave.”
Rachel blinked as if she had been insulted.
Jason stepped in front of her.
“She’s here to support me.”
“At your wife’s funeral?”
“Lily is dead, Emily.”
The words landed harder than a slap.
Their father, Thomas Carter, came between them before Emily could react.
“Not here,” he whispered.
Jason lowered his voice.
“Exactly. Show some respect.”
Emily stared at him.
Respect.
The man who had barely visited Lily during the last month of her pregnancy was demanding respect beside her coffin.
Rachel leaned closer to Jason.
“She’s upset,” she murmured.
Emily heard her.
“You don’t get to say my name. You don’t get to stand near my sister.”
Rachel’s lips tightened.
Then Jason said something that froze Emily in place.
“The church seating was arranged by immediate family.”
He gestured toward the front pew.
“There isn’t room for you beside me.”
Emily looked at the empty space next to him.
There was room.
He simply wanted Rachel there instead.
Lily’s mother, Margaret, began to cry silently.
Thomas guided his wife toward the pew before she collapsed.
Jason walked Rachel to the front as though nothing had happened.
As though Lily’s family were guests.
As though the dead woman inside the white casket had already been erased.
Daniel arrived ten minutes later carrying the old brown briefcase Emily remembered from Lily’s hospital room.
He did not greet Jason.
He went directly to Emily.
“Did he bring her?”
Emily glanced toward Rachel.
“Yes.”
Daniel’s jaw hardened.
“Then Lily was right.”
Emily grabbed his wrist.
“Right about what?”
Daniel looked toward the casket.
“She told me he would humiliate her one last time.”
Emily’s anger faltered.
“You spoke to Lily?”
“Two days before she died.”
Daniel opened his briefcase just enough for Emily to see a cream envelope and a small black flash drive taped beneath the inner lining.
“She gave me instructions.”
“What instructions?”
Daniel closed the case.
“To wait until he felt untouchable.”
May you like
Then he walked toward the casket.
👉 Emily had believed Lily died without explaining anything—but Daniel had heard her final warning.
