Chapter 4
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Lincoln was dead.
He died on our wedding day.
He died because of a single sentence from my mother.
The guests rushed downstairs, their faces pale with shock, their voices choked with disbelief.
His mother collapsed beside his lifeless body, clutching him as wretched sobs tore from her throat.
As for me, I felt as if my entire world had shattered. My legs trembled, my chest felt hollow, an unbearable emptiness swallowing me whole.
The man who had just promised to love me for a lifetime had, in the blink of an eye, become a cold, lifeless corpse.
I couldn’t accept it.
And then, my mother arrived.
She descended the stairs unhurriedly, smoothing a stray strand of hair as if none of this concerned her. As if the chaos, the grief, and the blood staining this day had nothing to do with her.
Lincoln’s father, his face contorted with rage, jabbed a trembling finger at her and bellowed, “What did you say to my son?”
“Why did he take his own life the moment he heard your words?”
The grief–stricken guests erupted in fury, their voices sharp with
accusation.
“You wicked woman! Today was supposed to be Lincoln’s wedding! Why did you come here just to destroy it?”
“We’ve all heard the rumors about how you killed your own husband with just one sentence! We knew you were dangerous, but Lincoln refused to believe it. He defended you at every turn and swore we had it all wrong! He even warned us never to bring up what happened to your husband, saying it wasn’t fair to judge you!”
“And this. This is how you repay him? By driving him to his death? Are you even human?!”
“You should rot in prison for the rest of your life, never to see the light of day again!”
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Fury crackled in the air, but my mother remained utterly indifferent.
“He chose to take his own life. What does that have to do with me?”
Her tone was light and detached, like some people watching, as if she were discussing something that held no weight at all.
That was the final straw.
Lincoln’s grief–stricken mother, shaking with anguish, suddenly staggered to her feet. With trembling hands, she grabbed my mother by the collar, her
sobs raw and broken.
“You murderer! Give me back my son!”
“My son was kind his whole life. He never harmed anyone!”
“He loved your daughter with everything he had! Gave her his whole heart, his whole world!”
“Even before the wedding, he reminded us, over and over, to take good care of her. He wanted to spend a lifetime with her, to have children, to grow old together!”
“He was always so full of life, so hopeful for the future. How could he? How could he possibly have taken his own life?”
“Tell me! What did you say to him? What did you do? Why did you kill my
son?!”
The once gentle, loving woman had completely unraveled, her grief turning
into madness.
I didn’t stop her. I didn’t even move.
Instead, I turned to my mother, my voice thick with anguish, my chest tightening with a bitterness I could barely contain.
“Why?”
“Killing my father wasn’t enough for you? Why did you have to take Lincoln,
too?”
Once, my father had been everything to me. We had been a happy family of three until one sentence from her shattered it all. Because of her, he was gone. Because of her, our family had been ripped apart.
And just when I had finally begun to heal, just when I had found warmth again in Lincoln’s love, just when I was about to start anew, she destroyed it. Again.
She took Lincoln from me.
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She crushed everything I had dared to hope for.
Hatred surged through me, sharper than I had ever known. Lincoln’s death had pushed it to its peak.
For the first time, hesitation flickered in my mother’s eyes. She met my gaze, and something in her faltered.
“Even you think that of me?”
spoke through gritted teeth, my heart twisting with agony. “I just want to know, what did you say to them?”
I remembered it vividly, the way my father had looked at me before he fell. The same horror, the same despair that had gripped Lincoln before he leaped to his death.
I needed to know.
What words could drive two kind, optimistic men to such a desperate end? The crowd erupted with fury, their voices sharp with condemnation as they hurled curses at my mother.
“She killed her own husband, and now her son–in–law! A murderer like her
doesn’t deserve to live!”
“If she doesn’t explain herself today, we won’t let her walk out of here alive!”
“Speak! What did you say to them?”
Under the weight of their accusations, my mother didn’t flinch. She merely shook off Lincoln’s mother’s grip with an effortless motion as if dusting away something insignificant.
Calmly, she straightened her collar, swept her gaze over the crowd, and spoke, her voice cold as ice.
“I dare to say it. Do you dare to listen?”
Silence fell like a thunderclap.
The once–chaotic room stilled.
Because those words were deadly.
Whoever had heard them had chosen death without hesitation.
Curiosity warred with terror in their eyes. No one spoke. No one moved.
But I did.
I stepped forward, my voice steady, my resolve unshaken.
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“I dare.”
Because of one sentence, the father who had once cherished me and the man who had once loved me had both taken their own lives.
I needed to know why.
Even if it killed me, my mother held my gaze, something unreadable flickering behind her cold exterior.
“Are you sure you won’t regret this?”
I nodded. “I’m sure.”
For the briefest moment, something–hesitation, doubt–flashed across her face.
Then she leaned in.
And whispered the words into my ear.
