The Man She Let Die

"If you have even a shred of conscience left, stop letting your lover trample on the dead!" I snapped.

Eden's eyes flicked toward the memorial stand.

That was when a pack of sheepdogs burst out from the corner.

Crash!

They slammed into the stand. Wood splintered. The structure collapsed, pieces scattering across the floor.

"Already a mom and still this naughty," Curtis scolded lightly as he patted one of the dogs on the head.

Eden looked on with indulgent affection.

"Enough, Matthew! So Curtis didn't give blood for you. Is that really worth all this trouble? You made a scene with me, and now you're staging some kind of farewell ritual. Do you actually think this is funny?"

She let out a short laugh.

"And you even put together a memorial setup. What is this supposed to be? Mourning your lost youth?"

My hand shook as I pointed at what remained of the memorial.

"Look carefully," I said. "Your brother is the one who died!"

Eden stiffened, her gaze locking onto the stand.

In the next second, two dogs lunged forward. Their jaws clamped down on the black memorial cloth hanging from it, yanking hard.

The fabric tore with a harsh, ugly rip. In moments, it was shredded. Scraps fluttered to the floor.

Only a narrow strip remained, the name "May" still visible before it slipped loose and landed at her feet.

Crack!

A brutal slap sent my face snapping to the side.

"Matthew," Eden said, gripping my chin, "if you still want me to marry you, behave yourself. Harvey treated you like family. How dare you say something like that about him!"

She shoved me out the door.

The next day, I rushed to the funeral home, only to be told the urn had already been collected.

Relief washed through me.

So she finally found out the truth and brought her brother's remains home.

I returned to pack my suitcase. Just as I turned to leave, Eden seized my wrist, her eyes dark and vicious.

"You think you can just walk away after what you did?"

She shoved me to the ground mercilessly.

I was about to say something when my gaze caught the corner of the living room.

My breath stopped.

Thrown there carelessly was Harvey's urn.

It was empty.

"Where are the ashes?" My voice was shaking.

The bedroom door opened. Curtis walked out lazily, his body marked with intimate red traces.

Eden saw him and smiled, amused.

"You want them? Fine. Here."

Her hand suddenly slipped downward, making Curtis gasp softly.

"Stop…"

With a strange sound, several glass beads rolled out from his pants.

One brushed past my cheek, making me feel nauseous.

"Ms. May, you're so mean," Curtis said, squirming awkwardly.

Curtis straightened his pants, pretending to be embarrassed, then looked at me.

"Ms. May heard you went to the funeral home yesterday. She knew you were still trying to make a scene, so she had everything you sent there taken straight to the crematory and turned into 18 glass beads. She even insisted on testing how many I could hold at once. She said if I dropped even one, I'd be punished. It took a lot of effort for me to stuff all of them in…"

I stared at the beads scattered on the floor, my whole body trembling.

"Eden, you make me sick!"

Smack!

My head snapped to the side again.

"I make you sick?"

She grabbed my chin.

"If Curtis hadn't gone to take a look, I would never have known how elaborate your act was. To make yourself look like the victim, you actually sent remains to the crematory! Who exactly died? Did you actually hurt innocent people just to make it look real?"

She tossed a few of the ash beads into the sink and watched them disappear down the drain.

Pointing at me, she said furiously, "You're vicious! I'm done with you. From today on, let's act like we never knew each other!"

I looked at Eden, my expression unreadable.

At that moment, her phone rang. When she saw the caller ID, her eyes lit up.

"Laurel? Is your mission over?"

There was a brief silence on the other end.

Then, a roar exploded through the speaker.

"I just got back and heard the news. You animal! You actually let your lover kill Harvey!"