And if anyone had told me that sweet girl would one day turn against me, I’d never have believed it.
I treated her like my own daughter.
Thomas and I were married for 32 years.
Elena spent her vacations and weekends with us when she was younger. We watched her graduate from high school and then college.
I cried at her wedding. Thomas did, too, but for an entirely different reason. He thought Elena deserved better.
We were a family. There were arguments about Elena’s husband, and Thanksgivings where we all still felt like a real family.
Then Thomas died of a heart attack, and my world nearly collapsed.
I never doubted the bond we’d built together.
The day of the funeral was a gray, heavy afternoon.
The church was packed. Family, colleagues, and old friends all gathered to say goodbye to a man they respected.
I was sitting in the front row, clutching a damp tissue, when the heavy doors at the back of the church swung open.
A hush fell over the room.
I turned around, expecting latecomers, but I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.
A hush fell over the room.
Elena walked down the center aisle. She was dressed entirely in white from head to toe.
Some guests gasped. Others started whispering behind their hands. I stood and rushed over to her before she reached the casket.
“Elena, what are you doing? Why are you wearing white?”
She looked at me with this strange, wide-eyed surprise. Then, she leaned in close.
“I thought you’d be wearing white too,” she whispered back. “So you don’t know the truth yet? Didn’t my father’s lawyer give you the envelope right after he died?”
I rushed over to her before she reached the casket.
My heart did a slow, painful roll in my chest. “What envelope? What are you talking about?”
Elena exhaled. “I’m sorry, but everyone needs to know the truth about my father. No one ever understood why my mother really left him.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t worry. Soon, you’ll know everything.”
Before I could ask what she meant by that, she swept past me and took a seat.
I stood there in the aisle, the eyes of a hundred people boring into my back. It felt like I was losing my mind.
What was Elena planning?
It felt like I was losing my mind.
