Chapter 1: The Weight of Cold Earth
“And what about the money Everett promised for your sister’s birthday bash?” was the very first thing my mother said to me the moment I stepped away from my husband’s final resting place.
I could still feel the damp, heavy earth clinging to my expensive leather shoes, a grim reminder of the morning’s activities.
Everett’s mahogany coffin had only just vanished beneath that oppressive gray sky, the kind of winter heavens that feel like they are physically crushing the air out of your lungs.
At the windswept cemetery, only the weary priest, two of his dedicated groundskeepers, and I remained standing there in the silence, feeling as though my entire world had been violently ripped away from me.
My own family was nowhere to be seen among the rows of headstones.
Not my mother, Jasmine, nor my father, nor my younger sister Penelope, nor any of those aunts and uncles who always preached that blood was thicker than water.
They had all given me their solemn word that they would be by my side during the darkest hour of my life, yet here I was, entirely alone.
But while I was busy burying the only man who had ever truly loved me without conditions, they were all busy living it up at Penelope’s birthday celebration.
They were gathered in a flashy event hall in the suburbs of Phoenix, complete with blaring country music, oversized gold balloons, and champagne toasts meant for social media perfection.
I knew exactly what they were doing because my phone started vibrating incessantly inside my designer bag, buzzing like a trapped insect.
