Chapter 4

I watched the security footage my assistant had brought me and smirked.

"He wanted to watch me lose my mind, but now he's the laughingstock of New York. I want him to learn what it costs to betray me."

"You did so much for him and his family, and this is how he treats you! How can anyone be such a monster?"

The more my assistant cursed him, the angrier she became. She looked ready to tear him apart.

I quickly stopped her. "Enough. Today is my husband's memorial service. I'm supposed to be grieving."

A few hours later, I changed into a black mourning dress and put on a veiled black hat.

The woman staring back at me from the mirror was pale beneath her makeup, her eyes filled with grief.

I handed my assistant the tablet containing the yacht video and the footage of Alex sneaking into my penthouse to steal from me.

"Get ready to play them on the cathedral screen at any moment."

With everything prepared, I left for St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Richard was already waiting in a tailored black suit. He strode over and solemnly offered his condolences.

Tech moguls and Wall Street investors who knew nothing about what had really happened arrived next.

Their sincere condolences only made the situation more bitterly ironic.

What Alex had done was an insult to all that goodwill.

Today, he would pay for every bit of it.

Alex's friends arrived next.

They looked increasingly grim, and their hands trembled as they walked past me.

Eventually, one of them pulled me aside and warned in a low voice, "Stop this memorial service right now! How could you invite so many prominent guests? Alex isn't dead. This will only embarrass him."

Through my veil, I dabbed at the corner of my eye with a black lace glove and let my voice tremble. "That was false news Chloe circulated because she was worried about me. Ignore it. The dead do not return. I won't cling to any hope that Alex is still alive."

He turned to my assistant and ordered her to call security.

My assistant didn't bother arguing with him. She simply ordered the bodyguards to pin him to a pew.

Once most of the guests had arrived, I walked to the coffin.

"Thank you all for taking the time to attend my late husband's memorial service."

"You've lost your mind, Vivian! I've already told you Alex isn't dead!"

The usually gentle Chloe lost her composure. She stood up and stared at me in open disappointment.

"I'm ashamed to have a sister like you. Alex has been missing for three months, and you're holding a memorial service before his body has even been found. Are you really his wife?"

I looked at her calmly, my voice cold. "Why are you so upset? I've accepted it. Anyone watching might think you were his wife."

Chloe's eyes widened and filled with tears.

"Vivian, how can you think that? Alex loved you so much. How can you accept that he's dead this easily? What if he isn't?"

My gaze fell on the marks still visible on her neck, and I smiled. "Even if he's alive, a cheating husband isn't worth another moment of my time."

I had the guards 'help' Chloe to her seat and continued the service.

I was about to speak when a disheveled man burst through the cathedral doors. Alex rushed inside, making sure everyone saw how miserable he looked.

He stood in the doorway and shouted through tears, "Darling, I'm not dead! I made it back alive from the fjords!"