A Death In The Family Novel Novels & Stories

My parents listened to those desperate calls with nothing but irritation, dismissing each one as theatrics, an inconvenience unworthy of their time. My brother snarled over the phone, “Then just die already!” So I did. In the end, it was my three-year-old daughter who made the final call—using her smartwatch to video my mother, live-streaming the freezer where my severed head lay. Now, my spirit watches from above as they all, one by one, begin to unravel. ... I knew I was finally going to die. So I called my family. My mom answered. She was in the middle of a face mask, her voice muffled and edged with impatience. “What is it now, Elena?”

I spoke coldly and turned to leave. Behind me, Arthur and Lauren exchanged a glance and quickly followed. On the way, my thoughts drifted back to what Paula had been like before she became paralyzed. She hadn't talked much, but she had been kind. Sometimes, she would tell me stories about her younger days. She once mentioned her family had been wealthy before falling on hard times, resulting in her marrying into a family in the countryside. At the time, I thought it was just nostalgia. I never took it seriously. Now, it seemed those gold bars might really have come from her family.

But I knew that I would be interrogated again very quickly. After all, the transfer of all properties of the Schmidt Corporation was not a small matter. In the villa where the incident happened, other than the neighbors who came to watch the fun, there were also crowds of journalists who came to see me, the new CEO of the Schmidt family. The whole Schmidt family was murdered by their eldest daughter, and the eldest daughter even used to be a psychiatric patient. That must be breaking news. As I expected, Ryan took me to the interrogation room again the next day.

“We’re glad you’re here. We’ve been expecting you. The family to receive the official death notice is over there.” He points, and I follow his hand and see them. They were a small group, huddled together on the chairs in the waiting area. Their faces were buried in trembling hands with their shoulders shaking. They’re already sobbing. Whoever’s name is on that paper meant the world to them. I glance down at the notice and read it silently: Celine Cruger. When I look back at the family, my heart aches. “Death,” I murmur with a low and bitter voice, “always arrives like it’s been patiently waiting outside the door… then walks in without knocking.”

-TATIANA- I watched my family die between bites of rosemary lamb, and the worst part was how ordinary it felt. Dad had just raised his glass, to give a toast to loyalty, bloodlines, keeping the family strong when the first shot rang through the dining room. Next, a wet slap of blood hit the tablecloth and some got on my face. My fork froze halfway to my mouth, meat juice sliding down the tines. My uncle went next. Then my cousin. Clockwise, like the guy had mapped it out ahead of time.

My heart hammers in my chest, and a tremor runs through my body. “It’s weird how most of those events were accidents. No one was particularly behind them. It was like a curse had fallen on that packhouse. But one day, the Nova family was having a peaceful dinner when all of them suddenly had a cardiac arrest and died right there.” My breath hitches. “They all just died, like… like that?”

*** At the same moment, in the Jones family’s yard, Juliet had already arrived in a car. Not only had Del died, but many of the family’s strong fighters had died too. When the rest of the family heard this news, everyone rushed over. This incident was like an earthquake to the Jones family. The head of the family had been murdered, while the heir of the family had died horribly. Parking in the yard, Juliet sat in the car, looking into a mirror. At this moment, she looked very calm, but she had a hint of excitement and happiness in her heart.

I still remembered his cold fingers gripping my jaw in that dark basement, the hatred in his eyes so deep it almost devoured me. "Nick Wheaton sent me this useless thing? Is he mocking me? Tell him—this game has only just begun." I died in the second winter of our marriage—my body covered in bruises, abandoned in the snow to starve. As my soul drifted above the frozen ground, I saw him standing over my corpse for a long, long time. There was no satisfaction in his eyes, only an endless, suffocating darkness. And I saw the Wheaton family thriving after my death, feeding off the fortune they had stolen from my mother's legacy.

But, those clothes and shoes looked l-like Luna Amber's…" Matthew's cell phone fell to the floor with a thud once again. This time, it was completely smashed. Matthew collapsed to the floor at the same time he dropped his phone. His much beloved Luna Amber had committed suicide in the icy lake. Not only that, she took their baby with her. Her body sank to the bottom of the lake, and no one could find them no matter how they tried. Alpha Matthew, who loved her so deeply, seemed to have a hard time accepting this reality.

In fact, she forced herself to watch the video of how I was killed over and over again. Steven was burned out by the group's affairs, and he also had to deal with Sophia's cold shoulder. Gradually, he returned home less and less often. Under such circumstances, even Mark became depressed. The family that seemed so harmonious once upon a time was no longer the same. I realized that I was finally able to leave the Lamberts. Perhaps, the time to leave was near. Anticipating this, there was a shift in my consciousness. When I opened my eyes again, I was in a familiar house.