My in-laws were dead, and my wife was convinced I killed them. She screamed that they should have lived to a hundred—that I was a curse upon this family.
She kicked me out. Threatened to sue. Vowed to leave me destitute and disgraced.
I wandered the streets in a daze, my mind fogged with grief. I didn't hear the car until tires screeched against asphalt.
I froze. The bumper stopped inches from my legs.
Then familiar voices drifted through the air—voices that shouldn't exist anymore.
My in-laws. But not hallucinations. They hovered beside me, translucent and flickering.
"Simon, our deaths have nothing to do with you."
"It was that heartless daughter of ours," my mother-in-law wailed. "She drugged us."
"She took out death insurance policies on us," my father-in-law added, his voice trembling with spectral rage. "She stands to collect millions."
Ice shot down my spine.
The memories flooded back. When they were dying, Julia had physically blocked me from calling 911. She said she wanted them to "leave with dignity"—no invasive procedures.
Then she insisted on immediate cremation. Scattered their ashes into the sea before sunset.
I'd thought it was grief. Now I understood. It was calculated.
"Pull yourself together!" my father-in-law barked. "She killed us, and now she wants you to take the fall. Once she gets the payout, she's running off with her lover."
"You cannot let her get away with this!"
I stood frozen on the sidewalk.
Julia. My wife. The woman I'd sacrificed everything for.
She'd always claimed work kept her too busy to help, so I was the one who cared for her parents. I ran errands, managed appointments, stayed by their bedsides. She'd promised to remember my sacrifices.
While I wiped her parents' brows, she was romancing another man.
Rage ignited in my chest. I turned and sprinted back toward the house.
The ghosts floated alongside me, filling in the details. Julia had used her parents' illness as cover—lied about medical costs, claimed she was buying expensive imported drugs. In reality, she hoarded the money for her lover.
When her parents discovered the theft, they ordered her to confess to me.
Instead, she wept and knelt, begging for time.
That night, she increased their dosage and silenced them forever.
"The money is hidden under the bed," my father-in-law urged. "Hurry—before that wretch and her adulterer take it."
The bed. It made sense now. Julia had forbidden me from touching it, claiming some fortune teller warned it would ruin the household feng shui.
I burst into the bedroom and shoved the mattress aside. Pried up the boards.
Beneath them lay piles of "old clothes"—except they weren't old at all. Designer pieces, barely worn. All Julia's size.
I tossed them aside and found the hoard.
Cash. Gold bars. Jewelry. Luxury watches.
My hands shook as I calculated. Over three million dollars.
Bile rose in my throat.
When her parents got sick, I'd sold my company—worth millions—to pay for their treatment. Endured the humiliation of unemployment, thinking I was saving lives.
Julia had pocketed most of that money. She hadn't spent it on her parents. She'd stolen it from me.
Digging deeper, I found two medicine bottles with foreign labels.
"That's the poison," my mother-in-law cried, her spirit flickering. "That's what killed us."
I clenched the bottles. "Mom, Dad—I'm taking this evidence. I swear I'll bring Julia to justice."
They wept openly. "You were more of a son to us than that beast ever was. We just want to see you live a good life."
My throat tightened. My own parents died when I was young; I'd always viewed them as real family. When Julia and I married, they'd told her not to demand an outrageous bride price—said our happiness was the only priority.
I hadn't cared for them to please Julia. I'd done it because I loved them.
I grabbed a suitcase and stuffed the valuables inside. After a moment's thought, I packed their remaining clothes too—the few items that hadn't been burned. A memorial.
Before I left, my father-in-law pointed toward the corner. Two dusty ceramic jars sat there, unassuming.
"Take the jars." His voice carried unusual weight. "They look like junk, but they're ancient antiques. That pair alone is worth twenty million."
