Beneath the veil of sorrow

PART 2: By 7:42 a.m., Derek was already performing.

He wore my father’s navy suit—the one he had stolen from the cedar closet after the funeral—and stood in the glass-walled conference room, smiling like a man born to command. Beside him, Marlene poured coffee for the investors as if she were queen of an empire built on bones.

I watched everything from Elena’s tablet in the hospital room.

The hidden camera in Derek’s office showed three investors seated around the long table. Men my father had trusted. Men who believed Derek’s charming lies because grief had made me invisible.

“You’ll see,” Derek said smoothly, sliding a folder across the table. “By noon, ownership will be fully consolidated. My wife is unwell. Emotionally unstable. She has agreed to transfer her remaining shares.”

Marlene laughed under her breath.

“Poor thing barely knows what day it is.”

Elena’s jaw tightened, but I lifted a finger.

“Not yet.”

On the screen, Derek opened the forged transfer agreement.

My signature waited at the bottom.

Except this time, it wasn’t mine.

It was the bait.

Six weeks earlier, Elena and I had prepared a false document with a hidden digital watermark, one that could only be generated from Derek’s private office printer. If he used it, touched it, presented it as real—he would prove intent in front of witnesses.

Derek picked up his pen.

For one brief second, I saw hesitation flicker across his face.

Then Marlene leaned close and whispered, “Do it. Once this is signed, she’s nothing.”

He signed.

The room seemed to go silent, even through the tablet speakers.

Elena made one call.

Within minutes, uniformed officers entered the conference room. Derek stood so fast his chair fell backward. Marlene’s smile cracked into something ugly and afraid.

“This is a mistake,” Derek snapped. “My wife is confused.”

Then the lead investigator placed a printed photograph on the table.

Me, lying on the bedroom floor at 3:07 a.m.

Blood on my mouth.

Derek’s fist raised.

One investor pushed away from the table in horror.

Marlene turned pale.

But before the officers could cuff them, Derek suddenly laughed.

“You think you won?” he said, staring straight into the hidden camera. “Ask her attorney what’s in the second will.”

Elena went rigid beside me.