Chapter 6
His mother tried softness next.
“Daniel,” she said, voice breaking beautifully, “you’re in shock.”
He almost laughed.
Shock was what she had counted on.
Shock would have let him collapse.
Shock would have made him close the coffin.
Shock would have made him accept a quiet burial before questions became dangerous.
But Elena’s pulse had burned shock out of him.
“No,” he said. “I was in shock on the plane.”
Her face tightened.
“This is not how you speak to your mother.”
“This is not how a mother behaves beside a living woman in a coffin.”
The words stripped the room bare.
Marcus snapped, “She was pronounced.”
“By whom?”
Silence.
Daniel looked from Marcus to his mother.
“By whom?”
His mother lifted her chin.
“Arrangements were made.”
The officer’s expression darkened.
“What arrangements?”
She closed her mouth.
Marcus set his whiskey glass down again, though it was already on the mantel. His hand had reached for it without thought.
Daniel noticed the tremor.
“Who touched her after she collapsed?”
His mother looked away.
“Who moved her?”
Marcus said, “Stop.”
“Who put her in this coffin?”
No answer.
Daniel’s heart pounded so hard he could feel it in his jaw.
He looked down at Elena.
Her face remained pale. Her breath almost invisible. Her body still trapped inside the satin-lined box his family had prepared for her.
He wanted to pull her out.
He wanted to carry her.
He wanted to run.
But unsafe movement could harm her and the baby.
So he stayed disciplined.
One hand near her shoulder.
One hand watching the rise of her chest.
Controlled fury.
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Because Elena needed him useful, not broken.
Read the full story 👉 Daniel’s mother tried to call him hysterical, but every unanswered question made the coffin look more deliberate.
