“He told me that you were severely ill and that you refused to see me because my presence upset you,” Nora explained softly.
Miriam opened her eyes wide in complete astonishment. “He told me the exact opposite story, claiming that you were drowning in toxic debt, that aggressive collectors were chasing you, and that you urgently needed money to stay out of trouble, so I have been making direct bank deposits to him for over a year.”
Nora felt a freezing chill run down her spine. “How much money did you transfer to him?”
Miriam uttered a staggering figure that caused Nora to stop breathing for a long moment.
It was more than enough money to cover several years of the medical treatments Brandon had claimed to be financing….
“I have been paying for nearly all our household living expenses on my own, and I even asked my parents for financial aid,” Nora confessed emotionally.
Miriam pressed her lips together tightly. “That boy was intentionally pitting the two of us against each other.”
Nora quickly pulled her smartphone out of her pocket to dial Brandon’s number, but before she could press the call button, an Instagram alert flashed across her screen.
Brandon Salgado has started a live broadcast.
The two women stared down at the illuminated screen in total silence.
Nora tapped the notification to open the video feed.
Brandon appeared on screen dressed in his black suit, standing dramatically beside a dark coffin adorned with elegant white lilies. Dozens of grieving people surrounded him in the chapel as he displayed a distraught face, while an elderly woman wrapped her arms around him as he wept openly.
“Now that is clearly a real funeral,” Miriam whispered in shock.
“It is a funeral, but it is certainly not yours,” Nora replied carefully.
In the live comment section, a user typed out the full address of a well-known funeral home located in Worthington. Nora read the location out loud, and Miriam immediately grabbed her handbag off the kitchen counter.
“Let us go right now,” Miriam commanded firmly.
During the drive across town, the scattered puzzle pieces began to assemble themselves in a horrifying manner.
Miriam revealed that Brandon had stopped bringing Nora over for weekend visits by claiming his wife held a deep hatred for his family. He had also instructed his mother never to call Nora directly because she supposedly became extremely aggressive whenever anyone mentioned financial matters.
Nora explained her side, detailing how Brandon had covered up his constant absences for months by claiming he was working overtime shifts, driving between clinics, and caring for his dying mother.
“I truly believed he was working late hours to help us survive,” Nora said quietly.
“And I genuinely believed I was saving your marriage from ruin,” Miriam replied softly.
They pulled into the chapel parking lot just as the service was reaching its conclusion, choosing to keep a cautious distance as they observed the crowd. Brandon was walking alongside a wealthy family that neither woman recognized, and several attendees were offering him warm, intimate hugs.
Nora noticed a tall, gray-haired man gently patting Brandon’s shoulders like a father comforting his own grieving son.
“Who are all those people around him?” Miriam whispered in total confusion.
Neither of them had an answer, so they approached a small group of attendees talking quietly near the chapel doors. Nora selected a kind-looking woman who appeared to be in her sixties.
“Excuse me, but we just heard the news and arrived late, so could you please tell us who passed away?” Nora asked politely.
The woman let out a heavy sigh. “It was my sweet niece, Jocelyn. The poor girl had been fighting a severe illness for months.”
Nora felt a tight knot form instantly in her stomach. “Was she quite young?”
“She was only thirty-two years old, and she was newly married as well, having been wed for just about a year,” the woman shared sad details.
Miriam turned her gaze to look at Nora in alarm.
Nora swallowed hard before asking her next question. “And who is her surviving husband?”
The woman discreetly pointed her hand toward the main family group, directing their attention straight toward Brandon.
“That poor young man in the black suit named Brandon. He adored her completely and never left the family’s side once Jocelyn’s health deteriorated,” the woman explained gently.
The surrounding noise of the funeral crowd seemed to fade into total silence.
Nora stared blankly at the man she had been married to for years.
Brandon was currently receiving heartfelt condolences for the death of another legal wife.
However, it remained to be uncovered why he had married her, where all the missing money had gone, and what he ultimately planned to gain after placing her in the ground.
PART 3
Nora felt the cold air scrape harshly against her throat.
She did not shed a single tear or scream out in anger, choosing instead to watch Brandon from a distance as if he were a complete stranger acting out a tragic role. He was embracing Jocelyn’s relatives and accepting words of comfort with chilling ease.
Miriam was the first of the two women to break the silence. “I want to know exactly how far this deception went.”
Nora briefly considered confronting him right beside the coffin, but she held herself back. If Brandon was capable of faking his own mother’s death, there was undoubtedly a much deeper scheme taking place.
Following the chapel service, Brandon stepped inside a luxury vehicle owned by Jocelyn’s parents. Nora and Miriam followed the car discreetly until it pulled up to a grand estate in New Albany, where family and friends were gathering for a private reception.
They slipped inside the estate by mingling silently with the incoming crowd.
Framed photographs of Jocelyn were displayed throughout the spacious living room, and Brandon was featured prominently in many of them, sharing romantic dinners, smiling on tropical beaches, and cutting a wedding cake.
Then Nora spotted a photograph on the mantelpiece that made her stomach churn violently, showing Jocelyn in a white lace gown alongside Brandon in a dark blue suit standing before a civil justice official.
It was an official wedding ceremony.
This was not a secret affair, but an entirely separate marriage.
Nora leaned against the nearby wall to steady her balance.
A female guest walked up to them carrying a drink. “Were you ladies close friends of Jocelyn?”
“We were acquainted with Brandon,” Nora answered carefully.
“Then you know how deeply he cared for her, dropping everything in his life to tend to her needs when she became sick,” the guest remarked warmly.
Nora felt a sharp surge of anger because that was the exact excuse Brandon used whenever he returned home late, insisting he was working a second job before rushing to care for his dying mother.
The guest continued speaking openly. “Jocelyn’s parents are absolutely heartbroken because she was their only child, and their entire family real estate company was meant to be passed down to her.”
Miriam raised her eyes as the true motive finally became crystal clear.
A few minutes later, they heard Jocelyn’s father speaking loudly to the gathering in the main formal room. He was the gray-haired gentleman from the cemetery, and Brandon stood directly by his side with a solemn expression.
“Jocelyn trusted Brandon completely,” the father declared emotionally. “Before she passed away, she made it very clear that she wanted Brandon to be fully protected and taken care of.”
Brandon bowed his head modestly. “I never wanted any material wealth from your family because Jocelyn was everything to me.”
The father continued speaking about property titles, corporate shares, and financial assets that they would review with their estate attorney the following week.
Miriam could no longer contain her fury. “What a remarkable miracle this is, my son.”
The entire room fell completely silent as every head turned toward the entryway.
Brandon looked up, and his face instantly turned ghastly pale upon recognizing them. “Mother…”
“I assumed I was buried in the ground today because that is the exact story you told your wife yesterday morning,” Miriam said in a loud, commanding voice.
Jocelyn’s father narrowed his eyes in confusion. “Did you say his wife?”
Nora stepped forward into the bright light. “Yes, I am his legal wife.”
Brandon looked frantically around the room as if searching for a hidden doorway to escape through. “Nora, please let me explain…”
“Yesterday you told me that your mother had died and that I could not attend her funeral because her last wish was to avoid seeing me, yet today I find your mother perfectly healthy and watch you bury a woman you illegally married,” Nora stated clearly.
Jocelyn’s mother shook her head in utter disbelief. “That is impossible because Brandon explicitly told us he was legally divorced.”
“He never filed for a divorce from me,” Nora replied calmly.
“I can explain everything if you just listen,” Brandon pleaded nervously.
Jocelyn’s father stepped directly into Brandon’s personal space. “Then explain it to all of us right now.”
“I was suffering from severe financial trouble,” Brandon confessed quietly.
Nora pulled her phone out and displayed her documents. “Show everyone your legal divorce decree right now because I never signed a single paper.”
Brandon remained completely silent as his mouth went dry.
Miriam began to weep with pure rage. “For over a year you extracted money from my savings by claiming Nora was drowning in debt, telling me that aggressive collectors were hunting her down while keeping me completely isolated from her.”
Jocelyn’s father looked at Brandon with deep horror. “You swore to us that both of your parents were deceased.”
Miriam stood firm, staring her son down. “Did you kill me off in your lies to them as well?”
Brandon covered his face with both hands. “I was utterly desperate.”
“Desperate for what exactly?” Nora questioned firmly.
“I owed massive debts to dangerous people,” Brandon admitted in a low voice.
Under intense pressure from everyone in the room, he finally surrendered the truth. Months before meeting Jocelyn, he had accumulated massive debts from illegal gambling and failed investments that he hid from everyone. When the creditors began demanding payment, he started constructing elaborate lies.
