I thought it was my dream when I married Damian, but it all transformed into a nightmare before the reception.
I ended up burying my husband three days after our wedding, only to come directly with him behind the wheel of a taxi.
This isn’t something I can tell the people around me, so I have to apply the anonymity of the internet for it.
You can call me Paige.
I’m 28, and just a few months ago, I was a happy bride.
But my soulmate, whom you may call Damian, passed away after we said I do.
They say life flashes before your eyes when you’re going to pass away, but our entire relationship flashed before mine as I saw him drop to the ground.
Damian and I met at a small café where I used to work part-time. He was one of those quiet, polite customers who always tipped well and read a book while drinking coffee.
I’d had a crush on him since I first saw him.
Just a year later, we were standing at the altar in front of our closest friends.
It was the happiest day of my life.
But that dream ended suddenly. Before the reception, while taking some pictures with friends, Damian suddenly collapsed. At first, I thought he was joking.
But when he didn’t get up, I froze.
People circled him, and someone called 911. The paramedics worked on him right there on the dance floor, but nothing they did worked.
They rushed him to the hospital, and I followed them in a daze. They said it was a heart att.ack.
He was only 32 years old.
It was all a disaster until the funeral when his family appeared. I’d only met them once before, and that one meeting was enough.
Damian had concerned me about them but hadn’t told me everything. His adoptive parents were snobbish and controlling.
“Damian didn’t tell you about his family’s wealth because he didn’t want it to affect how you saw him,” he said in a low voice.
But now they were here and spent the entire service throwing daggers at me with their eyes.
I overheard his mother whisper to someone, “She was probably after his money and caused his passing. Get our lawyer on the phone.”
They’d already made up their minds about me, and I just didn’t have the energy to combat anyone.
***
Three days after the funeral, I couldn’t take the grief and the emptiness anymore. My apartment felt suffocating as every corner held a memory of Damian.
The sadness was overwhelming and was giving me strange thought.
I needed to get away, so I threw some clothes into a small suitcase, grabbed my passport, and called a taxi.
When the taxi arrived, I climbed into the backseat and stared out the window.
I barely noticed the driver as I settled into the leather and tried to breathe deeply.
“Fasten your seatbelt, please,” the driver suddenly said.
I froze. My chest tightened, and my heart started pounding.
“Damian?” I croaked. “But…?
How? How are you here? What?”
“I’m sorry, Paige,” he said softly without any preamble.
“I know this is a lot to take in.
I’ll explain everything. Please don’t hate me.”
I sat with wide eyes and an open mouth for the entirety of Damian’s explanation.
First, he shared to me about his family. They adopted him as a teenager and used his brilliance to expand their shady business empire, which was failing spectacularly before him.
Eventually, he became the brains behind some of their most successful (and probably illegal) ventures.
For a while, he was just glad that he had proud parents and could contribute to the family who had given him a home when no one else would.
Damian knew it was only a matter of time before they were caught, and he didn’t want to be left with nothing. So, he began a legit business and grew it into such a success that he decided not to work with his family anymore.
So, they threatened to destr0y me and our lives if Damian didn’t give them a piece of the cake.
“I couldn’t let them touch you,” Damian said, rubbing his face.
“They would’ve ruined you to get to me. So I did the only thing I could think of.
I made them believe I was d3ad.”
He went on to explain how he staged everything.
When I asked how he escaped his grave, Damian laughed and said he wasn’t in the coffin at all. He had to be there for the viewing service, but the fixer got his people to take him out at some point without anyone noticing.
“I know I hurt you,” he said as his eyes watered.
“But I did it for us. I couldn’t let them win.”
Finally, when night came, I asked him to take me home.
I spent hours yelling while he tried to justify his actions.
“YOU LET ME THINK YOU WERE D3AD!” I cried out.
“I’m so sorry, baby!”
“DON’T CALL ME BABY!”
By the morning, I was all cried out. Damian then explained his idea for the future. By faking his passing, he ensured that all his legitimately earned assets were transferred to me.
“I know that I hurt you terribly, but is there any way you’d want to come with me?” he asked.
I scoffed and remained quiet for a long time, but eventually, I answered.
“I can’t just pick up where we left off, even in another country,” I told him. “I’ll do whatever you need with the assets and the money, but you broke my heart.
I don’t think I can trust you enough to start over. I need space.”
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