He Thought Mom Died, Went Mad After Truth

Chapter 3

Mason came back at a near run. He shoved the hallway door open. His face was tight with anger. "Olivia. Have you lost your mind?"

He stalked across the room toward me. "Rescue work carries risk. Your mother died. So now you're pinning it on me?"

I pocketed the phone. My voice came out level. "I'm not blaming you. I just don't want to be married to you anymore."

Mason's jaw clenched. He forced himself to swallow it down. "Threatening me with divorce isn't gonna get you anywhere."

Jennifer hovered behind him and clapped a hand over her mouth, like the penny had only just dropped.

"Olivia. You're not divorcing Mason because of me, are you?" Her eyes welled right on cue. Her chin trembled. "This is my fault. All of it."

She drew in a shaky breath. "If I hadn't been so desperate to prove myself, your mom would still be alive."

She closed the distance between us, hands clasped at her chest. "Take it out on me. Hit me. Yell at me. Whatever you need to do. Just please, don't put Mason through a divorce over this."

Mason pulled her behind him. "Enough, Jennifer. Stop taking the blame for everything."

When he turned back to me, his voice came out hard and flat. "Olivia, Jennifer just got reinstated. Do you really have to push her? Your mom's gone. Your dad's not getting any younger. You think you're still that little princess with a cushion to fall back on? Better get this through your head. From now on, I'm the only person you've got to lean on."

I just looked at him.

He'd ridden my family's connections into a spot on the rescue team in the first place.

Now he was standing here telling me I had nowhere else to turn.

A laugh slipped out of me. "Mason, you're finally being honest with me. You climbed up on my family's money, and you've hated yourself the whole time for needing it."

Mason's face flushed crimson. "Fine! Then we'll get divorced!"

He dragged a hand down his face, his eyes raw and bloodshot. "Olivia, you've got money. You think you're untouchable.

"Just pray nothing ever happens to your dad. Don't come crawling to me, begging on your knees to save him."

He glanced toward the morgue doors at the end of the hallway. Not a hint of reverence in his eyes, just disgust. "That body still in there?"

He pulled out his phone and called the funeral home. "Come collect her ASAP. I'm slammed right now. Just cremate her, no ceremony, none of that ritual junk."

He'd barely hung up when his mother's caregiver called back.

Mason glanced at the screen and tapped it to silent. "It's the caregiver. Bugging me again about what Mom wants for dinner."

He frowned and pressed the phone face-down against his palm. "Old folks are such a pain. I'll deal with her once I've sorted Jennifer out."

I'd planned to let him see Hazel one last time. Now I knew there was no point.

A few hours later, the funeral home called me in to collect the ashes.

I picked out a simple urn for Hazel and booked the memorial hall, then set her portrait on the altar and lit a candle.

I texted Mason the address and let my parents know. By the time everything was done, it was well past midnight.

I'd only stepped out for a quick call. When I came back, a crowd had formed outside the memorial hall.

Harsh music was pounding from inside. I pushed the door open and stopped dead in my tracks.

Hazel's portrait was plastered with gaudy stickers, two red slashes scrawled across her face.

The white lilies on the altar had been ripped out and replaced with balloons and LED signs.

The urn had been shoved into a corner, the lid knocked crooked, gray-white ash spilled all over the floor next to it.

Jennifer stood in the middle of it all, phone raised high, livestreaming with a bright smile for the camera. "Don't get the wrong idea, you guys. We're not disrespecting the dead. We just wanted to do this safety-awareness memorial in a more lighthearted way."

The live chat raced past at full speed.

A: [Jennifer's so strong. She's getting bashed online and she's still putting on a memorial for the dead.]

I stood in the doorway, my throat locked tight around words that wouldn't come.

Mason walked in behind me. His eyes swept across the chaos and landed on Jennifer with something close to amusement.

Jennifer hurried up to him like she was expecting applause. "Mason, I did exactly what you said. I turned the memorial into a livestream PSA."

I couldn't hold it in any longer. "Mason, you'd better take a closer look at that portrait."

Mason whipped his head around, jaw tight with impatience. "Are we doing this again? You still want to drag my mom into this? She's at the private care. She'll never hear what a downer your mom's funeral turned into."

Mason walked over to the portrait. He stared at the face beneath all the stickers and scribbles, and he couldn't even tell who it was.

"Pretty decent setup, actually. What's the point of a bunch of people standing around bawling their eyes out? You gotta get some energy into the room. That way, the dead at least didn't die for nothing."