Chapter 2
I moved before Daniel could take another step.
I pulled Nia behind me and shouted for everyone to get away from the doors.
Daniel froze with his hand inside his jacket.
"Marcus, calm down."
"Take your hand out where I can see it."
He slowly withdrew a black cellphone.
But Nia was already crying.
"That's mine!"
Her voice shook.
"Marcus, that's my phone!"
I stared at Daniel.
He looked down at the device.
Then slipped it into his pocket.
"She's confused. She needs medical attention."
I stepped toward him.
"Give me my wife's phone."
"Marcus, listen."
"Now."
Daniel glanced around the chapel.
Several mourners were recording with their phones.
A middle-aged man moved toward the entrance.
Daniel immediately raised both hands.
"I'm not going anywhere."
But I didn't believe him.
I looked toward the woman standing nearest the front row.
"Please stay with Nia. Don't let anyone move her."
She nodded.
Then I turned back toward Daniel.
"How did my wife end up alive in that coffin?"
He shook his head.
"I have no idea."
Nia screamed.
"You're lying!"
Her voice echoed through the chapel.
She tried to stand.
Her knees buckled.
I rushed back and caught her before she fell.
"Easy, baby."
She buried her face against my chest.
"Don't believe him."
"I won't."
I looked at Daniel again.
"If you didn't do this, why does she recognize you?"
He didn't answer.
Evelyn suddenly stepped between us.
"Enough!"
Her voice trembled.
"Nia needs a hospital. This can wait."
I turned toward my mother-in-law.
For three days, Evelyn had insisted that Nia was dead.
She had chosen the flowers.
Approved the coffin.
Helped Daniel arrange the funeral.
And every time I asked to see my wife, she had stopped me.
"Did you know?" I whispered.
Evelyn looked away.
My chest tightened.
"Did you know she was alive?"
"Marcus..."
"Answer me!"
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
Before she could speak, sirens sounded outside.
Two police officers entered the chapel, followed by paramedics.
The room erupted.
Everyone started talking.
Someone shouted that a dead woman had awakened.
Another person pointed at the broken coffin.
I raised my hands.
"My wife was trapped inside. She needs help."
The paramedics hurried toward Nia.
One checked her breathing.
Another examined the marks around her wrists.
I stayed beside her.
She refused to release my hand.
"Marcus, don't leave."
"I'm not going anywhere."
Her pulse was rapid.
She was weak and disoriented.
The paramedics placed her on a stretcher.
As they lifted her, she grabbed my sleeve.
"Daniel has the phone."
"I know."
"He can't erase it."
"What?"
Her eyes filled.
"The recording."
Before I could ask another question, one of the paramedics urged me to step aside.
"We need to get her to the hospital."
I followed them outside.
Behind us, officers were speaking with Daniel and Evelyn.
I heard Daniel insist that everything was a misunderstanding.
He claimed Nia had suffered a medical episode.
He said he had only recently arrived.
I wanted to turn around and confront him.
But Nia needed me more.
I climbed into the ambulance.
The doors closed.
And for the first time since the nightmare began, I could hear my own breathing.
Nia lay beside me.
Her eyes kept opening and closing.
I held her hand.
"Baby, what happened?"
She stared at the ceiling.
"I remember the office."
"What office?"
"Our office."
Nia was a financial consultant.
Three years earlier, she had started a nonprofit housing foundation with Daniel.
They helped struggling families find temporary apartments.
At least, that was what I believed.
Nia swallowed.
"I found something."
"What?"
"Money."
I leaned closer.
"Whose money?"
Her eyes moved toward me.
"Families."
Then her expression twisted.
"Daniel found out."
The heart monitor began sounding faster.
The paramedic looked up.
"Ma'am, try to relax."
Nia clutched my hand.
"He said nobody would believe me."
I felt a cold sensation spread through my body.
"Believe what?"
She shook her head.
"I don't remember everything."
"That's okay."
"I woke up somewhere dark."
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
"My hands were tied."
I squeezed her fingers.
"You're safe now."
She looked at me with heartbreaking desperation.
"Marcus, I thought you weren't coming."
Those words nearly destroyed me.
I leaned down and kissed her forehead.
"I came, baby. I came."
She closed her eyes.
But before she drifted into exhausted silence, she whispered one more thing.
"Ask my mother about the blue envelope."
At the hospital, doctors immediately began examining her.
They told me she was dehydrated, exhausted, and showing signs consistent with exposure to a sedating substance.
They needed laboratory results before making any conclusions.
Her condition was serious.
But she was stable.
I stood outside her room, shaking.
My wife had been alive while I mourned her.
Alive while people sent flowers.
Alive while I stood in front of her photograph and wondered how to survive without her.
Then I remembered Evelyn.
The blue envelope.
I reached for my phone.
Before I could call anyone, an unfamiliar number appeared.
I answered.
A man's voice spoke quietly.
"Marcus Bennett?"
"Who's this?"
"I'm one of the people who texted you."
My heart jumped.
"How did you know?"
"I saw them move her into the funeral home."
"Who?"
"Daniel and another man."
"Where are you?"
The caller hesitated.
May you like
Then said something I would never forget.
"I can tell you everything. But first, you need to know that the woman who signed the death paperwork wasn't a doctor."
