After You Killed Our Daughter, I'll Never Come Back

Three days before we were supposed to get our marriage license, he was stranded in a conflict zone. His flight went down. No survivors.

I couldn't accept it. Every night I clutched his clothes and sobbed until I couldn't breathe. More than once, I nearly followed him into the dark.

Four years. Everyone told me to move on.

I refused. I was terrified that if I let go, no one would remember how deeply we'd loved each other.

Then, on April Fool's Day, I got a rush order. A private villa needed organizing, plus a home-cooked dinner. Triple my usual rate.

The next day, after finishing the organizing, I stepped into the kitchen to prep the ingredients and felt the air leave my lungs.

Every single item was something he used to love.

My chest clenched. My eyes burned. But he would never taste my cooking again.

Half an hour later, I pushed open the kitchen door. A voice drifted toward me, dripping with tenderness.

"Hey, sweetheart. Did the baby give you any trouble today?"

"Look what I brought you."

I froze where I stood.

Because the man in front of me was Julian Weiss. My boyfriend. The one who'd been dead for four years.

——

Our eyes locked, and I saw it clearly: the guilt and the shock that flashed across his face.

My heart seized like a fist had closed around it and squeezed. The pain was suffocating, radiating through every nerve, stinging my nose and scalding my eyes.

I opened my mouth, tried to make a sound, but Julian's gaze dropped to Grace Barnes's swollen belly, and he shot me a look. A warning.

Grace noticed him go still. She turned, curious, and when she saw me, a blush crept across her cheeks. She gently pushed Julian away.

Her voice was soft, explanatory.

"The housekeeper's on vacation, so I found an organizer online."

"Miss Harding can organize and cook. Two birds, one stone."

Then she turned to me, beaming with unmistakable happiness.

"Miss Harding, this is my husband, Julian Weiss. CEO of the Weiss Group."

"Sorry about the PDA." She let out a shy little laugh. "That's just how we are. He's always surprising me with sweet little gestures."

I forced my face into something that was supposed to be a smile. It probably looked worse than crying. I swallowed the lump in my throat and fought to keep my voice steady.

"Mr. Weiss treats you so well."

The words had barely left my mouth when Julian spoke, his tone flat and cold.

"Miss Harding, there's a storm rolling in. It's hard to get a cab out here in the suburbs."

I stared at the ice in his eyes and went blank for a moment.

Before I could respond, Grace shot him an annoyed glare.

"Don't be rude!"

She turned back to me, her voice warm with apology.

"Don't mind him, Miss Harding. He was born with that scowl. Too used to playing the big boss at the office."

"But with me? He's honestly the sweetest man alive."

"Sometimes I think I must have saved the galaxy in a past life to deserve someone like him."

As she spoke, she rolled up her sleeve, revealing a faint scar across her wrist.

"Four years ago, my company sent me overseas on assignment. The region was unstable."

"He didn't hesitate. Flew out to be with me for two weeks. But when it was time to leave, fighting broke out. He threw himself over me, shielded me with his body, and we missed the last flight home."

"He was in a coma for a full week before he woke up. After we were finally evacuated, we found out that the flight we'd missed had crashed."

"After surviving something like that, we both knew. We were meant to be. We got married without a second thought."

The ache in my chest deepened until it was unbearable. I had never felt so pathetic in my entire life.

So while I'd been glued to the news back home, sleepless and sick with dread, crying until I had nothing left, he'd been overseas. With her. By her side the whole time.