Too Good For You

My CEO husband told me he had a last-minute job to handle. He said that because of it, he couldn't accompany me to retrieve the body.

Then I went online and saw a photo my husband's secretary had posted as a birthday status update.

[Thanks for the red velvet cake, Mr. Mitchell! Happy birthday to me!]

I smiled and left a comment.

[Happy birthday.]

That single comment sparked a frenzy among my colleagues. They immediately began placing bets on how big of a scene I would make.

Then he called.

"Lucy is just celebrating her birthday, Brianna! Why do you have to ruin it by showing up in the comments?! Don't you know how sensitive she is? How is she supposed to feel comfortable at work now?!

"She's only been here for two years. She doesn't even have any friends! What's wrong with me looking out for an employee and keeping her company on her birthday? A lucky girl who grew up in a wealthy family like you wouldn't understand!

"If you want to talk about this, fine. Wait until I get back. But delete that comment right now! We can always wait another few days before retrieving his body. Where is your father going to go anyway? He's already dead!"

I clenched my fist and replied, "That won't be necessary."

By the time he returned, we would already be legally divorced.

Lance Mitchell hung up in a fit of rage.

I stopped on my way to the hospital, adjusted the single white lily pinned to my chest, and walked inside.

My phone vibrated. Lucinda Tanning had updated her status. It was a lengthy, faux-apologetic post about how she never meant to offend me and simply wanted to share the joy and celebration of her birthday.

Just like her previous post, she made sure to tag me. In less than a minute, it had already attracted hundreds of likes.

It was a crass, inelegant, and unmistakable act of provocation, yet Lance somehow couldn't see it. He was known for being a shrewd strategist, so I doubted he was truly blind to her intentions. He simply chose to play along with the charade.

[Can't a girl even share something about her life? Does she have to apologize for being thin-skinned now?]

[I know. It was just a normal birthday celebration. She got targeted over something so harmless. That's what narcissists do, I guess. They're also soooooo dramatic.]

…

The comment section was full of people defending Lucinda, and honestly, I wasn't surprised in the slightest. These colleagues were only there because she had gotten them hired.

Hiring and firing employees weren't decisions a mere secretary could make. She could only do so because Lance abused his authority as CEO and backed her every step of the way. She quickly filled the workplace with loyalists while pushing out anyone who ever stood up for me.

A while later, Lance added a comment of his own.

Lance: [The company is like a family. Please treat it as one. I'm sure you're all aware of certain malicious intentions from an outside party, but I urge you not to pay them any mind.]

He never identified the "outside party," but everyone knew who he meant. Lucinda even pinned his comment to the top.

Their little performance bored me, so I closed the app.

After I handed my identification documents to the hospital staff, they escorted me to the mortuary.

My father lay inside the metallic drawer, his face ashen and bloodless.

It was hard to believe this was the same man who had promised, just two days earlier, that he would come visit and stay with me for a while. Here, he looked utterly lifeless.

I blinked back tears.

When I first received the news, I called Lance immediately. He told me he needed to leave on a business trip.

"The police won't release the body until they've completed their investigation, so just wait for me. Don't worry about it."

Then, despite all my pleading, he left for his trip.

Five hours later, he appeared in Lucinda's status update.

So his business was Lucinda's birthday. His trip was to her place.

"The weather has been quite warm lately, so it would be difficult to continue storing Mr. Carter's body here. We recommend proceeding with cremation as soon as possible," one of the staff members said as he handed me a document acknowledging the release of the body.