Part 2
The room exploded into confusion.
The funeral director froze.
The staff member holding the casket stepped back, his face turning pale.
“Sir…?”
Michael didn’t hear him.
He was already moving.
“No, no, no…”
His hands shook as he grabbed the edge of the casket.
“My wife is alive.”
Nobody answered.
Because nobody wanted to say the words out loud.
The cloth moved again.
A tiny, unmistakable ripple.
Right over Alina’s stomach.
Michael’s heart nearly stopped.
“That’s my baby.”
His voice broke.
“That’s my daughter.”
The funeral director immediately raised his hands.
“Sir, we need to calm down. The body was certified—”
“Certified?”
Michael spun around.
“You’re telling me a dead woman’s stomach is moving?”
The room went silent.
The funeral staff looked at each other.
Because there was no explanation.
Then one of them finally whispered:
“Stop the machine.”
The cremation chamber doors began closing.
“STOP!”
Michael’s scream echoed through the room.
The staff member hit the emergency button.
The mechanism stopped.
For a moment, there was only the sound of Michael’s breathing.
Then someone called emergency services.
Minutes later, paramedics rushed inside.
Michael stood frozen as they checked Alina.
One doctor placed a hand near her neck.
Another checked the monitor.
Then suddenly—
“Wait.”
Everyone looked up.
The doctor’s expression changed.
“Get her out. Now.”
Michael’s knees almost gave out.
“What?”
The doctor looked at him.
“Mr. Turner, your wife may still have a heartbeat.”
The world stopped.
A heartbeat.
Those words didn’t make sense.
He had heard the doctors.
He had watched them.
They told him she was gone.
Both of them.
Alina.
The baby.
Dead.
But now—
“Move!”
The paramedics lifted Alina from the casket and rushed her away.
Michael followed, barely able to breathe.
Then he saw Patricia.
His mother.
Standing near the doorway.
Completely still.
But her face wasn’t shocked.
It was terrified.
And Michael noticed.
She wasn’t looking at Alina.
She was looking at him.
At the hospital, doctors fought for hours.
Michael sat outside the emergency room, staring at the floor.
His hands were covered with dirt from the cemetery.
His wedding ring felt heavy.
Every second was torture.
Then a doctor came out.
Michael jumped up.
“How is she?”
The doctor removed his mask.
“We stabilized her.”
Michael’s eyes filled.
“She’s alive?”
The doctor nodded.
“Yes.”
Michael covered his face.
A sound escaped him.
Half sob.
Half disbelief.
“And the baby?”
The doctor paused.
That pause terrified him.
“What about my daughter?”
The doctor’s expression softened.
“The baby is alive too.”
Michael collapsed into the chair.
Because he had prepared himself to lose everything.
And somehow…
He got them back.
But there was something the doctor needed to tell him.
“Mr. Turner.”
Michael looked up.
“Yes?”
The doctor hesitated.
“Your wife was not dead.”
The sentence hit him.
“What?”
“She was in a state that can sometimes mimic death.”
Michael frowned.
“But the ER doctors—”
“We are reviewing everything.”
The doctor’s voice became serious.
“Because there’s something else.”
Michael stood.
“What?”
The doctor looked around.
“Your wife’s blood tests show traces of a substance.”
Michael’s face changed.
“What substance?”
“A powerful sedative.”
His stomach dropped.
“A sedative?”
The doctor nodded.
“Combined with what she was given, it could have slowed her body down enough that she appeared deceased.”
Michael stared.
The memory came rushing back.
The tea.
Patricia’s jar.
The sweet smile.
It helped me during my pregnancy.
His blood ran cold.
“No…”
The doctor watched him carefully.
“Mr. Turner?”
Michael stepped back.
“My mother gave her something.”
Silence.
“What?”
“My mother.”
His voice shook.
“She brought Alina a supplement.”
The doctor’s expression hardened.
“Do you know where it is?”
Michael nodded slowly.
But his mind was somewhere else.
Because suddenly he remembered another detail.
Something he had ignored because he was grieving.
Patricia had been the first person to arrive at the hospital.
She had spoken to the doctors.
She had arranged the funeral.
She had stopped Alina’s family from coming.
And now…
She wanted her cremated.
Quickly.
Before anyone questioned anything.
Michael pulled out his phone.
He called his mother.
She answered after one ring.
“Michael?”
Her voice sounded calm.
Too calm.
“Mom.”
A pause.
“I need to ask you something.”
“What?”
“Why did you tell everyone Alina wanted cremation?”
Silence.
Only for a second.
But Michael noticed.
“Michael, don’t do this right now.”
His grip tightened around the phone.
“Why?”
“I’m your mother.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Her voice changed.
“Your wife was gone.”
“No.”
He whispered.
“She wasn’t.”
The silence on the other end was terrifying.
Then Patricia said quietly:
“What?”
Michael felt ice run through him.
“You heard me.”
His voice became cold.
“Alina is alive.”
Nothing.
No surprise.
No relief.
Just silence.
Then his mother whispered:
“That’s impossible.”
And that was when Michael knew.
She wasn’t shocked that Alina survived.
She was shocked that he found out.
“Mom…”
His voice trembled.
“What did you do?”
The line went dead.
Twenty minutes later, the police arrived.
Because the doctor had already contacted them.
They searched Patricia’s belongings.
Her car.
Her house.
And inside a locked drawer, they found something.
A notebook.
Michael was called in to identify it.
He opened the first page.
And his blood turned cold.
It wasn’t a diary.
It was a list.
Dates.
Times.
Names.
And at the top of the page:
“Women who married into the Turner family.”
Michael flipped through it.
The next page.
Another woman.
Another date.
Another “accident.”
Then he saw the final entry.
His wife’s name.
Alina Harris.
And underneath:
“Third trimester. Final attempt.”
Michael stopped breathing.
Because Patricia hadn’t just wanted Alina gone.
She had planned it.
For months.
Then the detective found one more thing hidden inside the notebook.
A letter.
Written to Patricia.
A letter from someone else.
Someone who knew everything.
The signature at the bottom made Michael’s hands shake.
Because it was someone he never expected.
His father.
May you like
And the first line read:
“Patricia, if Michael discovers what happened to Alina, we are both finished.”
