Four Empty Coffins, One Terminal Diagnosis Chapter 01
Vivienne POV
They’re all dead.
Three years ago, the Vale family motorcade was ambushed on the way to the estate. It was my twenty-third birthday.
My parents and brother died.
My fiancé, Adrian Bellandi—the young heir to the Bellandi family—died too.
Three years. I’ve wanted to follow them more times than I can count. Serena was the one who stopped me. Every single time.
Serena is the orphaned daughter of my father’s second-in-command. Her parents took bullets meant for my father. Our family has owed her a life debt ever since.
My father brought her home. My mother loved her like her own. My brother Damian gave her the best of everything. I treated her like a sister too.
Then one day, I collapsed. They took me to the hospital. The doctor looked at me and said, “Stage IV gastric cancer. Without chemotherapy, you have about a month.”
I didn’t hesitate. “No chemo.”
My final wish was simple. I wanted to see the estate one last time. That was where I grew up. Where they’re all buried.
I went back, clutching a framed family photo. A little girl crashed into me. The frame hit the ground and the glass shattered. I knelt to pick up the pieces. Then I heard a voice behind me.
“Lena, stop running off. What if Mommy and Daddy can’t catch you?”
I froze.
Adrian Bellandi—who supposedly burned to death in an explosion three years ago—was crouched by the estate’s iron gate, scolding a little girl.
And the woman he was holding hands with was Serena.
She was wearing a cashmere coat I’d never seen before. Around her neck hung the heirloom pearl necklace of the Vale family.
The little girl, Lena, tugged at Serena’s sleeve. She pointed at me.
“Is she one of our servants?”
Serena’s face went white. “Vivienne—it’s not what you think. Just let me explain—”
Adrian looked up. He saw me. Something flickered in his eyes—panic, there and gone. He stood, moved Serena behind him, and scooped Lena into his arms.
“Vivienne. Since you’ve seen us, I won’t hide it anymore.”
“That ambush three years ago—I survived. I’m with Serena now. Lena is our daughter.”
I stood there, feeling ice water flood my veins.
“Why?” I asked.
Adrian’s brow furrowed. “Vivienne, don’t pretend you never noticed. Serena’s had feelings for me since we were kids. That love letter I gave you in high school—it was meant for her. I never expected you to take it seriously. I thought you knew it was a joke. You were just too shameless to say no.”
I stood outside the estate’s iron gate, and it felt like the air had been sucked out of the world.
“I was going to come clean with you,” Adrian went on, “but Serena was afraid the truth would hurt you. She begged me to keep it hidden.”
“Honestly? You’re great. Out of all the family heirs, you’re the most suitable woman to marry—obedient, poised, no trouble. I’d already made up my mind to spend my life with you.”
He looked at Serena.
“But the night we got engaged, Serena tried to kill herself.”
Behind him, Serena let out a small sob and shrank into his chest.
Adrian wrapped his arms around her. “I realized I still couldn’t let her go.”
He turned back to me. “Whatever we had—it’s over.”
I stood there, the cold seeping all the way through me.
Three years ago.
They faked their deaths. I was left alone with four empty coffins. I knelt in the rain until my knees were raw and bleeding. I slit my wrists. I lost my unborn child. I got cancer. And now they’re telling me—
All of it was a lie.
From beginning to end, I was the one kept in the dark. All the suffering I endured—the depression, the insomnia, the miscarriage, the cancer—what was it? Some kind of joke?
I pushed open the estate’s iron gate and walked inside.
The villa door wasn’t locked. Lights were on in the living room. The moment I pushed the door open, I heard laughter.
My mother—who was supposed to have died in that explosion three years ago—was laughing as she pulled Lena onto her lap. She looked older than before, more lines around her eyes, but the smile was the same.
My father sat on the sofa, holding one of Lena’s toys, his face soft with affection.
My brother Damian—was making funny faces at Lena.
My whole family. Together. Like a picture-perfect portrait.
Then someone mentioned my name. My mother hesitated, and her voice dropped low. “What we did three years ago… it was too cruel. Vivienne thinks we’re all dead. These past few years must’ve been absolute hell for her.”
My father set down the toy. His tone was heavy. “We’ll make it up to her. From now on.”
Damian’s eyes were rimmed red as he placed Serena’s hand into Adrian’s.
“Serena’s parents died saving our dad.” His voice cracked. “I raised her like my own flesh and blood. For her sake, I even deceived my real sister. I just hope Adrian never betrays her.”
I stood there like a ghost. In the place I used to call home. Watching all of them—my mother, my father, my brother, my former fiancé—circle around another woman. Acting out some perfect family drama. Even when I got that cancer diagnosis in my hands, I didn’t feel this level of hopelessness.
So the funeral was real after all.
The only difference was—
They weren’t the ones buried.
I was.
