Four Empty Coffins, One Terminal Diagnosis Chapter 05
A fork clattered onto a plate.
Damian went rigid.
“Scam.” He grabbed his phone and roared into it. “What kind of sick scammer puts a death curse on my sister?”
Adrian set down his wine glass. His voice was calm. “Fake news.” But then his mind flashed to my
cancer diagnosis, and a sudden restlessness crept in.
Serena gently clasped his hand. “Maybe Vivienne is still upset. Maybe she’s pretending to be dead to get back at us. That’s fine. Let her blow off some steam.”
Adrian wasn’t looking at her. He was staring at his phone, focused on typing a message to Vivienne
Serena’s grip on his hand tightened. For a split second, jealousy twisted her face.
Why?
She was Adrian’s wife!
She and Adrian were childhood sweethearts. They’d grown up together.
Adrian had always loved her-always!
So why did he still feel something for Vivienne? Why, even after three years, couldn’t he let her go?
His phone buzzed again. This time it was an official text from the hospital system.
[Body Identification Notice: Vivienne Vale, Female, 26. Time of death: April 17, 2026, 23:33. Location: Morgue Cold Storage Unit #3. Attachment: Pathology Report Summary-Stage IV Gastric Cancer, Widespread Metastasis. Cause of Death: Multiple Organ Failure.]
Adrian shot to his feet. His face went ashen. His chair toppled backward. He gave one command. “Get to the hospital.”
Thirty minutes later, the Vale family’s convoy pulled up.
“She won’t be there,” Damian told Adrian. “You know Vivienne. She’s been pulling stunts since we
were kids. She used to fake sick to get out of school. I caught her a few times.”
But the doctor was already waiting for them at the morgue entrance. “Mr. Bellandi. Mr. Vale, Mrs Vale, sir. My condolences.”
“Where is she?” Damian demanded.
The doctor pushed open the morgue door.
Cold air hit them.
[Unit #3 was in the second slot on the left. The door was closed. A label was attached to it. Vivienne
Vale. DOB: 04/12/2000 – DOD: 04/17/2026. Time of Death: 23:33]
Damian let out a sharp laugh. “The body’s fake. Has to be.”
He yanked the drawer open. A body lay inside, draped in a white sheet. A metal tag hung from the
ankle. The number matched the label.
Damian’s hand froze midair.
“Fake,” he said. “It’s a fake. She paid off the hospital.”
Damian pulled back the sheet.
The only sound left in that morgue was breathing.
Vivienne lay there.
She didn’t look like the Vivienne from three years ago-the one who’d smiled like sunlight at her
engagement party.
Her cheeks were hollowed out. Her lips were gray. Deep purple bruising ringed her eye sockets. Most of her hair was gone. She was thin as a skeleton.
Damian’s hands started shaking. “Vivienne.” He touched her fingers. They were ice-cold.
“Vivienne, wake up.” He was calling to her.
Evelyn screamed and collapsed. Gideon tried to catch her but his legs gave out. They both slid to the floor together.
“No… Vivienne…” Evelyn cried her daughter’s name.
Adrian was the last to approach. He looked down at her.
“Where’s your hair?” His voice was raw. “You used to treasure your hair more than anything.”
The only answer was the hum of the refrigeration unit.
Damian dropped to his knees. “How is this real? How? She had cancer… she wasn’t lying… God, what did we do?”
“We let her think we were dead for three goddamn years…. then we shoved her around, called her a liar, refused to believe she was actually sick… How much do you think she hates us?”
Evelyn’s sobs were ragged, her eyes swollen beyond recognition as she stared at Vivienne’s emaciated frame. Her fingers trembled as she reached out.
“Vivienne… this is all Mom’s fault… I never should’ve lied to you. These three years/must’ve been
torture. Mom is so sorry. Mom’s begging you please, come back. I was wrong. I’d give you my life
in a heartbeat…”
Evelyn went hysterical, pounding her fists against her own head. Gideon stopped her, tears streaming down his face. “How is this your fault? We never meant for this to happen…”
Then his red-rimmed eyes snapped to Adrian. Pure fury filled them. “You. You did this. If you hadn’t betrayed Vivienne, if you hadn’t cheated on her, she wouldn’t have suffered for so long. She wouldn’t have gotten cancer!”
He launched himself forward and drove his fist straight into Adrian’s face.
It was a blow fueled by every ounce of rage he had. Adrian crashed to the floor, blood spilling from
the corner of his mouth.
“Adrian!” Serena shrieked and threw herself over him, frantic as she checked his injuries.
But Adrian’s eyes were hollow. Dead. “It’s my fault… I killed Vivienne…”
A dark fury surged through Serena. Her nails dug deep into Adrian’s wrist. “Her dying of cancer has nothing to do with you! Vivienne is gone, so who exactly are you putting on this show for? I’m your wife! Or have you forgotten-Vivienne pushed Lena down the stairs! She nearly crippled our daughter!”
Silence. The dead kind.
Then a small, clear, uneasy voice drifted from the morgue entrance.
“Mommy and Daddy shouldn’t fight…”
Everyone spun around.
Lena-the girl who was supposed to be in a wheelchair-stood in the doorway.
Her legs were straight. Solid. There wasn’t the faintest sign of injury.
