The Funeral Before Sunset
Chapter 01 - The Funeral Before Sunset
The Hartwell mansion had never been silent until the day Amelia Hart was laid inside an open casket beneath its crystal chandelier.
Only twelve hours earlier, Amelia had collapsed in the library after drinking tea with her mother-in-law, Beatrice Hart. The family’s private physician declared her dead before dawn. By afternoon, Beatrice had arranged a private funeral and ordered the gates locked against reporters.
Ethan Hart sat beside the casket, holding Amelia’s cold hand between both of his. He had not changed out of the gray suit he wore to the hospital. Every few seconds, his thumb moved across her wedding ring as if the familiar motion might bring her back.
Behind him, Beatrice stood in a severe black dress, composed while the rest of the room mourned.
“The service must end before sunset,” she whispered. “Then you will sign the estate papers.”
Ethan looked up. “My wife is lying here, and you are talking about documents?”
“Amelia owned forty-one percent of Hartwell Holdings. Without her signature, the company will fall into court supervision. She would not want that.”
Ethan turned back to the casket. Amelia had spent the last month reviewing missing money from the company’s housing foundation. The night before she died, she sent him one message: I finally know who moved the funds. Meet me in the library.
He arrived ten minutes too late.
The minister began the final prayer. Two attendants stepped forward to close the lid, but Ethan tightened his grip on Amelia’s fingers.
“Wait.”
A young man in a navy suit pushed through the line of mourners. He was pale, breathing hard, and carrying a stamped legal document.
Beatrice’s face changed the moment she saw him.
“Remove that man,” she ordered.
“My name is Lucas Gray,” he announced. “I represent Amelia’s late father’s estate. This funeral cannot continue.”
He raised the paper so everyone could see the court seal. It was an emergency order requiring an independent examination of Amelia’s body and freezing every Hartwell account connected to the foundation.
Beatrice moved toward him. “You have no idea what you are interrupting.”
Lucas pulled out his phone.
“I know exactly what I’m interrupting,” he said. “Amelia sent me a video three minutes before she collapsed.”
He pressed play.
On the screen, Amelia stood alive in the library, confronting Beatrice while Ethan watched from the doorway.
May you like
Then Amelia said five words that emptied every face in the room of color:
“If anything happens to me, she did it.”
