Buried Without His Regret Chapter 01
When I was driven to jump into the ocean after being falsely accused of plagiarism, my CEO husband, Frederick Mueller, was busy throwing a lavish, headline‑making wedding with Evangeline Robertson, the very woman who had stolen my work.
In my final moments, I laid out all the evidence before him and confronted him in public, my eyes brimming with tears.
He blamed me for making a big deal out of nothing and told me to drop it so his true love’s reputation wouldn’t be damaged.
Three years later, she needed the original drawing of my painting for her exhibition.
Only then did Frederick remember me and call home, telling the housemaid to pass along the message.
The maid sounded confused. “Ms. Ortega left after the plagiarism scandal. She hasn’t come back in three years.”
He flew into a rage over how “unreasonable” I was and personally called me.
My mom answered.
The moment she heard my name, her voice broke.
“Frederick, my daughter has been dead for three years.”
***
The old wooden door was kicked open from the outside.
Frederick, in an expensive suit, stood in the doorway, oozing a bone-chilling hostility.
I floated in midair, my gaze fixed coldly on him, the man I once loved with everything I had.
He looked as arrogant and condescending as ever, but with a new, sharper edge of malice in his eyes.
An elderly woman shuffled out, her hair gray, clutching a box tightly in her arms.
It was Mom.
It had only been three years. How had she aged this much?
Frederick clearly didn’t recognize his now haggard, worn-down mother-in-law.
He snapped impatiently, “Where’s Shannon? Tell her to come out here!
“Evie has an awards ceremony this afternoon. She needs the original drawing of ‘Deep Sea’ right now. If she misses her chance because of this, I won’t let Shannon off!”
Mom’s cloudy eyes were filled with confusion. She looked at him, then down at the box in her arms, murmuring, “Shanny… she is in here.”
Only then did Frederick’s gaze land on the black wooden box.
A photo was embedded in it. The girl in the picture had lifeless, empty eyes.
It was my memorial photo.
“Shannon is really dead?” Frederick demanded, his voice laced with irritated disbelief.
He let out a cold scoff, snatched the urn from Mom’s arms, then raised it high and slammed it hard onto the ground.
“No!” I screamed and tried to stop him, but my hands passed right through him.
Mom let out a shriek and threw herself forward, trying to grab the urn.
It still hit the ground. Gray-white ashes scattered everywhere.
“Shanny…”
Mom dropped to her knees like a child who had lost her most precious thing.
With trembling, wrinkled hands, she tried to gather the ashes back together as tears fell heavily into them.
Frederick stepped forward and ground his shoe into the ashes with deliberate cruelty.
“Dead? How could Shannon be dead?”
He looked down at Mom, his voice dripping with mockery.
“A woman who couldn’t even bring herself to end it all after being cursed online for three years wouldn’t just die like that.
“She’s hiding somewhere. She doesn’t want to give Evie the original drawing, so she’s using this stupid urn to scare me!”
Mom’s hands trembled even harder. She grabbed his pant leg in a frenzy, her bony fingers clutching the fabric in a death grip.
“Stay away from my daughter… Please… Leave my Shanny alone…”
“Get off me!” Frederick kicked her away.
Mom’s frail body slammed into the wall behind her. Her forehead split open, blood seeping out instantly.
Ignoring the pain, she crawled back and hugged the ashes tightly so Frederick couldn’t touch them again.
“Tell me the truth! Did Shannon run off with some other man?”
Frederick’s patience was gone. He bent down and grabbed Mom by the collar.
“Lie again, and everyone in your family will pay dearly!”
Looking at his snarling face, I felt the icy waters from three years ago rushing back to drown me.
“You animal! Let go of my mom!”
A furious shout came from inside. The sound of wheels rolling closer followed.
My younger brother, Nicholas Ortega, rushed out in his wheelchair, blocking Mom.
He couldn’t do anything to Frederick because his legs were useless, but hatred burned intensely in his eyes.
“Frederick, wasn’t it enough that you drove my sister to her death? Now you’re here to desecrate her ashes too?”
Frederick met Nicholas’s gaze with a dismissive scoff, as though Nicholas were nothing more than a bug beneath his boot.
He lifted his foot and kicked the front wheel of the chair.
The wheelchair lost its balance and tipped sharply to one side.
Nicholas crashed hard to the ground along with it, and Mom cried out as she rushed to help him.
“She jumped into the ocean herself, and now she’s hiding somewhere. What does that have to do with me?
“A woman with no shame or dignity wouldn’t choose to die.”
Frederick brushed off his pants as if there were dust on them, his words colder than the wind outside.
“I haven’t even blamed her for dragging Evie into three years of public doubt!
“Tell Shannon to hand over the original drawing of ‘Deep Sea’ now, or I’ll tear this dump apart today!”
I looked at Nicholas and Mom lying on the ground, my soul trembling with fury.
This was the man I had loved for ten years, the one I gave up everything for.
“Frederick! Go to the U.S. Coast Guard and check the Coast Guard records from three years ago! Check the autopsy report! My sister is really dead! She died that very night, right after you spoke to her on the phone!”