Buried Without His Regret Chapter 03
The car sped off, leaving Mom and Nicholas’ cries far behind.
In a luxurious lounge backstage at the awards ceremony, Evangeline sat on a plush couch, an ice pack resting on her ankle.
Frederick pushed the door open, and the anger on his face was instantly replaced with concern.
He walked over quickly, dropped to one knee, and carefully lifted her foot into his hands.
“How did you manage to hurt yourself like this?” he asked softly, his voice gentler than anything I had ever heard from him.
Evangeline’s eyes reddened, and tears fell almost on cue.
“I’m sorry, Freddie… I’m not insisting on Shanny’s original painting. It’s just that this award means so much to me, and I don’t want to disappoint you.”
He gently massaged her ankle as if he were handling something priceless.
“I know. Don’t overthink it. I’ll make Shannon hand it over.”
He looked nothing like the man who had just ground my ashes into the floor.
Evangeline leaned into his arms and spoke carefully, testing the waters. “Is Shanny still mad at me? I really didn’t mean for any of that to happen back then…”
Frederick let out a cold laugh, his eyes filled with disdain. “She thinks she’s the one wronged? She copied your work. That’s a fact. What right does she have to be upset?
“I haven’t even settled things with her yet. She’s been pretending to be dead for three years, and I’ve been a joke because of it the entire time!”
Out of my sight, the corner of Evangeline’s lips curled into a satisfied smile.
She looked up at him with tearful eyes, her voice soft and fragile. “I-if she really were dead, would you be sad?”
Frederick’s hands paused.
He fell silent for a moment, then forced out a twisted smile.
“She’s not dead.
“She loves me too much to actually go through with it.
“As long as she cuts ties with that man and comes back to apologize, I might still forgive her.”
I let out a soft laugh as I floated above them. “But I’m already dead.
“I died the night you and Evangeline were celebrating.”
Just then, Kieran’s phone rang again.
After he answered, his face turned pale as he rushed over to Frederick.
“Mr. Mueller, we found it… We found a copy of Ms. Ortega’s official death certification and her cremation record!”
All the color drained from Frederick’s face.
He shoved Evangeline aside and stood up, about to rush out.
“Freddie, my foot hurts…” Evangeline grabbed his sleeve, crying.
For the first time, Frederick ignored her and shook her hand off.
The car sped back to that run-down neighborhood.
Nicholas was slumped against the wall, his face covered in blood, but his hand was tightly clutching a yellowed sheet of paper.
Kieran handed a stack of documents to Frederick, his voice trembling. “Mr. Mueller, this is the proof…”
Frederick reached out, but his hand stopped midair. He couldn’t bring himself to take them.
Evangeline, who had followed them in, snatched the papers first.
She glanced at them once, then burst into tears.
“Freddie, this has to be fake! Shanny went this far just to avoid helping you. She even forged a death certificate!
“How could she be so cruel?”
The flicker of doubt and fear in Frederick’s eyes vanished in an instant, replaced by overwhelming rage.
He stared at the death certificate like he wanted to burn a hole straight through it.
“Shannon! You’ve got some nerve!”