My husband forbade me from attending my mother-in-law’s funeral and shouted, “She d:ie:d hating you, so don’t you dare show up.” I didn’t argue. I waited 20 minutes, grabbed my keys, and drove to her house alone. When I rang the doorbell, the supposedly dead woman opened the door holding a cup of coffee… and that was when we discovered who was actually being buried.

Nora felt a freezing chill run down her spine. “How much money did you transfer to him?”

Miriam uttered a staggering figure that caused Nora to stop breathing for a long moment.

It was more than enough money to cover several years of the medical treatments Brandon had claimed to be financing.

“I have been paying for nearly all our household living expenses on my own, and I even asked my parents for financial aid,” Nora confessed emotionally.

Miriam pressed her lips together tightly. “That boy was intentionally pitting the two of us against each other.”

Nora quickly pulled her smartphone out of her pocket to dial Brandon’s number, but before she could press the call button, an Instagram alert flashed across her screen.

Brandon Salgado has started a live broadcast.

The two women stared down at the illuminated screen in total silence.

Nora tapped the notification to open the video feed.

Brandon appeared on screen dressed in his black suit, standing dramatically beside a dark coffin adorned with elegant white lilies. Dozens of grieving people surrounded him in the chapel as he displayed a distraught face, while an elderly woman wrapped her arms around him as he wept openly.

“Now that is clearly a real funeral,” Miriam whispered in shock.

“It is a funeral, but it is certainly not yours,” Nora replied carefully.

In the live comment section, a user typed out the full address of a well-known funeral home located in Worthington. Nora read the location out loud, and Miriam immediately grabbed her handbag off the kitchen counter.

“Let us go right now,” Miriam commanded firmly.

During the drive across town, the scattered puzzle pieces began to assemble themselves in a horrifying manner.

Miriam revealed that Brandon had stopped bringing Nora over for weekend visits by claiming his wife held a deep hatred for his family. He had also instructed his mother never to call Nora directly because she supposedly became extremely aggressive whenever anyone mentioned financial matters.

Nora explained her side, detailing how Brandon had covered up his constant absences for months by claiming he was working overtime shifts, driving between clinics, and caring for his dying mother.