Chapter 6 - Confrontation at the Estate Reception
Nora felt the cold air scrape harshly against her throat.
She did not shed a single tear or scream out in anger, choosing instead to watch Brandon from a distance as if he were a complete stranger acting out a tragic role. He was embracing Jocelyn’s relatives and accepting words of comfort with chilling ease.
Miriam was the first of the two women to break the silence. “I want to know exactly how far this deception went.”
Nora briefly considered confronting him right beside the coffin, but she held herself back. If Brandon was capable of faking his own mother’s death, there was undoubtedly a much deeper scheme taking place.
Following the chapel service, Brandon stepped inside a luxury vehicle owned by Jocelyn’s parents. Nora and Miriam followed the car discreetly until it pulled up to a grand estate in New Albany, where family and friends were gathering for a private reception.
They slipped inside the estate by mingling silently with the incoming crowd.
Framed photographs of Jocelyn were displayed throughout the spacious living room, and Brandon was featured prominently in many of them, sharing romantic dinners, smiling on tropical beaches, and cutting a wedding cake.
Then Nora spotted a photograph on the mantelpiece that made her stomach churn violently, showing Jocelyn in a white lace gown alongside Brandon in a dark blue suit standing before a civil justice official.
It was an official wedding ceremony.
This was not a secret affair, but an entirely separate marriage.
Nora leaned against the nearby wall to steady her balance.
A female guest walked up to them carrying a drink. “Were you ladies close friends of Jocelyn?”
“We were acquainted with Brandon,” Nora answered carefully.
“Then you know how deeply he cared for her, dropping everything in his life to tend to her needs when she became sick,” the guest remarked warmly.
Nora felt a sharp surge of anger because that was the exact excuse Brandon used whenever he returned home late, insisting he was working a second job before rushing to care for his dying mother.
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The guest continued speaking openly. “Jocelyn’s parents are absolutely heartbroken because she was their only child, and their entire family real estate company was meant to be passed down to her.”
Miriam raised her eyes as the true motive finally became crystal clear.
