The Report on My Groom's Death

1
When my husband was reported dead, I didn't shed a tear. Calmly, I revoked his shares and filed the death certificate.
My composure came from having lived this before.
In my past life, my billionaire father—fearing I’d be mistreated in another family—adopted three orphaned boys to raise as my potential husbands, ensuring the Thorne fortune stayed with us. I married the most brilliant one, Jared Vance, but three days into our honeymoon, he died of a "sudden heart attack."
Heartbroken, I let his brothers Leo and Lucas convince me never to remarry. I lived as a widow until eighty, when I returned to Provence, where Jared and I had fallen in love. There, I saw him—alive and well, sixty years after his supposed death.
He was with Nina, my long-lost nanny, surrounded by their children and grandchildren, a portrait of happiness. The shock of the lie that was my life struck me like a physical blow. Darkness fell, and I died of a stroke.
When I opened my eyes, I was back on the day his death was announced.
This time, I wondered how a man with no name or identity planned to survive.
…
“Annelise, Jared spent his short life by your side. He was only up on that mountain in the pouring rain to scout a location for your project. Now that he’s gone, you can’t just marry someone else. It would break his heart.”
“And his shares… you should transfer them to us. We’ll help you protect everything Jared left behind.”
The familiar voices were a sickening echo from the past. I sat bolt upright in bed. I was back. Back to the day Jared faked his death to elope with his lover.
“Where’s Nina?” I asked, my voice cold and clear.
The question caught Leo and Lucas completely off guard. They stared at me, dumbfounded.
“Jared is dead, and the first thing you ask about is a nanny?” Lucas sputtered, his face flushing with anger. “Is that all we are to you? Disposable?”
Seeing their manufactured outrage, a slow, cruel smile spread across my face.
“If Jared Vance is dead, then the first order of business is to revoke the shares transferred to his name.” I swung my legs out of bed. “Jessica,” I called to my assistant, “get the car. We’re going to the city records office. We need to nullify his identity and get a death certificate.”
My assistant scrambled to follow. Leo and Lucas were frozen in place, their minds reeling.
“Annelise, he’s barely cold in the ground! How can you be so heartless? You should be giving his assets to us!” Leo shouted, his eyes turning bloodshot with rage.
I didn't even slow down.
In my last life, the news of Jared’s death had made me collapse. I’d vowed to be a widow forever. His shares, at their subtle suggestion, were transferred to them. It was only after seeing the happy family in Provence that I’d put the pieces together. A frantic call to my accountants revealed the truth: for sixty years, those two had been using the dividends from my shares to send Jared five million dollars a month, funding his idyllic life abroad with our nanny.
I had spent a lifetime weaving a shroud for another woman to wear. This time, the news of his death was the best gift I could have asked for.
By the time we reached the records office, I had a message from corporate. The 30% stake in Jared’s name had been fully reclaimed. It was all mine again.
I nodded in satisfaction and handed the documents to the clerk. “These are the papers for my late husband, Jared Vance. I need to have his legal identity voided.”
The clerk glanced at the photo on the ID, her expression sympathetic. “So young. An Ivy League graduate, married into the Thorne family… such a terrible shame.”
She began typing, her fingers flying across the keyboard. She pulled out the official stamp, ready to make it final. Just as she was about to bring it down, Leo and Lucas burst through the doors.
“Don’t stamp that!”
The beads of sweat dotting their foreheads almost made me feel a pang of something… pity, maybe. I had chosen Jared, yes, but I had never mistreated them. They had the same cars, the same allowances, the same luxuries. Everything but the title of husband. And yet, they had conspired together from the very beginning to deceive me for sixty long years.
While they were wiring money to Jared so he could take care of Nina, I was investing in their business ventures, hoping they would build lives of their own.
While they were video-chatting with their long-lost “brother,” I, the heiress to a global empire, was in the kitchen learning to cook their favorite meals.
While they were flying to “business meetings” that were actually family reunions, I was secretly acquiring the gaming company they loved, planning it as a surprise gift.
I treated them like family. They treated me like a fool.
It was time for a reminder. Without the Thorne name, they were nothing but the orphans I had plucked from obscurity.
“Leo. Lucas.” My voice was quiet but laced with steel. “When you speak to me, you will use a respectful tone.”
Leo’s jaw dropped, his eyes blazing. “We thought of you as our closest family! How can you talk to us like that?”
Lucas’s brow was furrowed in confusion. “Annelise, what’s gotten into you? Is Jared’s death hitting you this hard?”
A humorless smile touched my lips. I let the gentle facade I’d always shown them crumble, replaced by the cool authority of the Thorne heiress. “My state of mind is my business. Do I need to explain myself to you?”
Their faces were a picture of disbelief. I saw their hands clench, nails digging into their palms. But finally, they bowed their heads in submission.
“Yes, Miss Thorne,” Leo mumbled. “We were just… emotional, hearing the news about Jared…”
I had no interest in their excuses. I waved a dismissive hand. “Stamp it,” I told the clerk.
To make his escape convincing, Jared had procured a forged death certificate from a corrupt doctor. The clerk checked it, found it in order, and brought the heavy stamp down with a resounding thud.
“My condolences for your loss, Miss Thorne. Here is the certificate.”
I took it without a word, slipping it into my purse. As I turned to leave, I heard Leo’s phone vibrate violently. He shot me a nervous glance before scurrying into a corner to answer. His voice was low, but my hearing had always been sharp.
“How was I supposed to know the bitch would be so ruthless?”
“What do you mean your identity was flagged? You’re stuck at the gate? You can’t board the plane?”
“Okay, don’t panic. We’ll figure something out. Just make sure you take care of Nina. Don’t let anything happen to her.”
Their faces were grim when they walked back over to me. Before they could speak, I cut them off.
“I want you to issue a press release. Announce that my husband is dead, and I am officially looking for a new one.”
Their eyes practically bulged out of their heads.
“Annelise, Jared is barely gone and you’re already looking for a replacement? Are you trying to spit on his grave?” Lucas hissed.
“You were born with a silver spoon, but your character isn't worth half as much as our nanny's! Do you really think anyone besides us would ever marry you?” Leo sneered.
I suppressed a wave of disgust. “My word is law in this house. Now go and do it.”
They exchanged a look of pure contempt. “If this is your pathetic attempt to make us jealous, to make us beg you to choose one of us, then I’m sorry to disappoint you,” Leo said. “In our eyes, you’re not worth one of Nina’s fingernails.”
“Fine, we’ll put out the announcement,” Lucas added with a malicious glint in his eye. “Don’t come crying to us when you end up alone.”
My father summoned me home as soon as he heard. The brothers tried to follow, but I stopped them with a raised hand. “This is Thorne family business. It has nothing to do with you.” Their faces tightened in anger, and they spun on their heels and left.
My father sighed, his face etched with worry. “Annelise, you loved Jared so much. Are you really ready to move on?”
When I nodded, he pulled an envelope from his desk drawer. “If you’re sure, then I have someone in mind.”
I accepted without even looking. “If you approve of him, Father, I’m sure he’s wonderful. I’ll marry him.”
A faint smile touched his tired face. He said he would call Adrian Sinclair and tell him to come back to the country at once, to be my right-hand man.
At the sound of that name, my heart began to hammer against my ribs. The man my father had chosen for me… it was him.
Dad said Adrian had urgent business to attend to but could be back within a week. I pushed down the wild surge of excitement and gave myself a week of peace, relaxing at home. Leo and Lucas left me alone, no doubt scheming. I was glad for the quiet.
The day Adrian was due to arrive, I was just about to leave for the airport when I saw him. My dead husband, Jared, standing at the gates of my villa. The designer clothes I’d bought him were gone, replaced by a cheap t-shirt. The confident, charismatic man I’d married looked utterly ordinary.
Next to him stood Nina, her face a mask of grievance, while Leo and Lucas fussed over her. So, the great escape had failed. They had come crawling back.
I took a deep breath and walked towards them. “Jared,” I said, my voice devoid of emotion. “You’re not dead.”
Before he could answer, Nina stepped in front of him protectively. “Miss Thorne, how can you say something so cruel? He’s your husband! Are you happy that he almost died?”
I raised an eyebrow at the woman who, in another life, had lived like a queen on my money. “And who the hell are you to lecture me?”
Nina flushed and lowered her head. Jared immediately shielded her. “This woman saved my life. And you are? Why are you being so rude to my savior?”
Leo and Lucas jumped in, a flurry of explanations. Jared had fallen from a cliff while scouting for me. He had survived, but hit his head and lost his memory. Nina had found him. She was no longer just a nanny; she was a hero, a savior to the entire family.
After the performance, Nina pushed her handbag into Jared’s hands and lifted her chin at me. “I’m tired. I expect you to arrange a room for me, Miss Thorne. It’s the least you can do for the woman who saved your husband.”
Jared started to lead her towards the house, but I snapped my fingers. The butler immediately shut and locked the main doors.
Jared spun around, his eyes flashing with anger. “They told me you’re my wife. That makes my savior your savior. How dare you treat her with such disrespect!”
I let out a soft laugh. The performance was flawless. If I hadn’t lived through this once before, I might have actually believed them and welcomed Nina as a guest of honor.
“You are my husband, Jared, that much is true. But in this house, I am the only master.” I looked him dead in the eye. “Get the car. You’re driving me to the airport. That’s an order.”
Fire burned in his eyes, but Nina tugged gently on his sleeve, giving a slight shake of her head. After a tense silence, Jared bowed his proud head and opened the front passenger door.
Nina slid in immediately. “I’m so sorry, Miss Thorne. Jared has only just woken up, you see. As the one who saved him, I’m very worried about his condition.” She gave me a sickly sweet smile. “You’re a lady of status. I’m sure you don’t mind, do you?”
Jared didn't even look at me. He leaned in, buckled Nina’s seatbelt, and then walked around to the driver's side. “Get in if you’re coming,” he said, his tone flat and cold.
I saw the triumphant smirk on Nina's face. I just smiled back and slipped into the back seat. They were trying to establish dominance, to put me in my place. They had no idea I was on my way to pick up my new husband.
Thinking of Adrian, I sighed. In my past life, after I’d decided to remain a widow, he had never married either. He had stayed by my side, a silent, unacknowledged guardian for decades. Now, after all this time, he was the one my father had chosen for me.
A nervous flutter started in my stomach. Suddenly, the car jolted violently. I heard Jared cry out as he wrenched the steering wheel, deliberately turning our side of the car directly into the path of an out-of-control truck.
A blinding bolt of pain shot through me. The first words out of Jared’s mouth were, “Nina, are you okay?”
Nina was in the passenger seat, the safest position in the car. Of course she was okay!
I tried to reach for my phone to call for help, but it had been thrown somewhere in the wreck. Fighting through the agony, I saw that my leg was pinned by the crushed frame of the seat. An artery was severed. Blood, and life, was pouring out of me.
Black spots danced in my vision. I pressed my hand against the wound, praying for help to arrive quickly. When the first responders finally got there, Jared leaned out of his broken window and screamed at them.
“The person in the back is fine! Don’t worry about her! Get the passenger out first!”
My outstretched hand froze. His words were a knife twisting in my heart. He knew my life was draining away, but he couldn’t even be bothered to pretend anymore. In the front, Nina was wailing about how much she hurt, demanding the paramedics break her door down first. Jared, tears streaming down his face, held her tight, ignoring the injuries on his own arm.
Seeing the scene, one of the paramedics bypassed them completely, smashed the rear window, and carefully pulled me free.
He ignored Jared’s furious protests, his face grim. “You two can scream, which means you’re not in immediate danger,” he said flatly. “I know you want to save your loved one, sir, but we can’t let a critically injured person bleed to death in the back seat.”
So even a stranger could see it. How could I have been so blind?
I woke up in a hospital room. Leo and Lucas were huddled by my bed, whispering.
“The old man doesn’t know yet. If he finds out Jared crashed the car with her in it, we’re all finished.”
“Relax. Jared’s giving blood for Nina right now. When Annelise wakes up, we’ll make her tell her father that she was driving. Not only will we be in the clear, but we can squeeze them for enough money to send Nina abroad to study.”
My entire body ached, but my heart ached more. Just then, Jared rushed in.
“Is she still out? Good. We need to drug her now. We have to transplant the skin from her face to Nina’s.”
Leo and Lucas stared at him in horror. “What happened to Nina? Why does she need a skin graft?!”
“She’s in the ER, I couldn’t see her clearly. All I heard was her crying that her skin was ruined, that she needed a transplant.”
“If it’s for Nina, then let’s move fast,” Lucas said, his voice hardening. “I can forge Annelise’s signature. I’ll sign the consent form. This is milk laced with sleeping pills. You two hold her down.”
A chilling numbness spread through me, colder than any drug. My eyes flew open and I lunged for the nurse's call button.
Jared was faster. He slammed his hand down on mine, his face a mask of dark fury. “Annelise, Nina’s looks are the most important thing to her. You have to help her this time.”
Leo was already scribbling my name on the consent form. Lucas grabbed the drugged milk and forced it towards my mouth.
“Annelise, why did you have to wake up now?” he hissed. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just lie there and be a good little donor for Nina?”
I tried to fight, but I was weak, injured, and trapped in a full-body cast. They held me down, their eyes cold and merciless, forcing the liquid down my throat. They clamped a hand over my mouth to stifle any screams.
My mind grew heavy, my consciousness a swirling fog.
Just as I was about to slip into darkness, the hospital room door was kicked open with a deafening crash.

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