The rain had stopped, but the tension clung to the cemetery like smoke after a fire. The soil above the graves was still fresh, dark and raw, its scent mixing with grief that refused to settle. Evelyn thought the worst was over.She was wrong.As she helped her mother to her feet, footsteps approached. Not soft. Not hesitant.A group of her father's relatives stood before them, faces rigid, eyes stripped of sympathy. At their front was Beatrice Hart, leaning heavily on a cane she did not truly need, her gaze sharp and unyielding.
She looked at Margaret and scoffed.
"You should not be standing here," Beatrice said coldly. "This ground belongs to our bloodline. Not you."
Evelyn stiffened. "Grandma, please"
"Do not call me that," Beatrice snapped. "A grandmother mourns her grandchildren. Mine are in the ground because of her."
Margaret flinched as if struck.
Regina stepped forward, her voice loud, venomous. "You ruined my brother's life. Look around you. Three coffins. Three graves. This is what you brought upon him."
"That's enough," Evelyn said sharply. "Stop blaming my mother for things she didn't do."
"Shut your mouth," Regina barked. "You're just like her. Ungrateful. Disrespectful. A curse."
Margaret swayed. Evelyn tightened her grip around her.
Desmond let out a dry laugh. "My brother had a future. A company. Influence. Everything collapsed the moment he married you."
Beatrice pressed a trembling hand to her chest, her voice thick with accusation. "My son was full of light. When he brought you home, Margaret, everything dimmed. We warned him. He refused to listen."
"I loved him," Margaret whispered. "I stood by him. I gave him everything I had."
"No," Beatrice shouted. "You dragged him down. And now you've dragged his children into the grave."
Her sobs broke out suddenly, loud and dramatic.
Desmond leaned closer, his voice low and deliberate. "My brother was CEO of Hart and Company. Do you think we will allow you to destroy that legacy too?"
Evelyn's chest tightened. "What are you saying?"
Regina crossed her arms. "From today, you are no longer part of this family."
Desmond produced a folded document. "You will vacate the family house within seven days."
Margaret gasped. "That house is my home."
"It is ancestral property," Regina replied coolly. "You have no claim."
"My father bought that house," Evelyn said.
"With family funds," Beatrice spat. "And since he is no longer alive to protect you, everything returns to us."
"And the company?" Evelyn asked quietly.
"Frozen," Desmond replied. "The board has been informed. All accounts are blocked. Margaret will receive nothing."
Margaret stumbled backward. "You would do this to his memory? To his children?"
Regina scoffed. "Children? Where are they now?"
Evelyn felt something snap.
"Enough," she said, her voice carrying across the cemetery.
"You despised my mother because she was an orphan. Because she had no name you respected. But my father loved her. And no amount of cruelty will erase that."
Desmond smiled faintly. "Bold words. Let's see how long they last when reality sets in."
Regina stepped forward and shoved Evelyn's shoulder. "You should have died in that accident too."
The air went still.
Margaret let out a broken cry. "How could you say that?"
Desmond shrugged. "It would have been simpler."
Evelyn moved before she could think. Rage surged through her, sharp and uncontrollable. She lunged forward, but her mother grabbed her arm.
"Not today," Margaret whispered. "Please."
Beatrice lifted her chin. "Violent tendencies. Just like her mother."
A mourner tried to intervene, but Regina waved them away. "We're done."
One by one, they turned and walked off, heads high, leaving behind silence thick with humiliation.
Evelyn held her mother as they sank onto the wet grass, grief and fury tearing through them until their voices broke.
By the time they stood again, the sun was setting, painting the sky with colors that felt cruelly out of place.