The Unearthed Secret

The sudden earthquake tore my wife's grave wide open.

I brought a team to relocate her remains, but when the casket was pried open, I found two bodies inside.

Their cold, skeletal hands were intertwined, each wearing a matching couple's ring.

It was only then that I realized my wife, who had been gone for ten years, had been buried with her secret lover all along.

Fuming with rage, I confronted my daughter, who had organized the funeral.

She didn't look guilty. Instead, she yelled back at me.

"This was Mom's dying wish!"

"She never loved you. She suffered every second she was with you. Why can't she be with the man she actually loved now that she's dead?"

I had raised her for decades. I paid for her Ivy League education and funded her startup.

Everything she had was because of me, yet she and her mother had played me for a fool for ten years.

1.

I stared at the two corpses huddled together in the casket. Those matching rings felt like a slap in the face.

The anger in my chest burned hotter than any fire.

My daughter, Yvonne, stood by the side, her voice cold and indifferent.

"Dad, Mom has been gone for so long. Is it really necessary to make a scene over this?"

I threw the bouquet of sunflowers in my hand into the mud.

I had brought them for Sienna. They were her favorite.

Ever since she died in that tragic accident, I could never let her go. I filled our garden with sunflowers just for her.

I even kept a daily journal, pouring out my grief and how much I missed her.

If it weren't for this earthquake, I would have gone to my own grave never knowing she was buried with her high school sweetheart, Arlo.

Yvonne had handled everything back then.

She told me I was too heartbroken to deal with the arrangements. She said she wanted to protect me from the stress.

I gave her half a million dollars to give her mother the most grand, beautiful send-off possible.

She kept me away from the planning process entirely.

Even on the day of the burial, she didn't let me see the casket lowered into the ground.

She claimed she was afraid I would collapse from the sorrow.

I thought she was being a devoted daughter. I thought she was looking out for me.

Now I know she and Sienna had teamed up to lie to me for a decade.

"Yvonne, you knew how much I loved your mother. I never even looked at another woman after she passed."

"How could you conspire with her to do this to me?"

"Did you ever think about my feelings? This is the ultimate betrayal!"

I glared at Yvonne. Her face was a carbon copy of Sienna's.

I had told her years ago that I wanted to be buried next to Sienna when my time came.

She had been vague back then, mumbling something about how burial plots were tight.

"Why would you want to be buried together? Don't you want to find someone new in the next life?" she had asked.

I thought she was just being immature. I didn't think twice about it.

Now it was clear. Arlo was already in my spot. There was no room for me.

Yvonne looked at me with pure annoyance.

"Dad, you're getting old. You're losing your mind."

"Betrayal is a physical thing. Mom didn't cheat while she was alive; she just chose to spend eternity with her first love."

"Not being with Arlo was her biggest regret. She was so miserable. Can't she have this one thing in death?"

My teeth chattered from pure rage.

The woman I loved for thirty years and the daughter I pampered for twenty had done this to me.

Suddenly, the sky opened up. A heavy rain started pouring down, soaking the bones in the open casket.

Yvonne panicked and started shouting at the workers to move the remains immediately.

2.

"Nobody move!"

I roared, my voice echoing through the muddy cemetery.

The workers froze in their tracks.

Yvonne turned to scream at me, but I beat her to it. I looked directly at the crew.

"Bury them back exactly as they are. We aren't moving them."

The earthquake had caused a landslide, and most of the graves in this sector were being relocated to a safer area.

I had already spent two hundred thousand dollars on a prime plot in a luxury cemetery for Sienna. I even had sunflowers planted around it.

I wanted her to have the best, even in the afterlife.

But she and Yvonne had made a mockery of my devotion.

No wonder Sienna insisted on seeing only Yvonne during her final breaths.

She was giving her instructions on how to smuggle her lover into her grave!

"Dad, have you lost it?"

Yvonne's eyes were wide with fury.

"This place is a wreck! Why would you leave Mom here in the mud?"

I clenched my fists and let out a cold, sharp laugh.

"Since your mother wanted to be with Arlo so badly, I'll grant her wish. They can stay here in the dirt together."

"As of today, she is no longer my wife."

For ten years, I had worked myself to the bone.

When Sienna died, Yvonne had just started her career. I put everything I had into helping her succeed.

I spent my nights grieving and my days building an empire for her.

Every time the pain became too much, I would come here and talk to Sienna's headstone for hours.

I remember how lonely those years were.

Now I find out her heart always belonged to someone else, and my own daughter was her accomplice.

All those years of hard work, and I was just raising a viper.

I loved her with everything I had, and she was dreaming of another man the whole time.

I couldn't swallow this bitterness.

If she didn't love me, why the hell did she marry me in the first place?

3.

"Dad, I can't believe how petty you're being."

"Mom just wanted to be with Arlo. Is that really worth all this drama?"

"I really misjudged you. I thought your love for her was unconditional."

"No wonder Mom never loved you. She only had eyes for Arlo."

Yvonne's voice got louder. She pulled out her phone and shoved a photo in my face.

"Look at this. Look how happy she was with Arlo."

"She never smiled like that with you. She finally gets to be with her soulmate, and you're acting like a monster!"

"You're going to leave her bones in a wasteland? How am I supposed to visit her?"

The photo showed Sienna in her thirties.

She was wearing a sundress, her face glowing with a radiant smile I had rarely seen. Arlo was standing beside her at the beach, his arm around her waist.

Yvonne was right. She never looked that happy with me.

But she was the one who pursued me. She was the one who insisted on marriage.

Everything she did, she did of her own will.

I didn't understand what I had done wrong to deserve this.

The rage peaked. I grabbed a heavy stone from the ground and slammed it down onto the tangled bones of Sienna and Arlo.

A sickening "crack" echoed through the rain. It was the sound of bone splintering.

My mind flashed back to our wedding day.

She had looked me in the eye and said, "Alistair, I'll love you forever. I'll be your best friend and your faithful wife until the end."

But later, she grew cold.

She was always away on "business trips," leaving me alone.

I thought it was just a midlife crisis or stress.

Now I knew. She never loved me. Our entire marriage was a performance.

"Alistair! You animal! What the hell are you doing?"

Yvonne screamed my name, dropping the "Dad" entirely.

I looked at her with pure disappointment.

I had sacrificed my youth to give her a life of luxury. I paved her way so she'd never have to struggle like I did.

And here she was, defending a stranger over her own father.

Before I could speak, she rushed forward and shoved me hard. I slipped on the wet mud and fell.

She pointed a finger at me, her face contorted with hate.

"I've never met anyone as cold-blooded as you. Mom did nothing wrong!"

"I hope you rot. I hope you go to hell!"

"Mom and Arlo will haunt you for the rest of your miserable life!"

I sat there in the mud, rain lashing against my face. Her words stung more than the cold.

The fire in my heart turned into a dull, aching throb. I could barely breathe.

My butler, Marcus, rushed over with an umbrella.

"Sir, please, don't let her get to you."

"You've worked so hard to mend your relationship with her."

He helped me up and pressed my blood pressure medication into my hand.

Through the rain, Yvonne's face looked like a blurry mask of malice.

Suddenly, my mind drifted back ten years.

4.

That was the year Yvonne had just come back from studying abroad in London.

We were supposed to go out for a fancy steak dinner to celebrate her homecoming.

I went to the airport to pick her up first.

Then, we went back to get Sienna, only to find her lying in a pool of blood in our foyer.

The police eventually caught the killer.

He confessed that I had outbid his family's company on a major contract, causing them to go bankrupt.

He hated me. He wanted to kill me, but I wasn't home, so he took his revenge on Sienna.

In business, winning contracts is just how the game is played.

But I never imagined it would cost my wife her life.

From that day on, Yvonne hated me. She blamed me for her mother's death.

I was consumed by guilt. I quit the front lines of the business and focused on teaching Yvonne the ropes.

I gave her the company. I gave her everything to make up for the tragedy.

Slowly, she seemed to forgive me. Our relationship finally started to heal. Or so I thought.

After taking my pills, I started to steady myself.

The rain hadn't let up. The casket was now a small pool of murky water and white fragments.

Yvonne was sobbing, her eyes bloodshot.

"Alistair, you're going to pay for this. You're going to die alone!" she hissed.

I closed my eyes. Even now, I couldn't bring myself to scream back at her.

I turned to Marcus. "Tell the workers to just dump the remains in a common grave somewhere. Anywhere."

"I'm going home."

Saying those words took every ounce of strength I had left.

I couldn't tell if the liquid on my face was rain or tears.

My heart felt like it had been shattered into a million pieces.

Yvonne kept screaming at me as I walked away, demanding I give her mother a proper burial.

I didn't look back. I got into the car and collapsed against the leather seat.

I had spent my whole life fighting for my family.

Now, I was old and sick, and I realized I had been living a lie.

When I got back to the manor, I went straight to the master bedroom.

A framed photo of Sienna and me on our wedding day sat on the nightstand.

I remembered how she squeezed my hand that day, promising a lifetime of happiness.

Yvonne said Sienna was the victim, but what about me?

I spent twenty-five years with a woman who despised me. I raised a daughter who wasn't mine in spirit.

The fury surged again. I grabbed the frame and smashed it against the wall.

Just then, Marcus walked in.

He looked hesitant, holding his phone tightly.

"If you have something to say, say it," I muttered.

He walked over and showed me a photo of a letter. The paper was yellowed, the ink faded, but I knew that handwriting anywhere. It was Sienna's.

"Sir, the workers found this hidden in a waterproof pouch under Arlo's remains. You need to see this."

5.

A cold dread washed over me.

I zoomed in on the photo and began to read.

"Arlo, my love, I miss you more every day. Since I married Alistair, I've felt nothing but disgust. Every time he touches me, I wish it were you."

"He won't give me a divorce. He's too obsessed with me."

"So, I've come up with a plan for us to be together forever."

"I've orchestrated my own death. I hired a man who lost everything because of Alistair's business. I'm paying his family a fortune to end my life."

"I told him to tell the police it was a revenge hit against Alistair."

"That way, Alistair will live in a prison of guilt for the rest of his life. He will give our daughter everything out of shame."

"Oh, you didn't know, did you? Our daughter is back from her studies. Her future is bright, all thanks to his money"

The phone slipped from my hand and hit the floor with a dull thud.

My mind went blank. The world felt like it was spinning.

The daughter I had raised for twenty years wasn't mine.

And Sienna's death wasn't a tragedyDit was a calculated move to secure a fortune for Arlo's child.

Marcus's eyes were red. He looked at me with pure pity.

"Sir, please don't let this break you."

"You're only sixty. You still have time. You can find someone who actually deserves you."

"No it can't be," I whispered.

I tried to think back. I had suspected Sienna once before because she was always traveling.

I hired a private investigator back then. They said she was working and staying alone in hotels.

I even secretly did a paternity test on Yvonne years ago.

The results said she was my biological daughter.

Could someone have planted that letter to mess with me?

My head was pounding. I told Marcus to get a sample of Yvonne's hair. We were doing another test, and this time, I'd oversee it myself.

Shortly after Marcus left, my son-in-law, Elias, walked in with my grandson, Hunter.

The boy ran up to me. "Grandpa! When are we going to the amusement park?"

I wasn't in the mood. "Not today, kiddo. Grandpa's tired."

Hunter pouted. "You're no fun. My other grandpa would have taken me."

I froze. I looked the boy in the eye.

"What other grandpa?"

Elias quickly stepped in, covering the boy's mouth with a nervous laugh.

"Dad, he's just talking nonsense. You know kids."

"Marcus told me you and Yvonne had a fight. I just wanted to check on you. Don't take her words to heart; she's just stressed."

I stared at Elias. He was hiding something. I could see the sweat on his forehead.

After they left, I waited a few minutes and then went to the playroom to find Hunter alone.

I handed him a chocolate bar.

"Hunter, tell me. Who is this other grandpa?"

He unwrapped the chocolate eagerly. "I don't know his face, but Mommy told me about him. His name is Arlo. She says he's my real grandpa."

"Hunter! What are you telling him?"

Yvonne suddenly appeared in the doorway, her face pale with rage.

"I just told him he could call Arlo 'Grandpa' as a sign of respect. That's all."

"Yvonne, tell me the truth," I said, my voice low and dangerous. "Are you my biological daughter or not?"

I was done playing games. I needed the truth.

6.

"Dad, I think you've finally lost your marbles. You're acting like a paranoid lunatic!"

"First, you desecrate Mom's grave, and now you're questioning my birth?"

Yvonne glared at me, her eyes full of fake indignation.

"Of course I'm your daughter. I've lived with you for twenty-five years! If you don't believe me, let's go to the lab right now."

Her confidence threw me off. Maybe I was wrong.

But what about that letter?

Yvonne seemed to read my mind. "That letter is a fake. I already had it looked at. Someone is trying to drive a wedge between us so they can get a piece of the inheritance. It's a setup."

Her explanation was logical. It made sense.

And there was still that paternity test from years ago.

She couldn't be Arlo's daughter unless that test was rigged.

Well, Marcus was already on his way to get a new one done. I'd have my answer soon enough.

"Maybe I am just tired," I sighed.

I stood up to leave, but Yvonne stopped me.

"Dad, if you want me to ever call you 'Dad' again, you'll move Mom to that new plot immediately."

The mention of the grave brought the anger right back.

"Don't push me, Yvonne. If you bring that up again, I'll have her bones ground into dust and tossed into the ocean."

I walked out without looking back.

7.

I drove back to my old house.

It was a modest place where Sienna and I lived before I made my first few millions.

We moved into the mansion after she died, but I kept the old house exactly as it was. Most of her personal belongings were still there.

I went straight to her old study.

Sienna used to spend hours in there, claiming she was writing a novel.

I opened a locked drawer in her desk and found a leather-bound diary.

It was from the early years of our marriage.

It was filled with nothing but her pining for Arlo.

I learned that she only married me for my money.

Years ago, Arlo was diagnosed with a rare illness and needed expensive treatments.

Sienna targeted me, seduced me, and married me to fund his medical bills.

Every time she went grocery shopping, she was actually at the hospital with him.

If she couldn't get away, she would slip sleeping pills into my milk and sneak out in the middle of the night.

I remembered how I used to be so lethargic back then.

I thought I was just working too hard. I had been drugged by my own wife.

I gripped the diary so hard my knuckles turned white.

The later entries were about her planning a "spiritual wedding" with Arlo while he was still alive.

She used the money I gave her for "skincare" and "clothes" to buy burial shrouds and ritual items.

Her last entry read: Arlo, I'll be your wife in death, no matter what it takes.

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