Chapter 1 - OPEN IT
Noah swung the hammer before anyone could stop him.
The polished white casket cracked beneath the chandelier.
Dozens of mourners gasped.
White roses trembled on their stands.
Daniel rushed forward.
“Stop! What are you doing?”
Noah was seventeen.
Messy dark hair.
Faded denim jacket.
Tears running down his face.
He lifted the hammer again.
Not toward anyone.
Only the casket.
“You have to see!”
The second impact split one wooden panel.
Victoria screamed.
“Noah!”
He ignored her.
The broken lid shifted.
A deep dark cavity appeared beneath it.
No body was visible.
No blood.
Nothing graphic.
But something was wrong.
Daniel’s rage vanished.
Slowly.
Completely.
He stared inside.
“What is that?”
Victoria stepped closer.
Her hands rose to her temples.
Then froze.
Noah dropped the hammer.
“I told you.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Told me what?”
Noah’s voice broke.
“That my father wasn’t in there.”
The room died.
Victoria whispered,
“Don’t listen to him.”
Too fast.
That was the first crack.
Daniel turned toward her.
“You told me you identified the body.”
Victoria went pale.
“I did.”
Noah looked at her.
“No.”
His eyes hardened.
“You identified a ring.”
Silence.
Daniel stared at Victoria’s hand.
A large silver ring caught the chandelier light.
Then he looked back at the casket.
Inside the broken cavity was a velvet bag.
No body.
No ashes.
Just one velvet bag.
Daniel reached toward it.
Victoria stepped forward.
“Don’t.”
Too late.
He opened it.
Inside was a silver ring.
The same design as the one Victoria wore.
And beneath it was a hotel key card.
Room 417.
Noah whispered,
“That’s where my father called me from.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
“When?”
May you like
Noah looked directly at Victoria.
“Two days after she said he died.”
