Hating You to the Grave Chapter 10

Jules stopped dead. He spun around. "Who?"

"Evangeline Dubois. Do you know her?"

Before Dr. Lee could finish, Jules snatched the file folder from his hands. It contained thick medical records and... a death certificate.

He flipped through the pages frantically.

"Eva is dead? Do you know I can put you in jail for lying?" His voice cracked.

"I take responsibility for every word," Dr. Lee said calmly. "Please give me an answer. Do you accept the body, or not?"

Jules turned cold. He gripped the paper until his knuckles turned white. He ignored the doctor and ran to his Dodge Challenger.

He drove like a maniac, muttering, "Evangeline, you're cruel... this joke is too cruel! Come out! I surrender, okay?"

But his hands were shaking violently. He ran five red lights. He rear-ended a van, threw a stack of cash at the driver without looking, and sped to the hospital.

"Evangeline! Evangeline!" He roared in the hallway.

He kept calling my phone. "I admit you won! Come out!"

Marcus arrived too.

Silently, Dr. Lee led them to the basement. The morgue.

Jules’s hand hovered over the white sheet covering the body. He was shaking so hard he couldn't lift it.

Finally, Marcus stepped forward and pulled the sheet back.

The pale overhead light hit my bloodless face.

Jules stumbled back. His legs gave out, and he fell heavily onto the cold floor.

He tried to stand but failed.

Tears rolled down his face without warning.

I liked him best when he was crying.

I watched his breakdown closely. I didn't want to miss a single frame of his pain.

Thirteen years. This was the most broken I had ever seen him.

"Evangeline! Is this revenge?! Is it?!" He screamed at my corpse. "Get up! Don't you want to stab me? Get up!"

Dr. Lee spoke the final dagger.

"Mr. Devereaux... I saw the news. Eva's condition was stable until you returned. The stress accelerated everything. That day you brought your fiancée to the ER? The patient vomiting blood in the hallway... that was Evangeline."

"You... actually saw each other one last time."

Jules looked like he had been struck by lightning. He remembered the blurry, bloody figure he had ignored.

He whispered "I'm sorry" over and over.

But I didn't believe a word.

At least he kept his promise. He gave me a grand funeral. It shook the whole city.

Even Savannah came. She placed a white rose on my coffin, then walked to the hollowed-out Jules.

"She's dead. Will you marry me now?"

"No." Jules didn't hesitate.

"I want twenty million."

"Done."

Savannah took the check and walked away. At the gate, she met Marcus.

"Leaving?"

"Yeah." Savannah smiled, looking tired. "I can't beat a ghost. Twenty million is enough for me. Drinks on me sometime."

"Sure."

I sat on my own tombstone, watching Jules trace my name with his fingers.

EVANGELINE “EVA” DUBOIS

1995 - 2025

She lived on her own terms, and died the same way.

"Evangeline," he choked out. "In the next life... let's be together properly, okay?"

I knew he couldn't see me, but I shook my head seriously.

"Julian Devereaux, there is no next life for us."

As the guests left, I felt my tether to this world fading.

I hope in the next life, the roses bloom only for me.

I hope for three warm meals and a light on in the hallway.

Or just me, walking in the rain, loving myself.

The iron gates of the cemetery closed.

The fog from the Mississippi rolled in, swallowing the lights of the French Quarter.

Finally, I could rest.