His Belated Love for the Abandoned Ex-Wife Chapter 254: Funeral Confrontation

Iris just stared blankly at her father's face. Tears started to roll down one by one onto her pale cheeks.

Julian heard the noise and rushed into the room right away. When he saw Iris kneeling beside the bed, his heart just ached.

He walked over, gently put his hands on her shoulders, and pulled her into his arms. "Iris, your father's gone. You gotta take care of yourself. Don't be too sad."

Iris stood there all stiff and still, just leaning against his warm chest without moving, crying silently.

Grief and confusion filled her heart. The words her father had just said kept echoing in her ears.

A dying person's last words were usually kind of soft and gentle.

Was her father just babbling, or was it a confession before he kicked the bucket?

Just then, Ethan and Grace also rushed into the room. When they saw that Keith had passed away, Grace just collapsed on the floor and started wailing.

Three days after Keith passed away, a modest funeral was held at the funeral parlor.

The sky was overcast and gray. The whole place felt cold and somber, and everyone present was overcome with sorrow.

Grace was weeping uncontrollably. Ethan sat beside the casket, his eyes red and puffy from crying as he kept vigil.

Iris, though, was unnaturally composed.

A handful of relatives stood off to the side, murmuring quietly among themselves.

"Keith's daughter really has no heart at all. I've been here this whole time, and I haven't seen her shed one single tear."

"He raised an ungrateful child, plain and simple."

"I heard she's divorced."

"Her own father just died, and she acts like it's nothing at all. It's such a letdown."

Bits of their conversation drifted over to Grace's ears. She wiped her tears away, glared over at Iris, and burned with anger. She ground her teeth and gave Iris' arm a sharp pinch.

"Ow!" Iris gasped in pain. She quickly pulled her arm free and stepped back, staring angrily at Grace.

Grace hissed through clenched teeth in a low, sharp voice. "Your father is gone, and you haven't cried once. How can you be so cold-hearted? Do you want every relative and friend here laughing at our family?"

Iris held her temper in check. She stood up, brushed off her clothes, and without a single word, walked over to the seating area and sat down on a bench.

Her behavior left all the relatives there stunned.

Grace and Ethan remained sitting solemnly beside the casket. When they saw what Iris had done, they felt confused, irritated, and upset all at once.

A nearby relative walked over to her. "Iris, that isn't proper behavior right now."

"My legs are killing me from standing here so long," Iris replied evenly, completely calm.

The lingering ache in her arm kept running through her mind, making her feel more and more certain that Keith's last words before he died were probably true.

All the things she could never make sense of before now finally started to fall into place.

As for the full truth, she planned to figure it out later on her own.

"Get over here and stand with us," Grace stood up and snapped.

Iris ignored her completely, acting as if she hadn't heard a thing.

Ethan quickly grabbed Grace by the arm to calm her down. "Mom, she's probably worn out. Just let her sit and rest for a bit."

Just then, a relative shouted in a hurry, "Ethan! Your wife's back."

Hearing that, everyone looked towards the entrance.

Emily, who had been gone for almost a year, was back.

She had lost a lot of weight. Her face looked all worn-out, her clothes were plain, and she had this pitiful look on her face.

The moment she saw Emily, Iris immediately took out her phone and called the cops.

Ethan was furious. He stood up and shouted, "How dare you show your face? Get out of here—"

Celeste saw this and immediately ran over to pull Ethan back. "Ethan, don't be like that. You two were married after all. She's also Frank's mom."

The relatives there started whispering and gossiping among themselves.

Grace put her hands on her hips, gritted her teeth, and cursed, "Shameless woman. You cheated my son out of so much money and you still have the nerve to come back? Give my son his money back."

Emily rushed up to Ethan, knelt down, and hugged his thigh tightly. "Honey, I was wrong. I got tricked too. That guy fooled me, took all my money, and sold me to some old guy in the mountains. I got beaten and tortured every day for a whole year. If a college student hadn't helped me escape those mountains, I might never have come back."

"You brought this on yourself," Ethan said, full of disgust, and kicked Emily away.

Celeste grabbed Ethan and scolded him. "She's pitiful enough already. Don't treat her like that."

With that, Celeste went over to help Emily up. "Get up. I'm the one who asked Ethan to drop the charges."

"Who are you?" Emily looked at Celeste with a bit of hostility in her eyes.

Ethan took Celeste's arm and pulled her to his side. "My girlfriend."

Emily got angry, with tears in her eyes. "Girlfriend? We're not even divorced yet, and you already have a girlfriend?"

Ethan's eyes were red, his whole body shaking with rage, his fists clenched like he wanted to punch Emily. He said each word slowly, "You ran off with another guy and took all my money, left me with millions in debt, and you still have the nerve to call yourself my wife? I let it go for our son's sake—"

The funeral turned into a huge shouting match.

Curses, blame, and resentment were flying back and forth.

All the relatives crowded around them. Only Iris remained sitting on the bench, quietly waiting for the cops to arrive.

Frank ran up to her, looking all scared. "Auntie, I'm so scared."