Chapter 3Vanishing Point

I ignored her slip, the casual use of my first name that broke her careful facade. My voice was calm, almost bored. "Your sister is gone. My family has arranged for me to meet someone. It's only reasonable for a widower to remarry, isn't it?"

Sarah's face darkened instantly. "No! You can't!"

Perhaps she realized her reaction was too strong, too revealing. After a beat, she forced herself to lower her voice, her words strained. "I mean… my sister has been gone for less than a year. You can't possibly remarry so soon. I’m her twin sister, and you're my brother-in-law. You two were so devoted when she was alive. How could you change your heart so quickly? I can't just stand by and watch you leave the Peterson family."

"What if—I mean, what if—she came back someday? We never found her body, after all. She might not truly be gone…"

Her frantic, almost desperate demeanor left me bewildered. She clearly hated me, despised me even. So why was she fighting so hard to stop me from remarrying?

When I stubbornly returned to scrolling through the photos, Sarah’s frustration boiled over. She snatched my phone, her movements sharp, and furiously deleted the images. "You need to stay here, with the Petersons! Stop thinking about remarrying!" She was so flustered, she even forgot to call me "brother-in-law."

Sarah opened her mouth, about to continue her protests, but her phone suddenly chimed with an incoming call.

"Babe," Jake's voice, laced with pain, filtered through the speaker. "My arm still hurts so bad after the surgery. Can you please come over? I keep having nightmares about losing it if you're not here."

Ever since Jake had broken his arm in the crash, it seemed he was constantly battling post-op infections or suffering night terrors. Sarah always rushed to his side at top speed. This time was no exception.

Before Jake could even finish, Sarah hastily grabbed a few of his shirts, then bolted out the door, leaving her own jacket behind. It was then that I truly understood. Her pleas for me not to remarry? They were just empty pleasantries, a performance in her role as the grieving sister.

A bitter laugh escaped me. I called the Sterling family, asking them to resend the photos. I chose the wedding attire and the diamond ring. Beyond that, I threw out every last photograph, every last memento of Sarah Peterson. It was as if she had never existed.

That evening, halfway through my ruthless purge, Sarah returned with Jake, holding the baby.

"Alex," she began, her tone carefully earnest. "After Emily passed, Jake invited you to stay with us, to help you through your grief. Since the crash, he's been having terrible nightmares. From now on, you can take care of Jake. Think of it as taking care of your brother-in-law for Emily's sake."

I clenched the trash bag in my hand, unable to utter a single word.

Sarah peered through the cracked door of my bedroom, seeing the stark emptiness. She was about to question me when her phone rang, pulling her away. As I went downstairs to dump the trash, I overheard Sarah's voice, ringing with smug certainty.

"They're just trying to set him up with someone. You don't know Alex? He's still completely obsessed with finding me. Even if he can't, he'd probably try to follow me into death! He's definitely going to reject any family arrangements!"

A cynical laugh escaped me. I returned to my room, continuing to pack. Tomorrow, I was leaving. Unexpectedly, Jake followed me in. He proudly stroked the baby in his arms, a chilling, insidious smirk twisting his lips – a look I’d never seen from him before.

"Alex, do you really think your wife died in that crash?" he sneered. "Let me do you a favor. Your 'sister-in-law' is the real Sarah Peterson. She’s here, willingly by my side, while you’re just a pathetic, cuckolded widower!"

"All those days you were wailing, tearing your hair out, practically ready to kill yourself to be with Sarah? You were such a fool!"

He was right. I had been an utter fool. My love for Sarah had been so absolute, it had never once wavered in suspicion. I had believed she would never abandon me in a plane crash. I had believed she would never feel anything for any man but me.

But those days were long, long gone.