After my brother died, his best friend became my lifeline, and later my husband. I believed that love had saved me from grief. Until our wedding night, when I found a box hidden in our bedroom. Inside was a letter from my brother that read: “My sister must never know the truth.”
When my older brother Alex died in a car accident, my life fell silent in a way I still can’t explain.
How do you exist in a world where the only person who always had your back has simply…gone away?
A week after the funeral, I was sitting alone in my living room when someone knocked on the door.
Don’t ask me how, but I knew exactly who he was.
He knew exactly who she was.
Thomas was there, with red eyes and his hands in his jacket pockets.
He was Alex’s best friend and business partner. We’d known each other for years, but we’d never been very close.
“I didn’t know where to go. No one else lost him like we did.”
I let him in, not knowing that it was the beginning of something that would change my life.
It was the beginning of something that would change my life.
We sat at opposite ends of the sofa at first, then closer together.
That night we didn’t talk much, we just shared memories.
“He talked about you all the time. You were everything to him.”
Thomas’s voice broke and my pent-up tears became a torrent.
After that, Thomas started calling me every day.
My pent-up tears became a torrent.
He understood that Alex had not only been my brother.
You see, I’m an artist, and sometimes that meant struggling to make ends meet between commissions.
But Alex always made sure she had her bills paid, her car running, and food in the fridge.
“He took care of you,” Thomas once said.
“That was Alex. He also took care of everything after Grandma died. The paperwork, the inheritance, everything.”
Thomas nodded slowly, with something flickering on his face that I couldn’t quite read.
Something flickered on her face that I couldn’t read.
Months passed, and the sharp edges of grief gradually softened. Thomas continued to call and stop by the house at least once a week. Usually more often.
It seemed normal to me. I felt safe.
Not once did I see any signs that it was all a lie.
Alex had left me his shares in the business he started with Thomas. I knew nothing about running a business, but I started asking questions.
Alex had left me his shares in the business he created with Thomas.
One night, Thomas brought his laptop and placed it between us on the sofa.
“You asked me to talk to you about the business, so let’s go over the numbers.”
He pulled out a spreadsheet with several tabs, switching between tables and running equations that I didn’t even know were possible.
I leaned closer to him without thinking, and our shoulders brushed against each other.
I leaned closer to him.
He did not leave.
“You know, you don’t have to worry about all this if you don’t want to.”
He spoke in a low voice. I looked up at him and our eyes met. I felt like a lightning bolt and floating at the same time.
“But Alex left me his shares… don’t you think he would have wanted me to learn?”
“Don’t you think he would have wanted me to learn?”
Thomas patted my hand.
“I don’t think you need to put pressure on yourself. This is complicated, and you should focus on healing. I can take care of the business.”
That night, after closing my laptop, the air felt different, heavy with something I was afraid to name in case it got out of hand.
When our lips met, I felt as if something fell into place.
It felt like something had finally fallen into place.
I stepped back long enough to whisper, “This feels… good.”
He rested his forehead against mine and stroked my face. “He is. Alex would want you to be happy.”
For the first time since my brother’s death, the pain in my chest was relieved.
I started to believe I was safe again. In reality, I was in more danger than ever.
He was in more danger than ever.
The next two years passed in a blur of small moments: our morning coffee together, his hand on the small of my back in crowded restaurants, and falling asleep on his shoulder while watching movies.
When he proposed to me, it seemed inevitable.
We got married in a small wedding by a lake. Only close family members were there. When the guests left, Thomas took me to his house, which was now ours.
We got married in a small wedding by a lake.
While he went to the kitchen to open the champagne we had stored, I went to the bedroom to change.
We hadn’t lived together before, so I had given her some of my things in advance until we could move in together.
I opened the closet to hang up my dress. I reached for the top shelf and my hand brushed against a box.
My hand brushed against a box.
I took it down, assuming it contained my belongings that he had already moved.
As soon as I opened it, I realized I was wrong. Inside there were only a few old things and a folded piece of paper.
I didn’t mean to snoop, but it was Alex’s handwriting!
I opened the letter without thinking, curious, and perhaps even a little desperate to feel close to him once again.
The first line took my breath away.
The first line took my breath away.
“Thomas, please hide this box with you. My sister must never discover the truth.”
I stood there for a long moment, the letter trembling in my hands. My heart was beating so hard I thought I was going to have a heart attack.
Slowly, I sat on the edge of the bed and continued reading.
Suddenly, the last two years seemed very, very different to me.
I sat on the edge of the bed and continued reading.
Thomas,
I don’t know if I can keep doing this. I don’t know why I let you convince me to use my sister’s grandmother’s inheritance to fund our company. The guilt is eating me alive.
You said she didn’t need the money, but you were wrong. I never bothered to make sure she paid her bills, but she shouldn’t have needed me to do it for her. It’s all my fault.
The words blurred.
This couldn’t be real. Alex would never have betrayed me… right? I kept reading, and it only got worse.
I kept reading and it only got worse.
I’ve wanted to confess it to him a thousand times, but I don’t have the courage to tell him the truth.
That’s why you have to hide this. The papers are all here, at the bottom of the box, hidden under the old junk.
I’ve changed my will so that my shares will pass to her when I’m gone. It’s the only way to fix this. Please don’t resist. I need you to understand why I’m doing this and to help me keep it from her.
I didn’t hear Thomas come in until he spoke.
I didn’t hear Thomas come in until he spoke.
“What are you doing?”.
I looked up. He was standing in the doorway, motionless. I picked up the letter.
“How long have you had it?”
Her eyes flicked toward the box and then back to my face. She sighed and went inside, then rubbed the back of her neck.
“Alex asked me to keep it. I was fulfilling her wishes.”
His eyes darted to the box and then back to my face.
I stood up and faced him.
“He wrote that you had convinced him to steal my inheritance. He was the executor of my grandmother’s estate, and the two of you took advantage of that to take advantage of me.”
“That’s not what he meant.” Thomas exhaled slowly, as if trying to stay calm for my sake. “You’re taking it out of context. Alex was spiraling into guilt. He was always rewriting things in his head. He’d make himself the villain when he wasn’t.”
“So, I won’t find any incriminating papers at the bottom of this box?”
“So, I won’t find any incriminating papers at the bottom of this box?”
He became so tense that he looked as if he had received an electric shock.
“How could you!”
“It wasn’t theft, okay? It was an investment. You’re terrible with money, and instead of trying to find a job, you keep scraping by with your art. Someone had to take care of you.”
“Is that really what you think of me?”
“It’s not a matter of opinion. It’s the truth.”
“It’s not a matter of opinion. It’s the truth.”
I could barely breathe.
“That’s why you so despised my trying to learn how the business works… is that why you married me? So you could ‘take care of me’?”
That’s when I finally saw.
“Good heavens! Will you stop whining?” Thomas ran his hands over his face. “Yes, okay? I married you so I could take care of you. And I offered to let you step down from running the business because I knew you’d ruin it.”
I finally saw Thomas’s true colors
Her mouth tightened into a thin line.
“It wasn’t fair. I built the company with him. There’s no way I’m going to risk you sinking it just because Alex couldn’t live with his own decisions.”
He came closer and framed my face with his hands. “You should be grateful that I’m willing to take all this on for you.”
I pulled away from him abruptly.
I pulled away from him abruptly.
“Grateful? You and Alex built that company with the money you stole from me, and when it was finally going to come back to me, you panicked. You didn’t marry me, you married my shares! And you thought that, as your wife, I would do everything you told me.”
“That’s not…”.
I put the letter in the box and picked it up. “My brother was wrong, but at least he knew it. You… you’re just delusional.”
I put the letter in the box and picked it up.
He started arguing, his mouth opening to form words that I knew would only be more excuses, more justifications.
But I was already walking towards the door.
I didn’t take anything with me except the box. Anyway, most of my things were still at my old house.
For the first time since Alex’s death, I wasn’t clinging to anyone for security.
I left there knowing one thing clearly: Whatever I rebuilt next would ultimately be mine.
I didn’t take anything with me except the box.
If this happened to you, what would you do? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the Facebook comments.
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