"What are you talking about? Why would I marry you?" Lucy cried out. She couldn't believe what was happening.
Her husband's funeral procession had been turned into a proposal venue.
Except, it didn't seem like a proposal but more like an order.
Lucy couldn't believe her ears. The devoted brother in law who had been nothing but nice to her throughout her married life was now trying to make her his.
"My brother is dead," Xander yelled. "You need someone to take care of you. Marry me and I will make you the happiest woman alive."
Lucy took a shaky step back as the man before her seemed unrecognizable.
"You sound insane."
"Come on, Lucy," he took a step towards her. "You're a woman. What could you possibly know about business? The company would go bankrupt if it's left in your hands. I, on the other hand, would make it flourish."
Lucy looked around. Her husband's family were all around. She had expected someone to step in and tell Xander how preposterous he was sounding, except, no one stepped forward. They all looked at her, as if they agreed with Xander.
"It's my husband's funeral today, Xander," she breathed.
"Exactly. He went and died, leaving you to raise two young children on your own. Come. Let me give you the life he never did."
Lucy's mouth opened slightly but she couldn't find the right words.
He went and died?
Xander spoke as if Damien had stepped out for groceries and had simply forgotten to return. Her fingers tightened around the edge of her black dress. It felt like her whole world had collapsed and there was no one left on her side.
"Let go of me," she whispered as she realized only then that Xander had reached for her arm. His fingers were warm, they curled a bit too tightly around her wrist.
"LET GO OF ME! WHAT ABOUT YOUR WIFE?" Lucy yelled.
"Don't make a scene," he muttered. His voice no longer carried the warmth it once did.
Lucy jerked her arm free and glared at him. She couldn't believe his audacity. He was the one that was making a spectacle of her grief and now, she was the one making a scene?
She stared at the people surrounding them. Damien's mother stared back at her with her face unreadable. Damien's grandparents were already walking away from the gravesite like this had nothing to do with them.
Her lovely children were crying, unable to get over their grief.
She had been crying too, only moments ago, before her brother in law got on one knee and proposed.
Finally, she turned her gaze to Xander's wife, Odette. She had a solemn expression on but she avoided Lucy's gaze.
"If you don't marry me, I'll take everything my brother worked for and I'll leave you and your brats to suffer on the streets."
Lucy's stomach turned. "They're my children! Your family."
Xander scoffed. "One of them is black. My brother is white, you're Mexican."
The words felt like a slap across her face. She was aware that her husband's family had labeled her as an adulterous woman the moment she gave birth, but her husband shut them down. He believed her, he knew that the children was his. He was her rock, and now, he was gone.
She glanced instinctively towards her children. Mateo was only six, he clung to his sister as his small shoulders trembled with each sob. Isla, four years old, was clutching her teddy bear, the one Damien had given her last Christmas. Her dark curls bounced as she embraced her brother.
Lucy turned her gaze back to the man in front of her. "You vile, pathetic excuse for a man."
Xander's eyes twitched. "Call me what you want but I doubt you will even be able to keep custody if the board believes you're unfit."
"Are you threatening me?"
"I'm offering you a way out," Xander said. "It would be wise of you to take it."
She took a step back as she clenched her fingers around her wedding ring. Damien had bought that ring for her, he had worked tirelessly to be able to afford that ring.
But he was gone. And the man that was standing in front of her was not a grieving brother, he was a vulture who had come to take everything.
"You can't do this," she whispered.
"The board already thinks you're incompetent to take over the company. I mean, you're a stay at home mother of two. What could you possibly know about business? And no one else would want you either, so I'm the nice one here."
Lucy clenched her fists. She wanted to hit him hard, so hard that it would knock his tooth out. But she couldn't, he could easily overpower her. And she didn't want to insult her husband's memory any more.
She stood tall and glared at Xander. "I will earn my place in the board. My husband made it from scratch, I will continue his legacy."
Xander folded his arms and gave her a smug look. "By all means, try."
Lucy turned away from him, and walked towards her children. Her husband's casket had been lowered into the earth and they were covering him up. She couldn't stay there, she had to be strong for her children, even if she was on the verge of collapsing.
She was all they had.
Mateo looked up at her the moment she knelt down beside them. He gently pulled his sister aside and hugged his mother. "Mommy, is daddy really gone?"
Lucy closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip. She gathered her two children into her arms and pressed their heads against her chest.
"Yes baby," she whispered as she fought back the tears. "Daddy has gone to a better place. But I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere. I promise you that."
Odette hovered just a few feet away. Her arms were crossed but she still had that solemn look on her face. Lucy turned away and led her children into the car.
She couldn't bear to speak to anyone else in that family.