“What is that?”
I didn’t answer immediately.
Mason dropped his suitcase.
“Where’s Victor?”
I pointed toward the urn.
“Right there.”
Mom went pale.
“No…”
Chloe covered her mouth.
“He passed away?”
“Sunday morning,” I said evenly.
Mom’s reaction came instantly.
“And you had him cremated without us?!”
That was her first question.
Not how he died.
Not whether he had suffered.
Not whether he had said anything about her.
Only why she had missed the funeral.
I picked up my phone and connected it to the Bluetooth speaker.
Then I played the saved video.
Mom’s voice filled the room.
“We paid thousands of dollars for this vacation! We are not cutting it short because he decided to take a turn for the worse right now.”
Then Mason’s voice:
“Tell him to hold on until Tuesday!”
Mason swallowed and glanced toward Chloe.
“We… we were drinking. It was a joke.”
