He Came Home Early to Surprise His Fiancée—Then Heard His 78-Year-Old Mother Screaming in the Pool
Julian Hale came home early to surprise his fiancée.
Instead, he heard his 78-year-old mother screaming from the backyard.
“Please! Somebody help me!”
Julian dropped the roses in his hand and ran toward the glass doors.
Then he stopped cold.
His mother, Martha, was drowning in the infinity pool.
Her soaked purple nightgown pulled her deeper into the water as her trembling fingers clung to the edge.
And standing inches away from her was Bianca Laurent.
Julian’s fiancée.
The woman he was supposed to marry in three weeks.
But Bianca wasn’t trying to save her.
She was smiling.
“Bianca…” Martha coughed, struggling to keep her head above water. “Please pull me out.”
Bianca slowly stepped closer.
Then she pressed the heel of her shoe against Martha’s fingers.
Martha cried out.
Julian’s entire body went rigid.
He wanted to rush outside.
But something stopped him.
Bianca thought she was alone.
And Julian needed to know how far this went.
“You really thought Julian would choose you over me?” Bianca whispered.
Martha stared up at her.
“He’s my son.”
“For now.”
“What does that mean?”
Bianca crouched beside the pool.
Her voice dropped.
“Once Julian marries me, everything changes.”
Martha’s face went pale.
“This house isn’t yours.”
Bianca smiled.
“Not yet.”
Julian felt his fists tighten.
The roses lay forgotten behind him.
He had walked into the mansion expecting champagne, dinner, and a romantic surprise.
Instead, he was listening to the woman he loved threaten his mother.
Then Bianca said something even worse.
“Nobody’s going to believe you anyway.”
Martha blinked.
“What?”
“You’re seventy-eight. You forget things.”
“I do not.”
“I know.”
Bianca’s smile widened.
“But everyone else thinks you do.”
Martha went still.
So did Julian.
“What have you done?” Martha whispered.
Bianca glanced toward the house, unaware that Julian was standing only a few feet away in the shadows.
“I’ve been telling people your memory is getting worse for months.”
Martha’s eyes widened.
“The doctor…”
“Already concerned.”
“My friends stopped calling.”
“I helped with that.”
Martha stared at her in horror.
Julian felt something inside him turn cold.
This wasn’t cruelty in the heat of an argument.
It wasn’t an accident.
Bianca had been building a story.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Making Martha look confused.
Making her look unreliable.
Preparing everyone to doubt her.
“Why?” Martha whispered.
Bianca leaned closer.
“Because after the wedding, Julian becomes my husband.”
She looked around the enormous estate.
“And eventually, all of this becomes ours.”
“You mean yours.”
Bianca laughed softly.
Martha tried to pull herself higher.
Bianca pushed her hand away again.
“Please…”
“Oh, stop pretending to be helpless.”
“I can’t hold on much longer.”
“I know.”
Those two words hit Julian harder than anything else.
She knew.
She was watching his mother drown.
And she was enjoying it.
Martha’s fingers began slipping from the wet stone.
“Bianca…”
“Yes?”
“If Julian knew what you were doing—”
“He won’t.”
“He’ll find out.”
Bianca’s expression hardened.
Then she whispered the sentence that destroyed whatever love Julian had left for her.
“After the wedding, you won’t be alive long enough to tell him.”
Silence.
Martha stared at her.
Bianca smiled.
Then a man’s voice came from behind her.
Calm.
Cold.
Terrifyingly close.
“Say that again.”
Bianca froze.
Slowly, she turned toward the house.
Julian stepped out of the shadows.
His eyes went from Bianca…
to his mother struggling in the water…
then back to the woman he had planned to marry.
Bianca’s face lost every trace of color.
“Julian…”
He walked toward her.
One step at a time.
“You said my mother wouldn’t be alive long enough to tell me.”
Bianca opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
May you like
Julian stopped directly in front of her.
“I heard everything.”
