Extorting The Dead For His Darling

Synopsis

Three years after my death, my husband showed up at my doorstep, demanding I settle his childhood sweetheart's gambling debts. He kicked open the door to my rundown apartment, clutching a forged IOU in his fist, only to find the place completely abandoned, covered in layers of dust and falling apart. Frustrated and impatient, he cornered an old neighbor passing by in the hallway, demanding to know where I was hiding. The neighbor just looked at him, letting out a heavy, tired sigh. "Claire Simmons? She's been gone for three years. I heard a group of loan sharks cornered her in an alley downtown. They beat her to death right there." My husband didn't believe a single word. He was absolutely convinced I had paid off the landlord to cover for me, pulling some elaborate stunt just to get out of paying him. He let out a sharp, dismissive laugh, his annoyance boiling over. "So what? I made her shoulder a few years of debt, and now she thinks she can fake her own death to dodge me? You tell her this. If I don't hear from her in three days, I'm cutting off every cent of her mother's medical funding!" Throwing out that venomous threat, he spun on his heel and walked away without a second glance. The neighbor watched his retreating back, shaking his head in quiet disbelief. "But her mom passed away years ago..." the old man muttered to himself. "Those debt collectors terrified her so badly that she had a heart attack right there in the hospital..."