Page 21 of Rewind

Ethan wanted to intervene but he had a feeling that whatever he said would make things worse for Amina.

Mark shot Ethan a glare before turning his angry gaze to his wife. “Bet. I’ll you at home.” He stormed off to the exit.

“Mark wait!” Amina chased after him, catching up at the door. “I’ll go with you, just let me talk to Dr. Han first to see if I can make arrangements for someone else to handle the order.”

Ethan shouldn’t have let her walk out the door that day.

It was the last time he’d seen her alive, because she called the office shortly after she left, and said she wasn’t feeling well. The next day Amina called in to say that she had a family emergency and could no longer work there.

“Ethan, are you still there?” Frank asked.

He’d zoned out for a moment, recalling the last time he’d seen Amina. He remembered the frantic way she’d tried to appease a man who would never be satisfied. The way her voice trembled when she spoke to her husband. The way her hands shook. How her lips trembled.

He saw the pure terror.

“That bastard killed her.”

Chapter

Eight

Ethan adjusted his tie, as he entered the funeral home for Amina’s wake. Since he’d learned of Amina’s passing, he scoured the obituaries for any information on a funeral service for her but could find nothing. He finally resorted to looking into her personnel files and looking up an emergency contact number.

Of course, that bastard was listed, and he didn’t think a call from him would be welcome. So, he’d asked one of the nurses to call Mark to see where the office could send flowers and to see when a service would be held.

He learned there was only going to be a private viewing at a funeral home in the city.

Maybe he was crossing a line by showing up to a place he clearly wasn’t invited to, but Ethan needed this one final goodbye if for nothing else, than to have some closure.

The funeral parlor was cold and sterile. The soft sound of organ music played over the speakers that were affixed to the corners of the wall. A bald man with heavy lines in his dark brown face, stood in the center of the hallway. Judging from his dark suit and white gloves, Ethan assumed he was the funeral director.

“Good afternoon, Sir. Are you here for the Caldwell viewing?”

His heart pounded. The director’s words somehow made this seem even more real. Deep down, Ethan had hoped this was all some crazy nightmare he’d wake up from but instead, here he was about to view the body of a woman whose life was tragically cut short. A woman, he couldn’t save.

“This way, Sir. I’m happy you could come by. The Caldwell viewing is this way.”

He was lead into a room that was eerily empty. Ethan wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting but he thought he’d see some family members or at least that deadbeat husband of hers. Yet the room was full of empty chairs. At the end of the aisle was an open casket.

There was only one large arrangement of flowers and he had a good idea that it was the one sent from their office. With each step that drew him closer to the casket, it became harder to breathe.

Ethan swayed on his feet as he viewed the body. He’d seen plenty of dead bodies in his profession, and there were a few unfortunate times when he’d witnessed someone die, so seeing Amina so still and lifeless somehow managed to shake him to his core.

It didn’t look like her. Whoever had prepared her body for viewing had been heavy-handed on the makeup giving her the pallor of someone who had been deathly ill before they passed away. She appeared so much thinner than when he’d last seen her, almost to the point of emaciation. And for some reason she was wearing a cheap looking wig.

What had that bastard done to her? What kind of hell did she suffer in the last few years of her life to be in such a state?

Tears stung his eyes as anger welled in his chest. He clenched his fists at his sides. “I’m so sorry…Amina. I’m so sorry I failedyou. I wish I could have helped you. If…if I had another chance, I would make sure that bastard would never hurt you again.”

It was only when he tasted the saltiness of something wet in the corner of his mouth did he realize that a tear escaped his eye.

“Dr. Han?” A soft voice called to him.

Embarrassed, he hastily wiped his face before turning around to see a small blonde woman.

“Paisley?”

He hadn’t seen her in a while since she’d abruptly left the office sighting her inability to handle the work load although he was certain that wasn’t the case. Unfortunately it wasn’t until after she had left did he learn that Carole, one of his nurses was creating a toxic environment for the other staff in the office.

---