My husband Richard and my best friend Camille shared a love for extreme winter swims. I'd warned them the ocean was dangerous, but they never listened.

Yesterday at the beach, I found them. They lay naked, floating on the surface.

Their bodies were still entangled, leaving no doubt about their final activity.

Panic seized me, sharp and cold. I fainted on the spot.

When I woke, their bodies were stiff.

And my panic reached a whole new level.

To placate me after a fight, Richard had taken out a life insurance policy worth hundreds of millions. I was the sole beneficiary.

How in the world was I supposed to explain this to the insurance company?


Someone was shaking me awake.

My eyes fluttered open to hushed, excited whispers.

"They must have been so in love. I heard it took the forensics team forever to pull them apart."

"I know! They came here for winter swimming every day. What dedication!"

"Winter swimming? Looks more like a secret lovers' rendezvous to me."

I shook my head, pushing myself up.

The sight before me snapped me wide awake: those two naked bodies, lying there, completely exposed.

Trembling, I tugged on the arm of the person next to me. "What... what happened to them?"

The person looked at me with pity. "They're gone."

Gone?

But just yesterday morning, they'd been so alive.

I remembered it clearly. Camille had sought out Richard, playfully slapping his chest. "Can't? A real man never says he can't!"

Her laughter rang out, bright and dazzling. "It's barely five degrees out, and you're already scared?"

Then, she'd shot me a pointed glare. "Or is it that Vivian, at her age, is still jealous and won't let you go?"

"Vivian, I don't mean to criticize, but why are you so controlling?"

"Richard and I have been winter swimming for years. If something were going to happen, it would have happened by now, wouldn't it?"

"But if Richard's scared, then I'll just go alone."

Hearing that, Richard ripped his shirt off right in front of me. "You know how fit I am, what do I have to be scared of?" he declared to Camille with a loud laugh.

"What would a housewife like Vivian know about our kind of fun?"

"Don't mind her, let's go."

They went back and forth, mocking me.

That's when I finally gave in and let them go.

But now, they were telling me they were dead?

I couldn't accept it. The tears came in a flood, and I sobbed, completely broken.

"Ma'am, you must have been terrified." A young officer in uniform walked over, his voice gentle. "I understand. Seeing them, naked and tangled, floating in the water like that..."

"Anyone would be scared stiff. We don't blame you."

"But you're the first witness, so we might need you to cooperate with our investigation later."

Hearing that, I cried even harder.

Richard was gone, and here I was, the grieving widow with an impossible to-do list.

I had to take over Richard's company and inherit his entire estate. On top of that, I had to explain the massive life insurance policy he took out right before he died.

Where would I find the time for an investigation?

But the young officer didn't understand my turmoil. He just shook his head at the bodies. "What's the point of love in the end?"

"Trying to find excitement at their age... intense activity in cold water likely caused muscle cramps."

"And since they were locked so tightly together, neither could break free"

I froze.

Intense activity?

Stuck too tightly?

The memory from last night crashed over me: the sight of their lower bodies, fused in that unmistakable position...

A sharp pain shot through my chest, stealing my breath.

Thirty years of marriage to Richard. Forty years of friendship with Camille.

I couldn't believe it!

The two people I trusted most, doing this behind my back...

Yet, all the evidence lay right before my eyes.




I clutched my chest, feeling like I was suffocating.

But then, a thought struck me: they were, after all, my husband and my best friend.

One was a powerful CEO, the other a renowned dance teacher. Both were people who cared deeply about their image in life.

Though I hated them, I couldn't let their dignity be so utterly stripped away in public.

I took a deep breath, rushed over, grabbed the matching swim trunks and bikini bottom they'd shed, and used them to cover their faces.

I collapsed to the ground, a raw wail tearing from my throat. "Please, everyone! No more pictures!"

"My husband and my best friend are dead! Can't you just let them rest in peace?" My cries held a twisted mix of fury and a profound, selfish ache.

Fury at their ultimate betrayal. And heartache for myself... for the mountain of paperwork and endless arrangements his death had dumped in my lap.

A crowd swelled around us, a wave of shocked murmurs rippling through it as my words sank in.

"Wait, so they weren't married? You're his wife? So this was...an affair?"

"Oh my god, her husband and her best friend! That's brutal!"

"No wonder they were out in the ocean... it was a secret rendezvous"

"They probably did this all the time, which is why it finally went wrong."

"That poor lady, witnessing their affair and then passing out!"

Listening to their comments, my chest felt crushed under a heavy stone, making it hard to breathe.

The young officer paused, then finally understood what I'd said. His expression softened with pity. "Ma'am, please get up, the ground is cold."

"By the way, do you... do you have any children?"

Yes, I did.

But Brandon was on his honeymoon with Camille's daughter, Brooke, and definitely wouldn't be answering my calls.

Still, facing so many sympathetic eyes, I dialed his number.

As expected, the moment he picked up, Brandon's voice was irritable. "What are you calling for again? Didn't I tell you not to bother Brooke and me?"

"Are you so miserable with Richard that you can't stand to see Brooke and me happy?"

I fought to keep my voice steady, the pain searing through me. "Son, your father is dead."

He paused, then burst into disbelieving laughter. "You're crazy."

"You'd drop dead before Richard ever would! Seriously, are you just miserable if you're not wishing death on him?!"

Next to him, Brooke's laugh chimed in. "Oh, Vivian, you know how she is. If it's nothing, just hang up."

I quickly cut her off, my sobs growing louder. "Brooke, your mother is dead too."

The air went silent for a few seconds.

Then, her shriek. "Vivian! My mom was just a little close to Richard! Do you have to curse her like that?! Their relationship was completely innocent! Do you just want to make everyone in this family miserable?!"

I ignored her, my voice dropping to a trembling, deliberate whisper. "They were doing it in the ocean. They cramped up. Got stuck. And died together."