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The funeral was held at Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. It was a grand and domineering building made of stone with glorious windows that had intricate designs. It had massive columns and huge double doors. The drama of the design was Gothic in nature.

The mood was somber as they pulled up at the church and thanked their Lyft driver. There were many people appropriately dressed in black walking up to the church. Virginie didn't think that Stephanie had this many friends and relatives, but she figured that many people were here out of respect to Stephanie's father.

Alex was standing on the steps, looking handsome as ever. He was wearing all black except for the grey button up he wore under a jacket. His hair was slicked back into a bun instead of its usual ponytail. Virginie sighed fondly. Damn...that man is a work of art.

Alex caught Virginie's steady eye and waved at the two of them fondly with a huge grin. He looked like a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. Virginie and Jabari kept small smiles on their faces as they walked up the imposing steps.

"Y'all don't know how happy I am that y'all are here. I don't know what I would've done without you," Alex gushed.

Virginie pulled him for a hug and put her lips near his ear. "Don't look too excited. Yes, the cops know that she wasn't your real girlfriend, but she was still a close person to you, and she's dead."

Alex did nothing to acknowledge her statement, but his demeanor changed drastically after she let go of the hug. He had more of the somber mood that matched the people coming into the church, but he couldn't seem to help the smile on his face.

"All I gotta say is...great job, bro! You did us all a favor!" Alex stared at him blankly as Jabari clasped his best friend in a huge hug. It took everything in Virginie's self-control not to burst out laughing.

"Can you shut the fuck up for once in your miserable life?" Alex seethed between gritted teeth.

Jabari shrugged. "The cops aren't here yet, and no one is listening to us. Besides, how do you even know what I'm talking about? I was talking about the funeral, idiot. You did a great job setting everything up." He rolled his eyes as if his intentions had been obvious. Which they were. "I don't know what you thought I was talking about." He began walking up the steps. "Now, don't we have a funeral to get to? I don't know why you're still standing there looking at me."

Virginie shook her head and walked up the stairs, displaying a smile to show her amusement for Jabari's jokes. Alex grunted before going up the steps without another word. The trio headed inside the church with one of them being quite smug with their previous actions.

The inside of the church was even more impressive than the outside. The ceiling was high, and the columns looked like they were holding up the heavens themselves. It was so large and quiet that Virginie felt like even a breath would echo in this massive building. Unlike a typical cathedral, there were no pews. Instead, there were wooden chairs arranged in long rows leading up the pulpit. The art was more intricate and detailed than the average church. It depicted many different scenes of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the apostles, and various saints doing a variety of things. The bright and beaming NYC sun coming through the windows drowned the church with the blues, reds, yellows, greens, purples, and oranges from the paintings. The enormous columns and dramatic ceiling made one feel like they were coming into something bigger than themselves.

Stephanie's body was in the mahogany coffin in the front surrounded by hundreds of freshly picked white lilies. As Virginie passed by Stephanie's body, she gave her one last long look. She looked stunning in death. Her skin was waxy but clear like a porcelain doll. She was in a goddess-like dress, and her makeup was pink and rosy like she usually liked to keep it. Her face was calm, calmer than Virginie had ever seen in alive. She almost didn't look like the raging bitch that Virginie once knew.

Virginie knew that Stephanie was a complicated person. The kind of person Virginie could've turned into if she hadn't been treated so kindly at the beginning of her life. Virginie could never find the heart to be rude to Stephanie because she understood where she was coming from. She knew what it was like to hurt so much that you wanted to inflict pain on the entire world to stop any happiness from happening to anyone else. She remembered watching from the window of the Four Seasons, gazing down at girls her age walking home from school and wishing she could drop pots of flowers on their heads. Jealousy used to flow through her veins like it was blood except it was thicker and made her brain pulsate with hatred whenever she saw someone succeeding. She desperately wanted to take it from them because she could never have what they did. And it wasn't fair.

She no longer found the path of vengeance to be tempting, but there were some nights were jealousy would creep back into her mind and remind her what her life could've been if Madam hadn't snatched it up from her.

She made a quick sign of the cross as she passed the body, wishing Stephanie peace in the afterlife. It wasn't fair that she was so tortured by her hatred of others throughout her life.

"Get away from her!" Someone slurred loudly by the church entrance. Everyone turned towards the door where Mr. Woods was swaying and struggling to stand up straight. Virginie swore she could smell the Jack Daniels reeking off of his breath from where she was standing. He was in his pajamas, a wifebeater, and stained slim-fitting boxer briefs. He could barely stand up straight, and there was a person behind him trying to hold him back, but he kept pushing them away. "None of you have ever deserved her! Nobody in this room loved her!"

He stumbled his way to the front of the congregation and put an accusing finger in Alex's face, and to Alex's credit, he didn't even flinch. "You! You're around here, parading your fifty cent whore in a house of God, pretending that you ever loved my daughter. How dare you disgrace her name!"

Virginie was amused at the drunken man's ranting but didn't say or do anything to show how she felt. Jabari opened his mouth to say something, his entire body tensed. But Alex put a hand up to calm his friend. Virginie was intrigued to hear what he was going to say.

"Look at yourself," Alex replied, gesturing to the man. "You're at your daughter's funeral in last night's pajamas, smelling like a frat party. Don't talk about me when you're talking like that in a cathedral. You're the one who's disrespecting your daughter's memory by coming to her funeral drunk." He turned his nose to one of the most powerful men in NYC without a second thought. "Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to find my seat and wait for the priest to start the service like a civilized person."

Mr. Woods stared at him, dumbfounded by Alex's polite outburst. Virginie could almost see his heart breaking in two and being torn to shreds at the realization that he was a drunken mess at his only daughter's funeral.

"Dad, please, listen to him," a young man pleaded, rising from the pews. He was tall and tanned. His face wasn't sad; it was tired. He had the same golden hazel eyes as Stephanie. He wore an all-black suit.

Alex's face filled with recognition and sadness as he turned to see who it was. "Ruben, I'm sorry for your loss, man." He clasped his arms around Ruben who didn't look distressed at all but accepted the gesture.

Mr. Woods stared at his hands before walking back towards the entrance of the church, the entire congregation with their eyes glued onto the man who raised the deceased.

Alex sat down. Virginie noticed that he hadn't stared too long at the body which could be a good and a bad thing, depending on how you looked at it. She knew that he didn't stare long because he didn't care, but it could be interpreted as that he didn't want to see his ex-girlfriend dead again because of the way he found her. She hoped that the cops bought the latter. Alex's performance with Mr. Woods would support the innocent theory.

Alex was sitting in the seat closest to the aisle. Before sitting down, Jabari and Virginie looked at each other and nodded in an unspoken agreement. Jabari sat next to Alex and Virginie sat next to Jabari. Alex stared at the two of them incredulously while Jabari winked. Virginie didn't give him the satisfaction of reacting. She wanted to be close to him, but you don't always get what you want.

Alex opened his mouth to respond, but Jabari gave him a hard stare that shut him up. "She's already risking a lot being here, idiot. Be quiet and enjoy your blessings."

Alex turned his nose but Virginie could tell that he was embarrassed. You wouldn't be able to tell by his face, but his nose twitched whenever he got nervous or embarrassed. Virginie thought it was the cutest thing.

He's doing a great job so far, despite everything.

She could tell that the detectives were here in plainclothes, trying to act like a friend paying their respects. From one quick glance, Virginie noticed five of them. She smiled to herself. No amount of training could teach these cops how to turn off their tense body language.

But she was still filled with an uneasy feeling that wasn't going away. She felt a heavy presence in the room and couldn't understand where it was coming from.

She had told Robert that she was coming to the funeral and he had asked her if he could come, but she thought it wouldn't be appropriate. She doubted that he would follow her here.

She didn't know what was about to go down, but she knew it wasn't going to be good.

Alex entered his penthouse with a sigh. He had been keeping the sad boyfriend face on all day. It had been tiring listening to hundreds of people repeating the same "my deepest condolences" bullshit over and over. Why were they sorry? Why did they feel for him? He hadn't lost a single thing. In fact, he had gained a peace of mind that he hadn't had for months.

He turned the light on and went into his kitchen to pour himself a drink. He grabbed a shallow glass from his wooden cabinet, added some ice cubes and poured himself a glass of whiskey. He didn't even understand why he was doing this. He didn't drink often, and he hated whiskey, but he needed a drink right now.

He undid his tie and threw it on one of his bar stools before heading into the living room. Virginie had been singing praises about a show on Netflix that had been added recently called Castlevania, and that's what he was going to watch tonight before heading to bed. He had played the game when he was a kid, and Virginie usually had excellent taste in television.

He went into the living room and turned the light on. He moved to grab the remote when he heard a voice that shattered his entire world.

"Hello brother mine," a voice said.

Alex looked up slowly and saw Robert sitting on his couch like he lived there, training a gun straight to the center of Alex's forehead. He looked smug and wore a black suit like he was dressed for Alex's funeral. The smile he fashioned was one of lethal intent.

"Father wants to see you in his office. Your punishment is long overdue, don't you think?"

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