The Fiancée Who Died Twice

The typical bright Texas morning was promising, another day of booming business for Hayes Corp, my family's oil and real estate empire.

My assistant's tight voice cut through the calm: "Mr. Hayes, there's... news. About Ms. Moreau."

Isabelle "Izzy" Moreau, my fiancée, was supposedly lost at sea in a tragic boating accident off the coast of Maine.

In my previous life, that phone call had shattered my world; I spent fifty years as a hollow shell, honoring her memory while her supposed grieving friends drained my company with their sob stories.