Chapter 1
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 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 mother passed away years ago..." the old man murmured to the empty hall. "Those thugs scared her so badly she had a heart attack..."
*****
The suddenly aggressive roar of a sports car engine cut through the quiet street below.
I hovered by the second-story window, watching as Andrew Sterling and Tina Foster climbed out of the sleek vehicle.
Andrew stepped onto the pavement in a custom-tailored suit. His brow was furrowed in deep irritation as his fist crushed the forged, mangled IOU he was holding.
Tina, meanwhile, lazily leaned against the passenger door, looking entirely unbothered, as if this whole ordeal were just a mild inconvenience to her day.
"Come on, where else would Claire Simmons be hiding?" Andrew snapped at his phone, his voice dripping with ice. "She has a criminal record and barely two pennies to rub together. This rotting apartment is the only place she has."
He listened to the person on the other end for a second, his scowl deepening.
"Forget it. I'll just go up and drag her out myself!" Andrew barked, hanging up the phone. He turned and grabbed Tina by the sleeve. "Let's go. She's up there."
Tina dramatically shrugged her shoulders, her tone sounding light and flippant.
"I don't know. Maybe she finally moved out? I mean, seriously, who would willingly live in a dump like this?"
"Moved out?" Andrew scoffed loudly. "With what money? Stop talking nonsense. Let's just go up and see."
They marched up the concrete stairs, Andrew leading the charge. He hammered his fist against the cheap wooden door, the violent thudding echoing down the entire hallway.
"Claire! Open the damn door! Don't think you can just hide in there and make this go away!" Andrew yelled.
"It was just a little bit of money! Are you seriously so petty that you won't even look us in the eye?"
His shouts grew louder and more aggressive with every passing second, but the apartment remained dead silent.
I was standing right next to him. I watched his face twist with mounting rage, but his eyes looked right through me. He couldn't see me.
Because I was already dead. I had been dead for three years.
His notoriously short patience finally snapped. He took a step back and sharply waved his hand at the massive bodyguard standing behind him.
"Kick it in," he ordered.
The bodyguard didn't hesitate. He raised his heavy boot and kicked the door right off the latch. It slammed violently against the interior wall with a thunderous bang.
Andrew strode into the apartment, his eyes sweeping the room, only to freeze. The space was completely hollow.
There was a thick layer of gray dust blanketing the cheap furniture. It was painfully obvious that no one had breathed the air in this room for years.
"What the hell..." Andrew muttered, stunned. He ground his teeth together. "Where the hell did she disappear to?"
Tina sauntered in behind him. She took one look at the dilapidated, empty room and let out a dramatic sigh of faux sympathy.
"Well, I guess she really doesn't want to see us," Tina said, her voice dripping with fake pity.
Andrew ignored her. He spun around and stormed back out into the hallway, nearly colliding with Max Johnson, an elderly neighbor walking back from the grocery store with plastic bags in his arms.
Andrew grabbed the old man by the shoulder like a drowning man grabbing a life preserver, his tone turning aggressive.
"Where is Claire? Where the hell did she move to?" Andrew demanded.
Max flinched, startled by the aggressive billionaire cornering him. He blinked a few times before answering.
"Claire? She... she's been gone for three years."
Andrew's face froze entirely.
"What? Gone? What do you mean?" he asked, his voice dropping.
Max let out a sorrowful sigh.
"Yeah. I heard a pack of loan sharks cornered the poor girl in an alley downtown. They beat her to death right there on the pavement. Such a tragedy. She was a good kid."
"Oh, come on, how could Claire make up a lie like that?" Tina scoffed, waving a manicured hand.
Andrew was still paralyzed, trying to process the words, when Tina smoothly stepped in.
"Seriously, if she didn't want to help me out, we wouldn't have forced her! Why go through the trouble of spreading rumors that she's dead? That's just sick."
Her casual dismissal hit Andrew like a bucket of ice water.
He instantly snapped out of his shock, letting out a sharp laugh.
"Right. Unbelievable," he sneered. "I made her carry a little bit of debt for a few years, and now she thinks she can play dead to get out of it?"
He turned his glacial glare back to Max.
"You tell her this for me. If I don't hear from her in three days, I'm cutting off the funding for her mother's hospital treatments. When the old woman flatlines, Claire can blame herself!"
Having delivered his ultimatum, Andrew grabbed Tina's wrist and pulled her down the stairs, never once looking back.
Tina flashed Max a sickly sweet smile over her shoulder.
"Sorry, sir! Just pass the message along, please! We wouldn't be doing this if we had any other choice!"
Max stood in the hallway, watching the wealthy couple disappear. He shook his head, sighing with quiet pity.
"But her mother passed away years ago..." the old man murmured to the empty hall. "Those thugs scared her so badly she had a heart attack..."
I floated in the air above them, watching Andrew's broad shoulders disappear down the stairwell. My heart was a frozen, empty void.
He would probably never realize it. My life was the ultimate price paid so his precious Tina could walk free.