Chapter 1

At dawn on the fourth day, I'll have to leave.

Meanwhile, my husband, Charles Ford, is trying on wedding outfits for his ceremony with Jessica Lane.

He has no idea that the woman in his arms, the one who wouldn't even crush an ant, just cornered my son and forced spoiled milk down his throat.

He knows even less that the one who shoved his mother down the stairs, faked that cheating video of me, and got me killed on that winter night was Jessica too.

I rushed at her like I'd lost my mind, wanting to claw that fake, saintly face to pieces.

I screamed, "Charles, turn around and look!"

But my hand passed right through his chest, stirring nothing but air.

Just when despair swallowed me whole, my son, the quietest and most timid one, the boy who was always scared into silence, suddenly looked toward where I was standing and softly called out, "Mom, did you come back?"

The digital clock on the wall ticked forward. The numbers turned red. It was the color of a countdown.

The little bit of attachment that the Ferryman had granted me was slowly evaporating inside this villa.

Charles didn't hear our son's call. He was focused on what he was doing.

Click.

A blue flame burst from the metal lighter. What he held in his hand was our photo from when we got our marriage license ten years ago.

The flame licked one corner of the picture, and my smiling face quickly blackened, curled, and turned to ash.

I once loved him just like that photo burned, until there was nothing left of me. And in the end, all I left in his heart was a smear of dirty ash.

I lunged to grab it. Even as a soul, I wanted to keep that tiny shred of proof that we'd once loved each other.

My fingertips passed through the fire, feeling nothing. Nothing but a helplessness that sank into my bones.

The photo dropped into the ashtray, the flame still dancing.

Charles stared at the fire and said coldly, "Burn it all. I don't want to see a single thing that woman left behind at the wedding."

Jessica sat on the armrest beside him. She was wearing my favorite beige cashmere sweater.

Charles had given it to me for my birthday last year, and I'd only worn it a few times because I couldn't bear to ruin it. Now on her, it made her look so gentle, so harmless.

Jessica said softly, "Charles, don't let yourself get this worked up."

Jessica rested a hand on his shoulder, her fingertip tracing circles over his muscles. "Emily may have done awful things, abusing your mother and betraying you, but the dead deserve some peace."

Her breath brushed his ear as her eyes turned red with tears. "I just feel bad for you. Your mother was lying in the ICU, and Emily was out there spending your money on... that man."

I stood right in front of them, screaming at the top of my lungs, "He was my doctor!

"That was my stomach cancer diagnosis, not some hotel record!

"Jessica! Didn't your conscience hurt when you edited that video?"

No one paid me any attention. The only thing in the air was the scorched smell of the burning photo.

In Charles's eyes, I was the vicious woman who shoved his mother down the stairs, ran off with his money, and died out there like karma finally caught up with me.

He hated me so much he probably wished even my ashes would get blown away.

A small voice called, "Dad..."

Two tiny figures were huddled by the staircase.

Eight-year-old Lily was clutching a worn stuffed doll.

It was the last toy I'd ever sewn for her.

She wanted to step forward, but her ten-year-old brother Oliver held her back with all his strength.

Charles looked up.

Those eyes that used to look affectionate even when he looked at a dog were now bloodshot.

"Who told you two to come down here?" I asked coldly.

The moment he spat that out, Lily's shoulders caved in, like her whole little body had shrunk.

Jessica stood up, wearing the perfect stepmother smile. "I asked them to come down. We're trying on outfits tomorrow, so I thought the kids should get measured too."

She walked toward Lily.

Lily instinctively shrank back, her legs trembling. "Aunt Jessica... I don't want to get measured."

Jessica crouched down with her back to Charles.

I hovered in midair and saw everything clearly.

That vicious hand of hers pretended to smooth Lily's clothes while brutally pinching the inside of her thigh. It was the softest, most tender spot.

Lily's mouth flew open in pain, but she didn't dare cry out.

Because Jessica's lips were right by her ear, her whisper cold as ice. "Make one sound and you're sleeping in the dog crate tonight."

"Jessica, you fucking monster!" I threw myself at her like a madwoman.

I wanted to rip her mouth apart and break her hands. But I was nothing more than a gust of wind through an empty hall. All I managed to do was stir a strand of her hair.

In that moment, I hated being a soul more than anything. All I could do was watch my daughter, tears pooling in her eyes, being led around by that devil.

"Look at her. She's still not close to me." Jessica turned to Charles, looking wronged and pitiful, "Emily used to tell them I was a bad woman. It's okay, Charles. Time will prove who really cares about them."

Irritated, Charles rubbed his brow and crushed his cigarette out over the ashes of my photo. "Emily was rotten to the core. Of course the kids she raised learned how to lie too."

He pointed at Lily. "Apologize to Aunt Jessica."

Lily was crying so hard she could barely breathe, and she looked to her brother for help.

Oliver, who had stayed silent the whole time, finally stepped forward.