Chapter 4

Woody grumbled angrily, "Seriously, is Barbara doing this just to mess with us? She can't even leave us alone after she's dead, still stirring up trouble!"

I sighed. Woody used to be my assistant. He graduated thanks to the education fund I set up, and I mentored him from the ground up.

According to the storyline, he harbored feelings for Ramona all his life, chose never to marry, and devoted himself to being her assistant forever.

Woody was already so deep into his role, utterly loyal to Ramona, he'd long forgotten he was once my assistant. Now he was bitterly calling me cruel, even after death.

Ramona hung up the phone and turned to Jenson, her voice cracked. "Honey, Barbara's dead."

Jenson was changing clothes, and his hand paused mid-buttoning his shirt.

He frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Ramona pulled up Simon's latest post on Instagram and swallowed hard. "Honey, Barbara really is dead."

In the post, a crystal coffin was surrounded by thousands of roses, and Simon, with red-rimmed eyes, placed a ring inside.

Next to it was a sign that read: [I loved you more than anything in this life.]

Jenson's hand trembled, and his phone fell heavily onto the carpet.

He took a deep breath, bent down to pick up his phone, fumbling several times before finally grabbing it. He dialed the number over and over before finally getting through to a police officer he knew.

"Officer Ross, there's some rumor going around that something happened to my ex-wife, Barbara. Nothing like that happened in the city today, right?" Jenson asked.

There was a pause on the other end. Dave Ross said, "Mr. Lindsey, your ex-wife jumped into the sea yesterday afternoon. She didn't make it. I thought you knew. Her last call was to you..."

Jenson's phone crashed to the floor again.

Jenson swayed on his feet, his voice shaking. "No way. That's impossible!"

Jenson grabbed a glass, poured water into it awkwardly, and forced a grin. "Officer Ross, you must've been duped. Barbara's always been scared to death of anything risky. She'd never have the guts to jump into the sea!"

He missed the glass completely, drenching the carpet instead.

He turned to Ramona. "Am I right? Maybe they just got the wrong person. Honestly, doesn't she look like just anybody?"

Water kept pouring, soaking his shoes, but he was totally oblivious.

Ramona burst into tears. "Honey, please don't be too upset..."

Jenson shook his head. "I'm not upset. Why would I be?"

He glanced down at the soaked carpet and forced an awkward smile. "You don't get Barbara. She's always scheming something. No way she'd ever jump into the sea. This must be some plot. She's gotta still be alive!"

Jenson's hands shook as he pulled out a cigarette and lit up, taking a fierce, shaky drag. "She's terrified of water. Hell, she'd freak out and cry just from slipping in a pool. No way she'd do it."

Ramona bit her lip. "If you're really that upset, maybe you should go back and see for yourself. I'll be fine..."

Jenson scooped her up in his arms and carried her over to the bed. "I'm not going."

He said, "Dead or alive, it's none of my business. We've got a honeymoon to enjoy!"

I couldn't tear my eyes away as Jenson fumbled with Ramona's buttons, kissing her hungrily, their bodies tangled together right in front of me.

I shouldn't even have tears to shed as a spirit. Still, my eyes burned all the same.

I was about to turn away, but just as I did, I heard Jenson say, "Ramona, I'm sorry. I'm just not in the mood right now."

Ramona bit her lip and asked, "Is it because of Barbara?"

Jenson shook his head. "No, I'm just tired. You go ahead and get some sleep. I'm gonna have a smoke."

With Ramona looking disappointed, he got up and started chain-smoking by the window.

It wasn't until deep into the night, when Ramona was sound asleep, that Jenson finally slipped back into bed.

He rolled around restlessly, mind racing, grabbing his phone to check the local news from our city. But the moment the homepage loaded, he recoiled as if he'd just seen a ghost, hurling the phone away.

After more than three agonizing hours of tossing and turning, he shot up in the dead of night, scrambled to book a ticket, and dashed out the door like he was being chased by demons.

He even fumbled his suit jacket, buttons all mismatched, two stray tears tracked down his cheeks as he let out broken sobs, just like some wounded beast.

His breakdown scared me.

I honestly never expected my death to get such a reaction out of him.

To him, I've always been nothing but trouble. Even the way I breathed made him think I was hogging all the air on earth just to suffocate Ramona.

When Ramona first started at the company, she was supposed to be drafting contracts.

However, she got so distracted by baking videos on her screen that she punched in the wrong number and added two extra zeros. She nearly triggered a disaster for the entire team.