RETURN OF THE GHOST

Lily’s POV

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Calderm City. The local time is 9:45 a.m. Please remain seated until the seatbelt sign is switched off.”

The hostess’s voice came through the speakers, and everyone around me started moving, unbuckling seatbelts and reaching for their bags. I sat still for a moment, staring at the seat in front of me. My chest felt tight, reminding me that this was it. I was really back.

When the light finally went off, I got up slowly, clutching my latest Louis Vuitton handbag close to me. The people around me looked normal, tired parents with kids, businesspeople scrolling through their phones, tourists carrying neck pillows. Nobody knew that for me, this wasn’t just another flight. This was me walking back into the past I had been running from for five years.

Stepping out of the plane, the rush of air from the jet bridge hit me. My heart thudded harder. Calderm City. The city where I had once been happy. The city where I had lost everything. The city where I had died, at least in the eyes of the world.

I kept my sunglasses on as I walked through the airport lobby, heading toward the exit. Nobody gave me a second glance the way they used to. No one rushed up to me for a selfie. No one shouted my name from afar. No one whispered about how pretty I looked. And to sum it all up, none of my family stood waiting at the exit doors to welcome me like they always did whenever I returned from a vacation.

The only person standing there, wearing a wide smile, was Charles, my assistant. He was dressed in an all-black suit, his tuxedo collar pulled tightly around his neck. It made me want to laugh, but the heaviness in my chest was stronger than anything else.

“Welcome back, Ma’am,” he said softly, holding the car door wide open for me. “C’mon in.”

The way he held the door reminded me of my father. My father would stand there smiling, while my mother, Clara… my elder sister, and Damian, my sister’s fiancé, sat in the car waiting to squeeze me tightly, away from the paparazzi. They would hold me, plant kisses on me, and shower me with gifts.

I stood there for a while, my eyes fixed on the car as I fought back tears that no one could see under my dark shades. They weren’t there anymore. It had been five years, but the wound still felt as fresh as yesterday.

I forced a smile and stepped into the car. “Thank you,” I said, my voice coming out as a whisper without me realizing it.

Charles shut the door gently and moved to the front. The chauffeur started the engine, and we zoomed off.

“Where are we headed?” I asked casually, scrolling through the latest press news about Adrian Atelier. Adrian’s company. He had just received an award as the Couture Designer of the Season. My blood boiled as my finger traced around his picture on the screen.

That man. Adrian. The man who wiped the joy off my face. The man who turned me into a loner and an orphan. He was the reason I had returned to this city. I came back to show him why he should never have crossed the Graysons. I would make sure what was coming for him would reach him fast. I needed him on his knees, begging for mercy. But mercy wasn’t part of my plan.

“We’re heading to the penthouse, ma’am,” Charles replied, pulling me back to reality. It was one of the properties I had built from scratch while I was away.

“I want to visit my family house,” I said, shoving my phone into my bag.

Charles hesitated before speaking. “Ma’am… the house was demolished a year ago. Right now, it’s farmland.”

“What?” My brows shot up as I met his eyes in the rearview mirror. “What did you just say?”

“Adrian Hastings bought it. It’s now a field used for growing cotton, wool, silk, and flax for fabric production.”

My chest tightened. Adrian had the nerve to buy my father’s land, yet Charles sometimes asked me if I was sure he was behind the massacre of my family five years ago. At this point, I was supposed to be in tears, but none came. The only thing pressing down on me was vengeance.

“I prefer to stay at the mansion,” I said finally. Without delay, the chauffeur made a turn. A few minutes later, we arrived at the mansion.

The butler ushered me in, and the housekeepers gave me a warm welcome before returning to their duties. There were five of them, plus the butler, six in total. That was when I realized they needed to be transferred or even laid off. If I approached Adrian while living as a flashy rich woman, things could go wrong. I needed to stay low-key.

“Have them laid off or transferred to the penthouse or the company,” I ordered. “I’ll be in my room. I don’t want to be disturbed.”

Charles nodded and left.

I dropped onto my bed with a heavy sigh. As much as this city carried memories of my family, I hated being here. I couldn’t wait to serve Adrian from the same plate he had fed me with.

Pulling out my phone again, I scrolled through Adrian’s company page. I searched for vacancies and, luckily, found an opening for a Data Analyst. It wasn’t the role I wanted, I needed something that would put me closer to him but for now, it was enough. Hopefully, I’d get hired and strike from there.

For the past five years, I had worked my way to the top. At twenty-two, I had five degrees, a globally recognized financial company, and valuable assets and properties to my name. All of it was built with one purpose: to rise high enough to be in Adrian’s circle so my revenge would be smooth.

I murmured to myself, “Five years of focusing only on my goals. Five years of depriving myself of fun or even love. Five years of grieving my parents. Five years of watching my sister get violated and shot in front of me. Five years of becoming a new person. Five years of…”

Sleep took me mid-sentence.

The next thing I knew, I was back in our house. Everyone was present for my seventeenth birthday, everyone except Damian, who hadn’t arrived yet. Cakes had been cut, wines popped, and laughter filled the room. Then something else popped, my father’s head, blown apart as assassins stormed in.

My mother fought when they tried to violate her, but they twisted the gun on her, and the bullet took her life. Clara and I screamed in agony, thinking it was over, until they yanked Clara toward them. They took turns with her while I begged and cried. And then, as if that wasn’t enough, they shot her dead.

They were going to kill me too, but my breath stopped on its own, and darkness covered me instantly. They must have thought I died of shock, because they left. But before they did, I heard them whisper a name, Adrian Hastings. I didn’t know why his name was in their mouths, but I knew one thing: he had been my father’s best friend before a fallout turned deadly. From that day onwards…

I jolted awake to the sound of my phone ringing. Grabbing it, I saw an unknown number, but the call ended before I could pick up. A message notification followed.

It was an interview invite from Adrian Atelier.

A slow smile spread across my face.

The universe was finally on my side.