Chapter 3

A few days later, Caleb’s phone rang as he held Emily close, her head resting comfortably on his shoulder. It was his mother.

"Caleb, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you two. Why don’t you bring Grace over for dinner tomorrow? I tried calling her, but her phone’s been off for days. What have you both been so busy with?"

Hearing her familiar voice, a deep ache spread through my ghostly chest. She had been my mom’s closest friend. After my parents died in that car accident, it was she who had taken me in and treated me like a daughter when I had no one left.

Caleb’s expression darkened, and a bitter sneer twisted his lips. "Mom, don’t waste your kindness. She’s just an ungrateful leech. Even if she’s mad at me, she shouldn’t be ignoring your calls. That’s just disrespectful."

I stood right in front of him, my spirit bound to this nightmare, hearing him reduce me to nothing but a thankless parasite.

"Caleb, I know you still care about that other woman," his mother said, her tone both sharp and pleading. "But you married Grace. You have a responsibility to her. I don’t want to have to answer to her mother in the afterlife for failing her daughter."

His expression grew even darker. After a few curt, dismissive replies, he hung up, his gaze softening immediately as he looked down at Emily. He managed a gentle, reassuring smile, the kind he used to give me, and held her closer.

"Caleb," Emily whispered, as if a sudden thought had crossed her mind, "has Grace... has she not tried to contact you at all?"

"Contact me?" he scoffed, his jaw tightening. "Why should she? She nearly killed you. It’s better if she stays gone."

He paused, his expression growing suddenly serious. "Emily, just give me a little more time. Once I finalize the divorce, I’ll make this right. I’ll give you the title you deserve."

Emily’s eyes brightened, and she snuggled deeper into his chest, her voice dripping with false humility. "I don’t care about that... as long as Grace doesn’t hate me."

"She wouldn’t dare," Caleb interrupted her, reassuring her with a low, possessive tone while holding her firmly, attempting to quell her fears.

Watching this, a bitter, twisted rage flared in my chest. How could he promise her this when he’d sworn his life to me just years ago?

Perhaps in preparation for this impending divorce, Caleb actually came home the next day.

He entered our house, and his brows knitted together when he didn’t see me. His irritation flared. He had the connections to find me if he really wanted to, but the fact that he hadn’t even tried until now made one thing clear—he was waiting for me to come crawling back to him.

Days passed, and when I still didn’t appear, his calls started coming in, each one angrier than the last.

Then, one day, his phone buzzed again. This time, it was an unknown number. Assuming it was me, he snatched it up without hesitation.

"Grace, you’ve got some nerve, ignoring me—"

"Is this Grace Trevor’s family member?" a calm, professional voice cut him off. "Her body has been in our hospital morgue for almost two months now. Could you please come to identify and claim it?"

I watched as Caleb’s entire frame went rigid. His hand froze in midair, the blood draining from his face. He forced out a bitter laugh, his voice dripping with disbelief.

"Is this some kind of sick joke? Grace? That woman wouldn’t die even if the world were ending."

"I’m sorry, sir," the voice on the other end continued, unshaken. "You’re currently listed as her primary emergency contact. You’re the only one we could reach."

A sharp, humorless laugh burst from his throat. "Then, just treat her like an unclaimed body," he spat before slamming the phone down.

His eyes burned darkly, his chest rising and falling with each angry breath.

I felt a twisted sense of satisfaction. He really hadn’t considered, not even for a second, that I might actually be gone. To him, I was just a schemer, a conniving woman who would do anything to hold onto him.

Immediately, he dialed my only close friend, Zoe Lovery, his tone sharp and seething.

"Zoe, where’s Grace? Tell her to stop this nonsense and come home, or so help me, I won’t even bother collecting her if she ends up dead in a ditch somewhere."

There was a stunned silence on the other end before Zoe’s voice, thick with rage and fear, burst through the line.

"Caleb, are you insane? I should be asking you where Grace is! She’s been missing for weeks!"

Caleb let out a cold, mocking laugh. "This is just her latest trick, isn’t it? Disappear for a while, make me worry, and then come crawling back, begging for my attention. Pathetic."

Tears blurred my vision as his words sliced through what little remained of my soul.

In that moment, my heart, already long dead, shattered into a thousand unrecognizable pieces.