All Chapters of Behind the Storage Door: My Husband's Disappearance: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

“Claire? What’s wrong?”A man’s low, velvety voice drifted into my ear, rough with sleep.My eyes flew open.Right in front of me was Ethan’s face, impossibly close—handsome, sharp, and unfairly perfect, with lashes long enough to make any woman jealous.He was lying on his side, propped up on one arm, looking at me so tenderly it almost hurt.My whole body went rigid. Cold sweat instantly soaked through my pajamas.Was this... a dream?Or hell?When I didn’t answer, Ethan leaned in and kissed my forehead, then gave me a wicked little grin.“What, did I break your brain? Don’t tell me I still didn’t wear you out.”He rolled out of bed, bare feet sinking into the carpet.“Be good. I’m going to grab something fun from the storage room. Before tonight’s over, you’ll be begging me to stop.”Boom!The moment I heard the words storage room, something inside my head snapped.Memories from my last life came crashing back in a tidal wave.This was the moment.This night.He said he was going to

But looking at Sophie’s worried face, I felt a flicker of hope.Maybe...Maybe I really was losing my mind.If it was all a hallucination, then why had every detail felt so vivid?“Okay,” I said through clenched teeth. “Let’s check it out.”I forced myself to stand.Sophie supported me as we walked toward the storage room again.At the door, she let go of my arm and flashed me her usual easygoing grin.“Wait out here. I’ll drag your mystery man out myself. If he’s hiding in there, I’m gonna kill him.”She was joking, trying to lighten the mood.Then she pushed the door open and stepped inside.The door swung shut behind her.I stood in the hallway, listening.From inside came the sound of boxes being shifted around.Then suddenly—Silence.And right after that came a short, sharp scream.“Argh!”My heart seemed to stop.“Sophie?”I lunged forward and shoved open the storage room door.The light was on.The cardboard boxes were still scattered across the floor exactly as before.But Sop

When I got home, I started putting on a show.I knew it now—there had to be eyes on me somewhere in that apartment.So I screamed at empty air.“Ethan! Come out! What, are you dead now? Are you some kind of ghost?“Sophie! Stop screwing with me!”As I shouted, I trashed the apartment, smashing whatever I could get my hands on.The crazier I looked, the safer they’d feel.Night fell.I pretended to take sleeping pills, then collapsed on the couch like I’d passed out cold.In reality, I kept my phone clenched tight in one hand.I had already downloaded a highly sensitive sound meter app.Slowly, quietly, I rolled off the couch onto the rug and inched my way toward the storage room.I pressed my phone against that so-called load-bearing wall.Then I held my breath.The whole world went so still I could hear nothing but my own heartbeat.One minute.Ten minutes.Half an hour.Right when I was about to give up, the waveform on my screen twitched.Just once.It was faint, but in the dead sil

Sophie got cocky.She picked up my phone and unlocked it like she’d done it a hundred times before.“This idiot died without ever realizing it was me who swapped out the marriage certificate and deleted the photos.“Even that neighbor, Mrs. Watson? I paid her off. Fifty grand to keep her mouth shut.“She thought the whole world had gone insane, when really she was just stupid.”That one sentence—broadcast live—spread across the internet in seconds.The stream exploded.[Holy shit. It was a con.][This is evil. This is attempted murder.][Call the police! Are these people monsters?]The viewer count shot past a hundred thousand.And just as Ethan pulled out his phone and got ready to enter the transfer PIN…I opened my eyes.Then sat bolt upright on the couch.Staring at their terrified backs, I spoke in a calm, almost ghostly voice.“Wrong password?“Want me to tell you what it is?”“Aah!”“She’s alive!”Ethan and Sophie practically jumped out of their skin. The journal and phone bot

At long last, the farce was over.The public reaction grew even bigger than I’d expected."The Missing Husband" shot to number one on the trending charts.The story of a female tech executive outsmarting a long con turned into exactly the kind of viral revenge tale people couldn’t stop talking about.But I didn’t feel triumphant.I just felt tired.The police froze the money they had tried to move.Ethan had already used some of it to pay off his gambling debts, but my condo was safe, and most of my savings were recovered.Three months later, the case was sentenced.Ethan was convicted of fraud, unlawful imprisonment, and attempted murder. With the charges combined, he got fifteen years in prison.Sophie, as the mastermind—and because the circumstances were especially severe—was sentenced to life.I went to visit her.Through the thick glass, I saw Sophie sitting there with a shaved head, wearing a gray prison uniform, gaunt enough that she barely looked like herself anymore.There was