Chapter 2

Natalie's POV

Back at the apartment, Melissa truly began to make good on her promise.

Spring cleaning.

"What is this? So ugly."

Melissa yanked my trench coat from the closet-the birthday gift Adrian had given me last year.

Back then he'd held me and said, "You look most elegant in this."

Now he leaned against the doorframe, cigarette in hand, glancing at the coat.

"Throw it out."

"What about this? This bag's all worn. Aren't you embarrassed?"

That was my interview bag for reporting. I'd used it for four years, carrying it to countless crime scenes.

"Throw it out."

"These books are all yellowed, and this pile of notebooks..."

Those were my interview notes, containing leads on every case I'd investigated, including the dirt on Lincoln Medical Group that led to my death.

I rushed over in a panic.

"You can't throw those away! Adrian! Those are evidence! Evidence I was going to give to the police!"

I tried to grab the notebooks.

But Melissa's hand passed right through me as she stuffed all the notebooks into a black trash bag.

Adrian walked over and bent down to lift the heavy bag.

"Just waste paper taking up space."

He carried my life's work, my entire life, and turned to leave.

"Adrian! Look at them! Just open one and look!"

I followed him, screaming.

If he'd just open one page, he'd see what I'd found out. He'd know how I died.

But he didn't.

He walked to the hallway and dumped the trash bag straight into the garbage bin.

He even dusted off his hands as if they were dirty.

When he came back, Melissa was shrieking in the bathroom.

"Adrian! Look at this!"

I floated over.

Melissa pointed at a small box on the sink.

Inside lay a simple ring.

Our wedding ring.

When we got married, Adrian had nothing. I used three years of savings to buy those rings. I didn't care that he was poor. I said we'd build a life together.

Back then, he slid that ring onto my finger, crying like a child.

He'd said, "Natalie, from now on, everything I have, I'll give to you."

Now Melissa held it between her fingers, disgusted.

"This is your wedding ring? Not even worth much. Why leave it here to bother people?"

Adrian leaned in the bathroom doorway, his gaze falling on the ring.

Just a moment's pause.

"It is pretty bothersome." He walked over and took the ring from Melissa's hand.

I thought he'd put it away.

Even if just for show.

But he didn't.

He walked to the toilet and opened his fingers.

"Clink."

The sound of the ring hitting the water was piercingly clear.

Then came the sound of the flush being pressed.

The rushing water swept the ring away, and with it, my last shred of hope.

I stood in the cramped bathroom, watching the whirlpool disappear, watching the calm water surface.

My heart felt completely emptied by that flush.

"Out with the old, in with the new."

Adrian pulled Melissa close and kissed her cheek.

"Tomorrow I'll take you to pick out a big one. With diamonds."

Melissa smiled happily.

"That's more like it. That cheap ring wasn't worth anything anyway."

"Yeah, worthless."

Adrian agreed.

They walked out of the bathroom laughing, turning off the light.

Darkness swallowed me instantly.

I crouched by the toilet, staring at that pitch-black drain.

Adrian.

That was three years of savings.

That was money we'd saved eating dry bread in our rental apartment for so long.

That was what you knelt down and put on my finger when you proposed.

You said it was worthless.

Yes.

If the person wasn't worth anything, what was a ring?

That night, Adrian slept on the couch.

Melissa refused to sleep in the master bedroom because I'd used the mattress. She insisted on replacing it tomorrow before she'd sleep there. Tonight she took the guest room.

Adrian didn't object.

Late at night, the house was quiet.

I floated in the living room, watching Adrian on the couch.

He wasn't sleeping.

He held his phone. The screen lit up his face.

He was looking at stocks.

Or some other financial news.

Definitely not at photos of me.

Suddenly, he pressed his phone against his chest and let out a long breath.

That sigh was deep and heavy.

Like exhaustion suppressed for too long.

He sat up and pulled out a pack of cigarettes from under the coffee table.

He lit one.

The red ember glowed in the darkness.

He didn't smoke it, just held it between his fingers, watching the smoke curl upward.

The ash burned down to his hand, but he didn't move.

I watched him.

I'd watched him smoke countless times in the middle of the night before. Back then he worried about cases. I'd walk over, take away his cigarette, pour him a warm glass of milk.

He'd pull me close by the waist, burying his face in my embrace like a child.

Now I couldn't even touch him.

"Natalie." He suddenly spoke.

His voice hoarse, especially clear in the silent night.

I jolted.

"You stupid woman."

He laughed and stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray.

"Won't give me peace even after death."

For that instant, I thought he regretted it.

I thought he was thinking of me.

But the next second, he picked up his phone and made a call.

"Hello, Mr. Lincoln. She's asleep...Don't worry, I cleared out all her stuff. Yeah, I'll handle the transfer tomorrow. Right, I want the house under Melissa's name as soon as possible.."

I floated in midair, listening to him calmly settle my affairs.

So that sigh was him calculating how to please his new masters faster.

Stupid woman.

Yes, I was really stupid.

Dead and still being cursed in his mind.

Adrian.

If ghosts could really kill people.

I'd strangle you right now.