Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Two years after I died, my husband showed up at my door again. He wanted me to give his precious first love one of my kidneys.

"Fiona Sterling, get out here right now! If you hadn't stolen Jade's identity back then, we wouldn't have been apart for so long!"

"Now I'm just asking you to donate an organ as an apology. You have no right to refuse!"

My husband, Gideon Sterling, banged on the door so hard it shook the frame. The noise drew the attention of the neighbors.

Just as he was about to demand my whereabouts, a neighbor spoke up.

"Stop banging. The person who lived there is long gone. She's dead."

"I heard she had a massive hemorrhage after donating part of her liver. She didn't even last two days after the surgery."

Gideon looked stunned for a second, but then his face twisted with disbelief. He assumed the neighbor was part of a scam I'd set up to trick him.

He scoffed, his expression darkening with annoyance.

"She only gave up a piece of her liver, and now she's playing dead? Tell her she's not fooling anyone."

"You tell her she has three days to show her face. If she doesn't, I'm cutting off all financial support for her parents. I'll let them rot!"

Gideon turned and stormed off, leaving the neighbor staring at his back, shaking her head in pity.

"What a tragedy. Her parents died shortly after her, passed away from the sheer grief of losing their only child..."

Outside the door, Gideon's pounding was so violent the windows rattled. I listened to his frantic demands, my heart feeling like it was submerged in ice water.

"Fiona! Stop hiding in there like a coward! Open this door!"

His voice was harsh and grating, dripping with an unfiltered hatred he never tried to hide.

"If you hadn't faked being Jade and tricked me into marriage, we wouldn't have wasted all those years!"

"Now she needs a kidney. Giving yours up is only fair! It's your penance. Don't you dare play dumb with me!"

I tried to drift closer to him, wanting him to see my transparent, ghostly form. But he couldn't see me.

After all, I had been dead for two years.

"You think hiding behind a locked door will save you? Think again."

Gideon pounded a few more times. When there was still no response, he pulled out his phone and dialed my number.

The mechanical voice of a service operator filled the hallway. "The number you have dialed is no longer in service..."

"Fine! You even disconnected your phone? You're pathetic, Fiona! It's just a kidney. It's not like it'll kill you. Are you really that scared?"

I stood beside him, wanting to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Just a kidney. To him, my liver was a small thing, and my kidney was even smaller.

Even my death was an inconvenience to him. Nothing was ever more important than his precious Jade Hancox.

The shouting continued until Mrs. Gable from next door peeked her head out.

The elderly woman tried to stop him. "Young man, stop that. Fiona hasn't been here for a long time. She's gone."

Gideon froze, turning to glare at Mrs. Gable. "Gone? Who are you trying to kid?"

"It's the truth. Why would I lie?" Mrs. Gable sighed. "Last year, she donated her liver to someone. There were complications, a massive bleed. She passed away two days later. Everyone in this building knows."

Mrs. Gable's voice was heavy with sincerity. For a moment, Gideon looked genuinely rattled.

His lips parted as if to ask for details, but then his phone chimed. It was a message from Jade.

It read: "Gideon, don't look for her anymore. I'll figure something else out for the kidney. Don't make things hard for Fiona."

If Gideon had any lingering doubts about my death, that one sentence erased them completely.

Jade's supposed kindness made my apparent refusal look even more malicious. Gideon clicked his screen shut and let out a cold snort.

"Dead from a liver donation? What a joke! Last time she barely helped Jade, she complained the whole time. She's obviously paid you off to lie for her!"

"You tell her she has three days to contact me. If she doesn't, I'm stopping the payments for her parents' medical care. They'll be left with nothing!"

Mrs. Gable's pity turned into pure sadness as she looked at him.

She opened her mouth to speak, but Gideon was already walking away in a rage.

"Fiona, you wait. I'll dig you out if I have to! I won't let anything happen to Jade!"

He left so quickly he didn't hear Mrs. Gable's final whisper about my parents being dead too...

I felt a strange pull, forced to follow Gideon as he got into his car and called Jade.

The moment she picked up, his voice turned incredibly soft.

"Jade, stop defending her. Did she think about you when she used those dirty tricks to marry me? You're just too kind, always thinking about people like her."

"Don't worry. I'll make sure Fiona shows up. She owes us this. She has to pay us back!"

The person on the other end seemed to be trying to talk him down, but Gideon wasn't listening.

"You're too soft-hearted! A liar like her deserves to pay the price. If it weren't for her, we would have been married years ago."

"Anyway, just leave this to me. Rest easy."

Listening to his promises, I couldn't help but smile bitterly.

During our five years of marriage, I had given him everything. In the end, he couldn't even give me a decent look.

I donated my liver because he had begged me in tears, saying Jade desperately needed a donor.

I loved him, so I wanted to help him fulfill his wish. But he never even bothered to ask if I survived the surgery.

Now that I'd been dead for two years, the only reason he was looking for me was to harvest another organ for his mistress.

The most hilarious part was that he was trying to use my parents as leverage.

He had no idea they had both passed away shortly after I did, unable to bear the shock of losing their daughter.