Chapter 2

After Garrett settled Savannah into her room, Silas came running down the hall. He brushed past Garrett without a second glance.

Silas grabbed my cold hand, his whole body trembling. He wanted to stroke my hair, but as his fingers touched my frozen forehead, tears streamed down his face.

"You idiot," he whispered. "If you had just married me back then, you wouldn't have ended up dead and forgotten."

Seeing Silas look so disheveled and heartbroken made my ghost-self want to cry. He must have rushed back from out of state the second he heard.

Silas had left the city right after my wedding. He told me Garrett couldn't stand him, and he didn't want to cause me any trouble.

I grew up as an orphan and was adopted by the Vance family when I was seven. Silas was my older brother by name.

At first, he didn't like me, but as the years went by, he became my biggest protector.

I eventually broke ties with my adoptive parents because of Garrett. They wanted me to marry into another wealthy family for a business merger.

I knew they didn't love me; I was just a bargaining chip to them. Silas was the one who helped me escape their house.

I had known about Silas's feelings for a long time. But I couldn't marry him―it would have been a scandal my parents would never allow.

Silas prepared to take my body away. At the same time, Garrett was heading out to get food for Savannah.

She had mentioned craving a specific cake from a bakery twenty miles away, and he didn't hesitate for a second to go get it.

When I was alive, I once asked him to pick up a simple burrito from the shop downstairs on his way home. He told me he was too tired to make the detour.

Silas and Garrett came face to face in the hallway. My body was covered by a white sheet on the gurney.

Garrett recognized Silas immediately.

"Move," Silas said, his voice cold and sharp. Why would he be polite to the man who had effectively killed me?

Garrett's eyes flickered with a strange emotion. He stepped back out of respect for the dead.

But as Silas turned to wheel the gurney away, Garrett's eyes locked onto the scar on my exposed ankle.

"Wait!" Garrett shouted, as if a memory had just been triggered.

He chased after Silas. "Who... who is this person?"

My breath hitched. I was terrified Silas would tell him I was dead, but I was also strangely desperate for him to know. I wanted to see his face when he realized the truth.

Silas went silent for a long moment before he spoke.

"She's my wife."

I was stunned. So was Garrett. Garrett knew everything about my background, including Silas's long-standing crush on me.

"When the hell did you get married?" Garrett blurted out, looking confused.

Silas let out a mocking laugh.

"I don't think that's any of your business, Mr. Judge."

Garrett choked on his words, his expression turning cynical.

"You used to claim you loved Lyra so much. I guess you moved on pretty fast."

Silas stopped walking and turned back to glare at Garrett.

"Compared to what you did, I haven't done nearly enough."

The sarcasm was so thick I knew Garrett had to have felt it.

I followed Silas out of the hospital. I looked back at Garrett one last time, realizing I didn't love him as much as I thought I did.