Chapter 1

1

Six years after I supposedly cheated on him with a wealthy heir, my ex-boyfriend Caleb Thorne finally returned from abroad.

The poor boy who once couldn't even afford a single rose had transformed into a world-renowned Wall Street titan.

He came back for one reason: to see me, the gold-digging girl who lacked vision, groveling at his feet in bitter regret.

But what he didn't know was that six years ago, I had already died of leukemia.

The seed money he used to start his empire was actually the final gift I sent him right before I drew my last breath.

......

Six years after my death, Caleb returned. He was now a rising star in the business world, a man whose face graced the covers of every major financial magazine.

At the airport, Caleb's expression was cold and distant. In these six years, he seemed both unchanged and entirely different.

I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Perhaps I had been dead for so long that my memories were starting to blur.

Dozens of cameras and microphones were pointed directly at his face.

The reporters swarmed him, creating a human barricade that made it impossible for him to move.

Seeing Caleb again made my heart skip a beat.

Then I remembered―I was just a soul now. It was strange that a ghost could still feel its heart flutter.

"Mr. Thorne, we heard you returned to the country for an engagement. Is that true?"

A reporter's voice cut through the noise. Even though the crowd was shouting a thousand different things, that was the only sentence I heard clearly.

Caleb heard it too. He looked at the reporter with a faint, calm expression that screamed authority.

"Yes," he replied.

Those two short words made my non-existent breath catch in my throat.

The press went wild. The reporters, who had only been interested in his success story moments ago, now smelled blood and shifted their focus to his romantic life.

"Mr. Thorne, rumors say you had a girlfriend before you left. Did you come back to get engaged to her?"

I held my breath. Even though I knew what his answer would be, a part of me still hoped he would say something else.

A crack appeared in Caleb's calm mask. He smirked, but the smile never reached his cold eyes.

"Her? Is she even worthy? The woman I'm marrying is Scarlett Emerson. She's the one who stayed by my side through the darkest, most difficult times of my life."

"I'm not marrying some gold-digger who threw me away because I was poor."

Oh, Scarlett Emerson. I remembered her. I had seen her before; she was a wealthy socialite and Caleb's junior back in college.

The two of them... they were a perfect match.

I pulled at the corners of my mouth, forcing a bitter, ghostly smile.

The reporters exchanged glances, sensing a new angle for their stories, and continued to shout over one another.

"Your ex-girlfriend looked down on you for being poor and cheated with a rich heir. Do you hate her?"

I froze. So everyone knew about it? I suppose it made sense.

Back then, a video of Caleb crying in the rain, begging me not to leave, had been uploaded online by a passerby. In the video, I ignored his pleas and stepped into a luxury car, holding another man's arm.

That video had gone viral instantly. Now that Caleb was a famous success, people had dug up every scrap of his past.

Thinking of that rainy night made my heart ache with a phantom pain.

Caleb's eyes darkened as he stared directly into the camera. His gaze was so poisonous it felt like he was looking at me, not the lens.

"Hate her? Calling a woman like that my ex-girlfriend is an insult to me."

My soul went stiff. Caleb had every right to hate me, but hearing him say it out loud hurt more than I could bear.

Caleb's assistant stepped in to hold back the reporters, and Caleb walked forward with a blank face.

"Caleb! What took you so long? I've been waiting forever."