Chapter 2

My death was actually a reason for him to celebrate.

The black Maybach pulled up in front of a sprawling bridal boutique.

Victor practically sprinted toward the doors with eager anticipation.

It was the exact same exclusive store he had booked for us years ago.

He had been just as eager and breathless back then.

He had wrapped his arms tightly around my waist on the day we got secretly engaged.

He had kissed my forehead with so much intense devotion.

"Cecilia, you will be the most dazzling bride in all of New York," he had whispered against my skin.

Now, he was looking at Selena with that exact same tender gaze.

She was standing on the velvet pedestal in a magnificent white lace gown.

Victor reached out with steady hands.

He gently adjusted the intricate hem of her skirt.

"It suits you perfectly," he said softly.

Selena's eyes immediately turned red with tears of joy.

She stood on her tiptoes and pressed a delicate kiss to his cheek.

"Victor, I can finally stand by your side legitimately."

Victor smiled and pulled a velvet box from his coat pocket.

He fastened a ruby necklace around her neck.

It was the exact pigeon-blood ruby he had bought for me at an auction three years ago.

My ghost lunged forward in a sudden fit of absolute madness.

I tried to smack the stolen necklace right off her throat.

My translucent hand simply passed straight through Victor's solid chest.

I stared at my empty palms in overwhelming despair.

Selena was the real culprit who ruined Chloe's life.

It was her!

Yet now this vicious murderer was standing here as his beloved fiancée!

Selena looked at her beautiful reflection in the mirror.

She suddenly put on a highly convincing, worried face.

"Victor, won't Cecilia be angry when she finds out you gave me this necklace?" Selena asked, her voice dripping with fake innocence.

Victor's face instantly went blank with disgust.

"Who cares?"

Selena sighed softly.

"We should still send her a wedding invitation, don't you think? I really want her blessing."

Victor's lips curled into a cruel smirk.

"Of course we will. She is our most 'important' witness."

A sudden, freezing chill washed over my soul.

He even wanted to force me to watch him marry another woman.

Wearing a wedding dress had become my lifelong, unattainable dream.

We had never actually held our own wedding ceremony.

His mother had vehemently opposed her wealthy son marrying a commoner who only knew how to dance.

Our wedding was postponed indefinitely to keep the peace.

Everything completely shattered on the night of my premiere.

A massive iron stage prop had plummeted from the theater rafters.

It had crushed Chloe, leaving his little sister in a massive pool of blood.

Chloe had been arguing with me backstage just minutes before the horrific accident.

Victor firmly believed I had orchestrated the accident to eliminate all threats to my principal title.

The doctor handed him Chloe's permanent vegetative state notice that very night.

Victor dragged me by my arm to the ICU door, forcing me to kneel on the cold hospital floor.

"Cecilia, unless Chloe wakes up, I will never forgive you."

From that day on, I fell from his cherished love to his personal prisoner.

He used the entire Hawthorne Group to completely blacklist my ballet career.

He locked me inside the empty, suffocating mansion.

He purposely brought different women home to spend the night in our bed.

"Does the noble principal dancer feel bad?" he would mock me mercilessly.

"Compared to Chloe lying in cold machines, you asked for every bit of this!"

I screamed and cried until my throat bled to explain my innocence.

My desperate pleas only earned me worse, more creative humiliation.

He had once fought his entire powerful family to be with me.

Now, he was completely blinded by the lie that I had destroyed his sister.

Victor eventually escorted a glowing Selena out of the boutique.

He got back into the driver's seat of the Maybach.

Probably wanting to flaunt his upcoming wedding to Selena, he pulled his phone out and finally removed my number from his blacklist.

He tapped his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel as he dialed.

The call rang endlessly into the digital void.

"Cecilia, you actually dare to ignore my calls!" he hissed, slamming his fist hard against the steering wheel.

My soul floated in the backseat, watching him without a single ripple of emotion.

I am not ignoring your calls, Victor.

I just died and could never answer the phone again.