Chapter 2 - The Living GhostI woke up to the rhythmic beat of a heart monitor.
The air was warm, smelling of antiseptic and fresh lilies. I forced my eyes open. I wasn’t on a snowy cliff, nor was I in a standard public hospital. I was in a high-tech medical suite inside a private estate, surrounded by state-of-the-art life-support systems.
Panicked, my hand flew instantly to my belly.
It was flat.
“No… no, no!” I screamed, tearing at the IV lines in my arm. “My baby!”
“Emma, stop! Calm down!” Gabriel rushed to my bedside, gently holding my arms down.
“Where is my son? Is he—?”
A soft whimper cut through my panic. Gabriel turned and wheeled a glass bassinet closer to the bed. Inside, hooked up to tiny monitors but breathing steadily, was a beautiful, frail little boy with a tiny tuft of dark hair.
“He’s small, and he came into this world in a blizzard, but he’s a fighter,” Gabriel said softly, a rare smile breaking his hardened face. “Just like his mother. Meet your son, Emma.”
Tears streamed down my face as I reached out, brushing my knuckle against his microscopic fingers. He gripped my fingernail weakly, as if recognizing the touch that had kept him alive on that ledge.
“What did you name him?” Gabriel asked.
“Leo,” I whispered. “Because he survived the monsters.”
Gabriel’s expression darkened, the warmth fading into cold calculation. He pulled up a large tablet screen and angled it toward me.
“Speaking of monsters… take a look at this.”
On the screen was a live broadcast from the Denver Memorial Chapel.
There stood Michael, clad in a tailored black suit, holding a silk handkerchief to his eyes. Next to him was Ashley, dressed in a black designer dress, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. In front of them sat two sleek mahogany caskets—one large, one painfully small.
“The search and rescue team found a wrecked car near the ravine,” Gabriel explained. “I made sure they found two unidentified, burned remains inside it. The police signed off on the death certificates hours ago. Michael thinks he buried you and Leo this morning.”
I watched as Michael leaned down to kiss the top of the empty casket, wiping away a non-existent tear for the press cameras outside.
“Look at him,” I spat, hatred burning through the pain of my surgical stitches. “He’s posing for the news.”
“He’s already filed the claim for the fifty million dollar insurance payout,” Gabriel said flatly. “And he’s using your death to secure the CEO position at Carter Enterprises.”
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I gripped the bedsheets so hard my knuckles turned white. “He thinks he erased us. He thinks he got away with murder.”
“Let him think that,” Gabriel leaned in, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “A dead woman can’t sue him. But a ghost? A ghost can destroy him piece by piece.”
