1 Three years after my death, my CEO husband, Julian Vance, served me with a lawsuit. His claim: the kidney I’d supposedly donated to his golden girl, Serena Bellwether, was defective. With no response from my end, he held a press conference, grandly transferring twenty percent of his company shares to Serena. Finally, his patience snapped, and he stormed back to our old hometown, determined to find me. A neighbor, startled, called out, “Lily? She hasn’t been back since her grandpa passed.” He hammered on the door of my childhood home. My younger sister, Maya, opened it. “Julian Vance? Don’t you know my sister’s been dead for two years?” The man, hands plunged into his pockets, sneered. “Lily Evans playing the disappearing act again? Trying to make me regret it? She dared to ram Serena’s car two years ago, I cut off her cards, and she still wants to throw a tantrum? If Serena’s kidney hadn’t acted up, I wouldn’t even think about forgiving her!” Maya’s brow furrowed. “She’s truly dead! And now you talk about forgiveness? What a joke!” Julian, however, spotted Buster, our old dog, wagging his tail inside. “Buster’s here. Where else could she be? Tell her I’m throwing her a bone. If she’s too stubborn, she can forget ever finding me again!” Buster suddenly limped forward, a frantic, yelping bark tearing from his throat, followed by a full-body spasm. Maya scrambled for the oxygen tank. My spirit reached out instinctively, only to pass straight through him—I was long gone from this world. Julian frowned, a ripple of disgust crossing his face. “Stupid dog! Want another kick?” Two years ago, he’d struck me for Serena’s sake. Buster, our loyal protector, had jumped to my defense and been kicked, leaving his right leg with a permanent nervous tremor. Maya’s voice cracked, raw with grief. “She’s dead! And if she were alive, she’d never see you! I’d make sure she stayed as far away from you as possible!” Julian’s sneer twisted into something uglier. “She hooked up with some wild man behind my back, didn’t she? Just as Serena said, she’s a loose woman!” My spirit felt as if it were being torn apart—I had been driven to my death by him and Serena, and even in death, I was subjected to this vile insult. “Don’t you dare spew such lies! Get out of our house!” Julian’s voice turned vicious. “Everything your family has, I gave you! Your brother’s wedding funds? I paid for them!” He wasn’t entirely wrong. He had extended a hand when my mother was gravely ill and my sister-in-law was pressured into an abortion. But he didn’t know the full truth: I’d been born with only one kidney. The doctor who performed my pre-surgical checks had been bribed by Serena. During the operation, I’d received only half the anesthetic dose. I was awake, enduring excruciating pain as my kidney was extracted and an artificial one implanted. Post-operative complications and infection claimed my life within two weeks. And all that time, he had been by Serena’s side. Maya’s voice broke. “Go to the hospital! Check the death certificate!” Julian scoffed. “The hospital said she was discharged, healthy and fine!” He hadn’t even bothered with a simple verification, choosing only to believe the lies. Just then, my older brother, Leo, arrived home from his construction job, his eyes blazing red. “Julian Vance! You have the audacity to show your face here! The money I borrowed from you? It’s all been paid back!” 2 Julian took a cigarette from his assistant, lighting it, the smoke blurring his features. Leo swatted the cigarette from his hand, his grimy fist clenching, knuckles cracking. “You have no idea how my sister died, do you? Where were you when she got infected after donating her kidney, when they were fighting to save her life? You were in Serena Bellwether’s hospital room, probably peeling her an apple!” “Nonsense!” Julian frowned. “Serena’s recovery was excellent after the surgery. It’s only recently she started showing rejection symptoms. Lily Evans hid her medical history when she donated her kidney, and now she wants to renege on her word?” He pulled out his phone, scrolling through a chat history. “Look, this is her pre-op conversation with the doctor. It clearly states she had two perfectly healthy kidneys!” Maya snatched the phone, slamming it to the ground. “That’s a forgery by Serena! She swapped the real medical report! Go check the anesthesia records from the surgery, the dosage wasn’t even enough!” Julian stared at the shattered screen, a flicker of memory crossing his face—after my surgery, he’d visited my hospital room and seen my face, ashen as paper, beads of cold sweat on my forehead. At the time, he’d dismissed it as me being dramatic. Now… now, he thought back. “Impossible,” he murmured, shaking his head. “Serena isn’t that kind of person…” Before the words fully left his lips, Buster suddenly broke free from Maya’s embrace, limping furiously towards Julian’s briefcase, tearing at it, biting like a mad dog. Maya cried out, pulling Buster away, but a yellowed slip of paper fluttered from a torn seam in the briefcase. It was a note I’d secretly slipped to a nurse before my surgery, scrawled in my own blood: “The doctor was bribed. Help me…” Julian’s pupils contracted sharply. At that very moment, his phone rang, the voice on the other end urgent, breathless: “Mr. Vance, Miss Bellwether… Miss Bellwether just passed away due to acute renal failure! The kidney inside her… it doesn’t seem to be the one donated by Ms. Evans!” The air in the room solidified, heavy and cold. I floated in mid-air, watching Julian stumble backward, knocking over the small charcoal brazier by the door. Flames licked at his pant leg, but he seemed oblivious, his eyes fixed on the blood-stained note on the floor. A low, guttural roar, like that of a cornered beast, rumbled in his throat. It became clear: Serena had found a matching kidney donor long before I “donated” mine. But to bind Julian to her forever, she’d orchestrated this elaborate scheme, making me the supposed donor, then secretly swapping my kidney for someone else’s. And I, with my single, vulnerable kidney, had rapidly succumbed after the forced surgery, becoming a tragic pawn in her twisted game. Now, the truth was laid bare in such a brutal, devastating way. But what could this belated realization ever salvage? Buster continued to bark hoarsely, flecks of blood staining his foam. My spirit grew increasingly transparent, my last gaze lingering on the old oak tree outside our home—the place where Julian and I had buried tokens of our love. Now, only desolation remained. “Leo Evans, your family bled me dry through Lily. Can you ever repay that?” A flicker of raw pain crossed Leo’s eyes. He lowered his head, muttering, “Yes, I burdened her. But you… you have no right to accuse me!” He took two steps, grabbing Julian by the collar. “When Lily married you, I was the first to object. She knelt outside our door for a day and a night, begging me and Dad to agree…” “And what was the result?! You broke her heart, and then you took her life! You should have lived happily ever after with your childhood sweetheart, not come here to disturb her resting spirit!” “Julian Vance! You’re a monstrous scumbag, worse than an animal!” Julian’s face darkened. He pressed the smoldering cigarette butt onto Leo’s clenched fist. The scent of burning flesh immediately filled the air. “Brother!” “It was just one kidney! I gave her ten million dollars! What kind of scumbag is that generous?” “She agreed to it herself, didn’t she? And now you blame me?” Leo roared, “Ten million?! The hundred thousand for the wedding and the five hundred thousand for Mom’s medical bills—I paid you back every cent! You’re slandering us!” “You took the money, but you won’t admit it? Is your whole family this disgusting?” Julian’s brows furrowed in annoyance. He immediately ordered his men to seize my family. “Release those vicious hounds! Teach them a lesson!” Panic seized me. I instinctively dropped to my knees, pleading, but I could only watch helplessly as dark-suited men stormed in, surrounding my family. Drooling, snarling dogs lunged. Leo shielded Maya, but Buster was savagely ripped apart, his body a bloody mess. “No! Stop! Stop it, all of you!” I screamed, my voice raw and desperate, but no one could hear me. Blood-stained tears streamed down my face. Only Buster, in his dying moments, looked at me with mournful eyes. My Buster, you saw me the moment Julian walked in! But I could only watch, helpless, as his breath faded. “This is just a small lesson,” Julian snarled. “In three days, Lily Evans better show up herself, or this dead dog will be your fate.” The door slammed shut, shaking the house. Years ago, because I had spoken out of turn to Serena, Julian had deliberately crippled my family’s factory, causing my father to fall critically ill. Now, he was perfectly capable of doing it again. For Serena, he would stop at nothing. For two years, because of that kidney, my spirit had been bound to Julian, a torment worse than any hell. Downstairs, Serena called him. The moment her name appeared on his screen, the rage on Julian’s face instantly melted away. “Hello, Serena. What is it?” My spirit, drawn by an inexplicable pull, was instantly tugged to Julian’s side. I watched him, his face alight with tenderness, as he spoke on the phone. “Oh, Julian, is Lily still hiding from us?” “It’s all my body’s fault, I’m so weak, I couldn’t even fight off the rejection, and I ruined the kidney Lily donated to me. She must be so reluctant to give me another one…” From the other end of the line, Serena’s feigned, overly sweet voice made me gag. “Silly girl, don’t say that. I’ll arrange for the best bio-artificial kidney for her. She won’t have a choice!” “The doctors said your body can only use a living organ. Lily Evans works out, she’s strong as an ox. She’s living perfectly fine with an artificial kidney!” Julian comforted Serena for half an hour before reluctantly hanging up. Just then, an assistant-like man knocked hurriedly and entered. “Mr. Vance, someone anonymously sent a death certificate…” Julian raised an eyebrow. “Whose?” “It’s… Ms. Evans’.” 3 Julian took it, casually at first. My name, “Lily Evans,” was clearly printed on it. He scoffed. “Lily Evans, you really are something. You even forged a death certificate to hide from me. Do you think that’s going to work?” The assistant hesitated. “Mr. Vance, the death certificate isn’t a fake. I verified it, and the police station confirmed…” “Enough!” Julian interrupted impatiently. “This is clearly just one of Lily Evans’s little tricks, trying to make me feel remorse. She’s dreaming!” “Go find her. No matter what corner she’s hiding in, dig up the earth if you have to, just bring her to me!” The assistant sighed, nodding quickly. “Yes, Mr. Vance!” A week passed. The assistant returned, his expression peculiar as he delivered his report. “Mr. Vance, the private investigators confirmed Ms. Evans has indeed passed away. Her body was cremated at the City Memorial Mortuary, and her ashes were personally signed for by Leo Evans. There’s no mistake.” Julian frowned. “Bullshit! Lily Evans values her life too much, how could she just die? She even went to a remote spiritual sanctuary high in the Rockies, seeking alternative remedies just to stay alive!” I gave a bitter smile. He didn’t know. I went to the Rockies to find a cure for him. That year, Julian had contracted malaria during a business trip to Africa. No matter what medication he took, his fever wouldn’t break. I heard there was an ancient remedy in the mountains that could cure malaria. I trekked through harsh terrain, enduring high altitudes that left me near collapse from oxygen deprivation. Finally, at an ancient monastery high in the Rockies, I found the formula. I don’t know if the remedy truly worked, or if my sincerity moved the heavens, but after Julian took the medicine, his fever actually broke. How ironic that he believed I had sought that cure for myself. The assistant looked troubled. “But Mr. Vance, I hired two different private detective agencies, and their findings… are identical. Ms. Evans might really be…” Julian slammed his hand on the table, his voice rising in anger. “Nonsense! I’ve known her my entire life! She’s not the kind of person who gives up until she gets what she wants. Why would she ever give up and die? She’s determined to cling to me forever.” “Maybe she knew about her kidney problem all along, and she’s just faking her death to avoid me. She’s probably living it up somewhere right now!” The assistant was stunned into silence. “But Mr. Vance, that’s too dramatic!” Julian laughed mockingly. “She was the star of her university drama club. Faking her death? That’s her specialty!” The assistant was left completely speechless. “So, Mr. Vance, should I continue the investigation?” Julian lit a cigarette, exhaling a plume of smoke. “Yes, keep digging. Find out which mortuary cremated her, and which cemetery her ashes were buried in. I want to see if Lily Evans truly arranged everything flawlessly!” I stood behind him, watching the man I’d loved for seven years, my heart chilling to its core. My spirit felt even more translucent. Another week passed. The assistant returned, his face unusually grim. He placed a file on Julian’s desk. “I found that Ms. Evans was cremated at the City Memorial Mortuary. The cremation date was two years ago.” “And her ashes were interred at Greenhaven Cemetery, in the suburbs, section C, row six, plot eight.” “The cemetery staff confirmed that her brother and sister visit every year to pay their respects.” Julian’s expression turned cold, his thin lips parting. “Well, well. Quite thorough arrangements, aren’t they?” “It seems, Lily Evans, you’re truly determined to hide from me!” He abruptly stood, striding purposefully towards the door. “Let’s go! To Greenhaven Cemetery!” The assistant hurried to follow him. An hour later, the car pulled up to the gates of Greenhaven Cemetery, on the outskirts of the city. Julian stepped out into the light drizzle. The assistant quickly opened a black umbrella for him. At section C, row six, plot eight. The gravestone was still new, the inscription clear and stark: [Lily Evans, Beloved Daughter of the Evans Family] On the small black-and-white photo, my younger self smiled faintly, from a time when my eyes were bright with youthful hope.
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