Chapter 2

Liam had just gotten home from his second job, his clothes still smelling of grease from the factory. He looked exhausted, but his eyes were blazing with a fire I hadn' t seen since our father died.

"Our debt to you is paid," Liam said, his voice low and dangerous. "Ava' s sacrifice cleared it. Now get out."

Ethan took a long, slow drag from his cigarette, letting the smoke curl from his lips. He looked at Liam with contempt. "Debt? You Millers are like leeches. Ava knew her place. She knew what she owed me."

The words struck Liam like a physical blow. His face contorted with a grief so profound it made my own non-existent heart ache.

"She knelt outside our father' s study for a full day and night," Liam' s voice was choked with emotion. "Begging him to let her marry you. She thought you were her world. And you... you killed her."

He lunged forward, grabbing the front of Ethan' s expensive shirt. "You and that woman. Stay away from her memory. You don' t deserve to even speak her name."

Ethan' s expression didn' t change. It was a mask of cold indifference. With a sudden, vicious movement, he pressed the glowing tip of his cigarette into the back of Liam' s hand.

Liam cried out, stumbling back, clutching his burned skin.

"Don' t touch me," Ethan said calmly. "I' m not a monster. I was generous. I gave her a million dollars for that kidney. A million. That' s more than she was ever worth."

"A million dollars?" Liam laughed, a broken, hysterical sound. "You liar! We never saw a million dollars! We got a fraction of that, just enough to cover the wedding you insisted on and Mom' s medical bills. The rest? Where did the rest of it go?"

The question hung in the air. Ethan' s face flickered with a brief moment of uncertainty before it hardened again. He was losing control, and he hated it.

"Enough of this," he snarled, pulling out his phone. He spoke a sharp command to his security team waiting outside. "Let the dogs loose. Teach them a lesson."

My spirit screamed. No. Not again.

Two massive, snarling dogs were unleashed into the small yard. They burst through the front door, a whirlwind of muscle and teeth. Chloe shrieked, pulling Liam back.

Buster, ever loyal, threw himself in front of them, barking furiously. It was no contest. The larger dogs were on him in an instant. The sound of his yelps, of tearing flesh, filled the room.

I was helpless. A ghost, a whisper. I could only watch as my family was terrorized, as my sweet Buster was torn apart. In his last moments, Buster' s eyes found me. He saw me. And then his body went still.

Ethan watched the carnage with a detached satisfaction. "This is just a warning," he said, his voice chillingly calm. "You have three days. If Ava doesn' t show up, what happened to the dog happens to you."

He turned to leave, and my spirit was pulled along with him, a chain I couldn' t break tethering me to my killer. As we walked away from the wreckage of my family' s home, I remembered two years ago, when he had systematically destroyed my family' s small business. He did it because Olivia had whispered a lie in his ear, a petty grievance that he had magnified into a corporate execution.

His phone rang. He looked at the screen, and the fury on his face melted away, replaced by an expression of stunning tenderness.

"Olivia," he said, his voice soft.

I was drawn closer, forced to watch this intimate moment.

"Ethan, darling," Olivia' s voice was a sickly sweet melody on the other end. "I' m so sorry. My body... it' s rejecting her kidney. I feel so weak." She paused, her voice trembling. "Maybe... maybe if Ava would just give me her other one..."

"Don' t worry about a thing," Ethan soothed. "I' ll handle it. If she refuses, I' ll get you the best artificial kidney money can buy. Ava is strong, she' ll be fine with one."

The casual cruelty of his words was a fresh wound. He didn' t care. He never cared.

As he was about to hang up, his assistant rushed towards the car, holding a single sheet of paper.

"Sir," the assistant said, his voice urgent. "This just arrived. An anonymous delivery."

Ethan took the paper, his eyes scanning it. It was a death certificate. My death certificate.