On the day I get into an accident, Anthony Flint forces me to donate blood to his first love, Maisie Jones, even though I'm on the brink of death.

He threatens me that if I dare reject him, he'll torture me till I die.

Later on, I end up dying on the streets due to massive blood loss, just like Anthony wants me to. But he bawls his eyes out as he begs me to open my eyes and look at him again.

The day Anthony Flint returned from his business trip, I got caught in a pileup on the way to pick him up.

When they were loading me into the ambulance, the nurse managed to call him on my phone. The second the call connected, his cold, clipped voice came over the line. "I was just about to call you. Maisie needs a transfusion. Get over here."

I didn't even have time to say anything before I started coughing up blood. The nurse took the phone from me, her voice tight with urgency. "Are you Willow Shore's family? I'm a nurse from Centuro Hospital. She's been in a car accident—she has severe injuries and is in critical condition. Please come to the hospital right away."

Anthony went quiet for a few seconds. Then, he snapped, "What's this stunt you're pulling now, Willow? I don't care what game you think you're playing. Get over here, now. If anything happens to Maisie, you'll be the one paying for it."

The nurse grew frantic. "She's badly hurt—"

He cut her off before she could get any further. "Then take her blood before she dies. If you don't, I'll come get it myself."

Then, he hung up.

Blood surged up from my chest into my throat and nose. I couldn't breathe, so I swallowed mouthful after mouthful, choking it down.

All I could think about was how a living, breathing person could say something that cruel. If I survived this, I would drain every last drop of his blood and fill a water gun with it and spray it everywhere.

…

Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to do that. I didn't survive. Instead, I became a ghost, drifting in the air, feeling lost. I watched as the nurse kept trying to reach Anthony, only to fail again and again.

That was just how he'd always been. Once he informed me of something, he would never say it a second time because he knew I didn't dare go against him.

The nurse tried calling my other relatives, but that didn't work, either. I was an orphan, and I'd grown up in an orphanage.

When I was 15, the orphanage director had passed away, and Anthony's parents had taken me into the Flint family. They treated me well enough, but he despised me—mainly because Maisie Jones didn't like me.

And yet, because of Maisie, Anthony kept me by his side. He turned me into her personal blood bank.

I didn't have any friends here, either. In the end, the only "family" I had left was Anthony.

Failing to reach anyone, the nurse had no choice but to have my body wheeled to the morgue. My soul ended up being trapped in the hospital.

I felt truly miserable. "If I can't move on to my next life, I'll probably be stuck here forever."

"That's pretty tragic." A boy, looking about 12 or 13, drifted over to my side. He was also a ghost.

My eyes widened, and I let out a sharp, piercing scream. "There's a ghost!"

"Where? Where's the ghost?" He looked even more terrified than I was.

I froze, then mustered the courage to point at him.

He froze, too. After thinking it over for a moment, he accepted reality and sighed. "Sorry. I haven't been a ghost for very long. I'm still getting used to it."

"Me too," I said.

Just like that, the fear dissolved.

"Whoa, you're even a vengeful spirit. Look at all the blood on you."

I followed his gaze and looked down. I was in a long red dress, but the blood made it look more vivid.

Anthony once told me I looked good in red. After that, all my clothes slowly turned into shades of red. I'd even picked out this particular red dress that day just to make him happy when I went to pick him up at the airport. I knew it was his favorite on me.

Honestly, I didn't think the blood made me a vengeful spirit. If anything, I was a total coward.

A chill ran down my spine as I looked at all the different corpses laid out in the morgue. I didn't dare stay there any longer. I grabbed the little boy ghost and pulled him away from that place.

The little boy ghost told me his name was Eddie Lang. He'd died not too long ago, and since no family had come to claim him, his soul had stayed at the hospital.

We ran into quite a few people who had already passed on in different corners of the hospital. They all seemed to have forgotten they were dead and rushed around like they used to when they were alive.

Some ghosts crouched, smoking with gloomy looks on their faces. Some stood among the crowd, staring blankly at everything around them. I even spotted the ghost of a security guard. He stood ramrod straight in the lobby, taking his job seriously. He greeted every person who passed by, saluting them one by one.

But no one could see him, so of course no one responded.

My chest suddenly tightened. I didn't know why, but out of nowhere, I thought of my relationship with Anthony over the years.

He'd always treated me like this, too—like I wasn't even there. From the time he dumped the dinner I'd spent two hours cooking straight into the trash, to all the times I literally used my own blood to keep his precious true love alive…

All these years, no matter how much I did, he never once really saw me. Unlike these ghosts, he watched my sincerity and devotion to him get trampled right in front of his eyes.

While I was lost in thought, a man suddenly walked straight through the security guard's body. I froze when I saw that familiar figure. It was my husband, Anthony.

He was tall and lean, with striking features. He wore handmade leather shoes and a perfectly tailored suit, his whole vibe cold and unapproachable. Even in the middle of the crowd, he looked sharp and dazzling.

However, he had a dark look on his face, clearly displeased.

Eddie and I followed Anthony. He was making a call, and I saw my own number on the screen. Was he trying to call me?

Because the nurse had ultimately failed to reach him, my phone had already been taken to the storage room. By now, the battery was probably dead.

Sure enough, the call didn't go through. The look on Anthony's face turned uglier as he fired off a text. "Willow Shore, you have three minutes. Get to the hospital right now. If you're not here by then, be prepared to face the consequences!"

Next to me, Eddie clasped his hands to his chest, looking starry-eyed. "Whoa, he's a total domineering CEO. He's so cool."

I let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Yeah."

To me, Anthony had always been cool. His gentle side was reserved entirely for Maisie.

Eddie and I watched as Anthony walked into the room next door. It was the most luxurious private suite in the entire hospital. Maisie lay on the bed inside, thin and frail, her face pale. She had that delicate, fragile look that made people instinctively want to protect her.

"Tony, you're back. Did you manage to get in touch with Willow?"

"Her phone's off," Anthony replied, clenching his jaw.

Maisie's face turned even paler. "Don't be mad at her. I know she's always hated me all these years. She thinks I stole you from her. But how can I control who I fall in love with? I'm sorry about this, but I genuinely love you. I just… I couldn't watch you be with her.

"Can you promise me something? Will you divorce her before I die? Back then, I was forced to stay abroad and couldn't come back. Ever since then, I've been terrified of being alone…"

Her voice broke.

Anthony pulled her into his arms, stopping her from saying anything else. His voice was gentle and soothing as he said, "You're going to be fine. Other hospitals have blood banks, too. I've already sent people to get more of your blood type.

"And don't worry about Willow. Even if I have to turn this city upside down, I'll drag her out from wherever she's hiding."

The moment he mentioned me, his expression frosted over again. That was how he had always been with me—aloof, cold, and contemptuous.

Eddie was moved to tears. "They've got such an amazing relationship."

I smiled. "Uh-huh. I'd agree with you if that man weren't my husband."

His brain short-circuited, even forgetting to cry.

"S-Sorry," he said in a small voice, seemingly scrambling to figure out how to comfort me.

"It's fine. I accepted this long ago."

Anthony's coldness, cruelty, and torment of me over the years couldn't be summed up in a few words. I'd already stopped caring.

But for some reason, something in me still shifted. It felt like there was a nameless fire lodged in my chest, and it was burning hotter and hotter.

Bang!

The ceiling light suddenly exploded. Maisie shrieked and threw herself straight into Anthony's arms. I was left stunned.

Next to me, Eddie gave me a thumbs-up. "Nice one. Scare the living daylights out of them."

I had no idea what had just happened, so I tried it again. But this time, nothing in the room changed.

"I'll go get someone to fix this," Anthony said as he stood up, gently nudging Maisie away.

She immediately wrapped her arms around him again. "Tony, don't go anywhere. I'm scared of the dark."

Anthony froze, his whole body going rigid for a good 30 seconds before he finally seemed to snap out of it. He ruffled her hair with obvious affection. "Okay. I won't go anywhere. I'll just get someone to clean up this broken glass first."

Only then did he leave the room.

A dull ache spread through my heart. I was scared of the dark, too.

When a burglar broke into the villa one night, I curled up under the bed in the darkness, too afraid to turn on the lights. I kept calling and texting Anthony, begging him to come home, but his response had been ice-cold.

"Can you stop being so dramatic, Willow?" he'd snarled.

I had no idea how I even got through that night. All I knew was that after that, I never once mentioned that I was scared in front of Anthony again.

Once Anthony was gone, Maisie was left alone in the hospital room. She sat up, watching his back as he walked away. The corners of her lips curled into a smug smile. There wasn't a trace of weakness left on her face.

"It's okay, Tony. I'm not in a rush. You'll be mine sooner or later," she whispered.

Eddie's eyes went wide, clearly scared by her two-faced act.

I was used to it, though. I knew Maisie wasn't actually sick. She just wanted an excuse for Anthony to torment me. Seeing me in agony and as good as dead made her happy.

I'd told Anthony about her secret after figuring it out, but he hadn't believed me. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that he wanted to torture me, too.

Anthony's parents knew that he couldn't let go of Maisie. To force him to marry me, they'd had her shipped off overseas. Because of that, to Anthony, I was the one who'd ruined Maisie's life. So whenever she felt the slightest bit "unwell", he would take it out on me and make sure I was miserable.

After his parents died, I tried to get a divorce, but he refused. He'd shoved the marriage contract in my face and demanded I pay a 20-million-dollar penalty for breaching it.

Thankfully, I'd died. I had nothing to worry about anymore. The one who needed to worry… was Maisie.

I looked at the smug, gloating look on her face, a chill flashing through my eyes.

…

The Flint family owned a share of the hospital. All it took was a single phone call from Anthony to have Maisie moved into a much more luxurious VIP suite.

The Flints had money and influence. It didn't take long for them to find someone whose blood matched Maisie's and get her transfusion sorted.

The two of them sat together, the atmosphere warm and cozy. But Anthony still hadn't found me.

Logically speaking, with the kind of power he had, tracking down a dead woman should've been effortless. Yet up until now, he hadn't found me.

Clearly, he didn't want to waste any real effort on me. He just wanted to force me to show up on my own so he could prove he still had complete control over me.