Shortly after I married Andrew Lorne, my mother-in-law has my husband's widowed sister-in-law move in with us. She wants my husband to bear the responsibility of caring for two families.

My husband says he wouldn't be who he is without his elder brother's help, so he won't let his sister-in-law suffer.

And so, she and her son steal my home and my husband's love. Meanwhile, my daughter and I are banished to the countryside.

On the first day of our banishment, I'm violated and murdered by beggars who barge into the house.

…

It takes three years for my husband to remember me. He comes to the countryside to take me home.

"Come out, Jovana. I'll immediately bring you home as long as you agree to give your property to Tiana as an apology for the things you've done."

As soon as the words are out of his mouth, my daughter emerges from the yard, which is overgrown with weeds. She tells him I was dead.

He doesn't believe her. He allows his mother to beat my daughter half to death and berates me while he's at it.

"How dare you, Jovana! You haven't learned your lesson at all, have you? These dirty tricks are all you know, and you even taught our daughter to lie! It's been years, yet you still can't compare to Tiana!"

Three years after I was dead, Andrew Lorne and his mother, Dorothy Evans, came to the countryside to take me back.

The moment the heavily rusted iron gates creaked open and the weed-choked yard came into view, their expressions soured.

"That jinx, Jovana! Look at what she's done to our family residence," Dorothy grumbled, furiously yanking away the blades of grass in her way as she stormed inside.

Her eyes burned with fury as she hollered, "Where is she? She doesn't even bother to clean the house! It took us a great deal to come all the way here, yet she doesn't even want to show up!

"Oh, my poor Andy! How unfortunate of you to have married such a useless woman."

Hearing this, Andrew grew increasingly agitated, the joy he had shown when he first arrived completely gone from his eyes.

He kicked open the bedroom door. A musty smell hit him, and he immediately covered his nose and mouth, grimacing in disgust.

Pulling out a document from his bag, he tossed it onto the table and began, "Jovana, come out. I'm not in the mood to argue. It's been three years—you should know better by now.

"Caden is about to start school, and Tiana needs a house nearby. Sign this property transfer agreement, and I'll take you and Stella home right away."

Seconds ticked by, but the silence in the room remained. No one came out to respond.

Andrew's patience was running thin. "Jovana, my patience has its limits—"

Before he could finish, my five-year-old daughter, Stella Lorne, emerged from the overgrown weeds. Her clothes were tattered, and she was covered in dirt from head to toe. A homeless man stood beside her, holding her hand.

"Daddy, Mommy's already dead," she muttered.

Shock flashed across Andrew's face before his expression twisted into confusion.

"Are you Stella?" he asked hesitantly.

He stood stunned for a while before edging closer to her, disbelief written all over his face. Kicking the homeless man away, he scooped her into his arms, anger blazing in his eyes as he glanced around.

"Jovana, you vicious woman! I can't believe you abused our daughter with someone else just to gain my sympathy!"

Stella tugged at Andrew's sleeve, trying to explain that I was already dead. But he refused to believe her.

His expression turned icy as he said, "Stella, what's wrong with you? It's been three years, yet you still haven't kicked that compulsive lying habit.

"Tell me, what on earth is your mom playing at? Where is she hiding?"

Andrew looked so confident, as if he were certain I was hiding in some corner.

"Jovana, come out already!" he called out. "Quit your act. I've had enough.

"You're just upset with me because I brought Tiana and Caden to live with us three years ago, aren't you? Come on, it's been so long. Do you really have to drag this out and take it out on Stella?"

That wasn't the truth. How I wished I could tell him that I was already dead to his face—but I couldn't.

No one could see me. I was just a spirit.

…

When Andrew forcibly sent me to the countryside three years ago, Tiana also tagged along in secret.

She hired a few beggars and had them barge into my house and do anything they wanted with me. I had struggled frantically to no avail, and they beat me to a pulp.

No one discovered my body, and it began to decay in my room.

Every day, my poor Stella went out to beg, then come back to sleep beside me. Only after my body had completely decomposed did she eventually realize I had left her—for good.

Just when she was about to be starved to death, a homeless man passed by and saved her. He even buried my remains in the yard for her.

Seeing this, the homeless man finally understood that Andrew was my family.

He staggered to his feet and pointed at a pear tree in the yard, wanting to tell Andrew and Dorothy that I was buried there. But he was mute—all he could manage were frantic gestures that did nothing but piss Andrew off.

Enraged, Andrew dragged Stella to Dorothy and lunged at the homeless man, landing several punches on him.

"You animal! Just how much did Jovana pay you to keep this act up? Spit it out now! Where is she?"

As he spoke, he picked up a long stick from the ground and used it to whack the homeless man.

Blood instantly streamed down the man's face. But still looking indignant, he dragged himself toward the pear tree.

Andrew's gaze followed his movement. For some reason, the pear tree felt familiar. He trudged toward the tree, reaching out to touch it.

Just then, a voice rang out from the entrance.

"I know where Jovana is."

Hearing the familiar voice, I shuddered.

It was Tiana Wells, Andrew's sister-in-law.

Memories of my suffering flooded my mind at the sight of this vile woman. I lunged at her, biting and kicking her as I screamed at Andrew, "It was her! She killed me! Andrew, you have to avenge me."

But all my efforts were in vain—no one could hear me.

Tiana walked right through my spirit and strode into the yard. She motioned for an old man behind her to show himself, gesturing to him to speak.

The old man looked hesitant, seemingly mortified as he began, "The first day Jovana arrived here, a man pulled up in a sports car and took her away.

"I heard she called him darling, and they seemed very close to each other."

Andrew swerved toward him, his expression darkening as he gritted out, "Is that true?"

The old man swore he was telling the truth.

Feigning concern, Tiana sidled up to Andrew and said, "Andy, I know you're upset, but this is a fact. After Jovana was sent to the countryside, I had my relative take care of her—but little did he expect to witness her affair…

"By the looks of it, Jovana and her lover must've been at it for some time. I really never expected Jovana to turn out like this…" she sighed, pretending to grieve for Andrew.

"You're lying!" Stella hastily shouted. "Mommy is already dead. I won't let you insult her—"

She tried to defend me, but Dorothy shoved her to the ground and spat on her face instead.

"You're a good-for-nothing girl! If I had known, I should've got rid of you back then," she screeched, beating Stella to a pulp. "You and your mother are a disgrace to our family!"

A triumphant smirk crossed Tiana's face as she watched Stella writhe on the ground, blood gushing out of her mouth.

"Dorothy, enough," she chided, pretending to be worried. "You're killing her! Though we're not sure whether Stella is a Lorne, we can't just get rid of her like that."

She made it sound like she was just trying to spare the child. But in fact, it reminded Andrew and Dorothy of the possibility that Stella might be an illegitimate child.

Sure enough, Andrew froze. He was about to stop Dorothy, but after hearing Tiana, he withdrew his hand.

Dorothy, on the other hand, was seething. She grabbed a stick from the ground, and I immediately panicked.

I dove in front of Stella, trying to shield her from the attack—but it was all in vain. The stick passed right through me and struck Stella instead.

In just a while, Stella lost consciousness.

Glancing at her, Andrew pulled out his phone, snapped a picture of her, and began typing. I drifted closer to him—only then did I realize he had been texting me.

"Jovana, you shameless woman—are you seriously abandoning your daughter now? You only have three days to show yourself. If you don't, don't blame me for what I'll do to Stella."

No response came through.

Andrew swore under his breath and hurled his phone to the ground.

Watching his temper flare, I couldn't help but feel a twisted sense of amusement. I was already dead—my body was decomposed at this point. How on earth was I supposed to text him back?

After a long silence, Andrew yanked Stella up from the ground, saying that he was taking her for a paternity test.

They threw the homeless man out of the yard, locked the gate again, and stormed off.

My heart ached so badly when I watched how resolute Andrew was. I couldn't believe he actually doubted that Stella was even his daughter.

How ridiculous—he was the one who watched her being born and said she looked just like him.

He wasn't always like this.

We fell in love in college and got married right after graduation. He had cried like a child at our wedding, repeatedly confessing his love for me.

"Jo, I'll love you forever—till death do us part."

Andrew put me above all else after marriage, spoiling me endlessly. Whenever I had conflicts with Dorothy, he would always firmly take my side.

And when our daughter was born, he doted on her so much. He would've brought her the moon if he could.

But everything changed after he brought Tiana in.

He said his older brother had worked hard to put him through school, so now that his brother had passed away, he felt it was his duty to take care of his sister-in-law.

Despite myself, I didn't stop him.

Little did I know how much Andrew would change after that.

For the sake of his sister-in-law, he neglected me and hurt me over and over again. Everything in our home revolved around her, as if she owned the house.

Recalling my bitter past, I wanted to slap myself. Why didn't I just walk away when I still had the chance?

Andrew slammed on the accelerator. As if something had just occurred to him, he frowned and muttered, "Well played, Jovana. No wonder I haven't heard from you in three years—you've been out there messing around with some other man."

Watching him clench his jaw in anger, I wanted to slap him across the face. A blind, heartless scum like him had no right to accuse me!

The car screeched to a stop at the hospital entrance.

Andrew dragged Stella out roughly, demanding that the doctors perform a paternity test on her right now.

One of the doctors, seeing the girl covered in injuries, hesitated.

"Sir… she's seriously injured. Shouldn't we treat her first?"

Andrew shot him a glare. "I said do the test now."

As the cold needle pierced Stella's tiny arm, her body convulsed in pain. But Andrew didn’t spare her so much as a glance.

The test results would take a few days, so they reluctantly brought her back home in the meantime.

I followed them—back to this familiar, yet strange place that was once our home. Tears streamed down my face as I saw how our safe haven had been completely taken over by someone else.

My bedroom was now Tiana's, and Stella's room had become Caden's playroom. Poor Stella might have been back at her own home, but she looked as lost as a stranger.

Just then, Caden appeared out of nowhere and pointed a toy gun at her.

"Bad guy alert!" he yelled. "I'm going to shoot you for breaking into my house!"

"Caden, stop that nonsense," Tiana chided, putting on a stern front. "She's Stella, your cousin."

"The test results aren't out yet. Who knows if that little brat even belongs to our family?" Dorothy chimed in. "Even if she does, she's just a worthless girl—no match for my precious grandson."

Caden darted toward Andrew and wailed, "Uncle Andy, now that Stella's here, does that mean you're abandoning me?"

Andrew looked exhausted, but he still smiled and picked him up.

"You silly boy," he crooned. "What kind of nonsense is that? You'll always be my favorite. I'll never stop loving you."

Holding Caden in his arms, he walked over to the dinner table. The whole family took their seats and dug into dinner, completely forgetting that Stella was even there.