1 When the condemned building collapsed, trapping Grandma inside, I called Jefferson twenty-nine times. Before the ceiling caved in, she’d managed to toss a knitted scarf through the rubble. “Avery, stop fighting with Jefferson over me,” she’d wheezed. “Give him this. Tell him I’m sorry for being an old fool, always causing trouble.” On the thirtieth try, he finally answered, voice dripping with impatience. “Avery, cut the dramatics. Stella’s real estate firm is facing a massive lawsuit. I’m drowning in her PR nightmare. Can your grandmother’s petty relocation dispute wait until tomorrow?” I stood before the mountain of concrete and twisted metal, icy rain slamming my face. “Jefferson. I don’t have a grandmother anymore.” A harsh scoff echoed through the receiver. “Here we go again. No shame, making up lies to force me home?” Right before he hung up, I heard Stella’s soft, trembling voice in the background. “Jefferson, they’re pressing charges. Will I go to prison? I’m so scared…” His tone shifted instantly, ice melting into pure, protective warmth. “Don’t panic. I’m the best corporate defense attorney in this city. I will never let anything happen to you.” The line went dead. I stood frozen in the rain, realizing our marriage was exactly like that hollowed-out building. The exterior looked intact, but the inside had collapsed long ago. … Jefferson finally came home. He was wearing a bespoke charcoal suit, his hair styled to perfection. He dropped his leather briefcase onto the sofa, radiating the arrogant aura of an untouchable elite lawyer. When he saw me shoving my clothes into a suitcase, his brows pulled together in a deep frown. “What exactly are you doing?” I folded a jacket and placed it neatly inside, not even bothering to look up at him. “Packing. We’re getting a divorce.” The room fell dead silent for two seconds. Jefferson strode over, snatched the jacket right out of my hands, and threw it hard onto the floor. “Are you done throwing this tantrum, Avery? Once I clear up Stella’s legal mess tomorrow, I will carve out some time next week to look into your grandmother’s housing dispute. Can you just be patient for five minutes?” I stared down at the black and white geometric rug beneath my feet. “There’s no need.” I unzipped the front pocket of my bag, pulled out the divorce papers I had already drafted, and handed them to him. Jefferson didn’t even read the cover page. He ripped the stack of papers in half, then into quarters, and threw them into the air. The shredded paper drifted to the hardwood floor like dirty snow. “Is this really necessary?” His voice spiked with anger. “First you lie about your grandmother dying, and now you’re throwing this childish fit. Can you just grow up? Look at Stella. Her entire family legacy is on the verge of collapse, but she isn’t screaming or making a scene. You can’t even compare to her. At least Stella doesn’t use her own family’s life as a cheap threat.” I opened my mouth to speak, but the exhaustion hit my bones. Defending myself felt utterly pointless. His phone buzzed. Jefferson glanced at the caller ID, and his entire demeanor softened. When he answered, his voice was pure velvet. “Stella, what’s wrong?” Stella’s tearful voice bled through the speaker, loud enough for me to hear from three feet away. “Jefferson, those rioters are back at the office. I’m terrified. They’re screaming that they want a life for a life. Can you please hurry?” “Don’t be scared. I’m on my way.” Jefferson ended the call. He grabbed his coat, turning back to glare at me one last time. “See? Stella is facing an actual crisis, but she just sheds a few tears, gathers herself, and stays strong. And speaking of her crisis, your grandmother’s little relocation dispute is exactly the same thing. It’s just a bunch of greedy squatters trying to extort more hush money. The people terrorizing Stella today are exactly like your grandmother. They get a free relocation apartment, decide it isn’t luxurious enough, and greedily demand more.” “It’s disgusting. Don’t bring your grandmother up to me again. Whenever I think of her, I just think of those extorting parasites.” The front door slammed shut. He was gone. I stood alone in the living room, staring blankly at the torn paper scattered across the rug. My grandmother’s issue had absolutely nothing to do with wanting more money. The developer had demolished her old neighborhood and promised her a brand-new unit with a clean title. But when the keys were handed over, what she got was a death trap. There was no property deed. The foundation was sinking, the load-bearing walls were spiderwebbed with massive cracks, and the entire high-rise didn’t even have a fire escape. It was a shoddy, illegal construction project. A literal house of cards. I had begged Jefferson to look at her case so many times. Every single time, he brushed me off, claiming he would “review the files later.” I had placed those legal documents on his mahogany desk at least ten times. He never opened them. Not once. But whenever Stella needed a favor, no matter how trivial, he dropped everything to play her knight in shining armor. I realized, with a numb sort of clarity, that I had made a terrible mistake marrying him. I printed a new copy of the divorce agreement. Just as I reached the bottom of the stairs at my newly rented apartment, my phone rang. “Avery, have you lost your mind?” Jefferson snarled through the receiver. “You actually showed up at my law firm to draft a divorce settlement? You did that on purpose, didn’t you? Trying to humiliate me, letting my entire partner board know my marriage is a joke. Your toxic behavior needs to stop!” I couldn’t be bothered to argue. I simply hung up. My new place was tiny. Just one bedroom and a small living area on the sixth floor of a walk-up building. But the windows faced south, and the afternoon sun poured in beautifully. I took the grey, crookedly stitched scarf my grandmother had thrown from the rubble and draped it over my headboard. It still smelled like her. Like lavender soap and old paper. It anchored my completely shattered heart. A few days later, I called the city’s disaster cleanup crew to ask when I could collect my grandmother’s recovered belongings. The clerk checked the system and replied, “Ms. Avery, we already shipped the box. It was sent to the residential address listed on your ID.” The address on my ID. The house I used to share with Jefferson. My stomach dropped. I tried calling Jefferson, but he immediately sent me to voicemail. Panic clawed at my throat. I flagged a cab and rushed back across town. When I unlocked the front door, the living room was empty. But I heard noise coming from the master bedroom. I walked down the hall and froze. Stella was standing in the middle of my bedroom. She was holding my grandmother’s antique wooden lockbox, casually turning it upside down over the floor. Everything spilled out in a chaotic clatter. My grandmother’s reading glasses. Her battered savings passbook. Faded polaroids from her youth. And an antique silver bangle she had treasured for decades, saving it to give to me on my wedding day. “What the hell are you doing?” My voice was tight, scraping against my throat. Stella turned around. When she saw me, a smug little smirk played on her lips. “Oh, you’re back? I’m just doing you a favor and clearing out some space. All this hoarding is really ruining the aesthetic of the room.” As she spoke, she picked the antique silver bangle up from the rug, tossing it carelessly in her palm. “What even is this junk? Cheap silver? You couldn’t pay a pawn shop to take this.” “Put it down.” “Why so aggressive?” Stella giggled, completely unbothered. “I’m literally throwing out your trash for you. You should be thanking me.” She casually tossed the bangle over her shoulder. It hit the drywall with a sharp, metallic crack, then bounced onto the hardwood floor, splitting cleanly into two jagged halves. “Stop it!” I lunged forward and shoved her hard by the shoulder. Stella stumbled backward, her hip bumping against the edge of the wardrobe. Instantly, her eyes filled with theatrical tears, and her voice pitched up into a fragile squeak. “Did you just hit me?” A second later, a stinging slap connected with my cheek. The force was brutal. My head snapped to the side, my ears ringing with a high-pitched whine. Jefferson was standing in the doorway. He pulled Stella into his chest, glaring at me with absolute fury. I held my burning cheek, pointing a shaking finger at the scattered mess on the floor. “She destroyed my grandmother’s belongings.” Jefferson glanced down at the broken pieces of silver. His expression didn’t even flicker. He bent down, picked up the broken halves, and dropped them into the trash can next to the dresser. “It’s a piece of junk. Are you really going to act like a lunatic over this?” Watching him throw the bangle into the garbage, something inside me completely snapped. My nose burned, and my vision blurred with hot tears. “Those were her dying possessions. They were the only pieces of her I had left. Why are you two so evil?” Jefferson’s frown deepened. “If your grandmother is actually dead, then why hasn’t it been on the news? A building collapse is a massive tragedy. You don’t think the media would cover it?” I furiously wiped my tears away. I dug into my purse, pulled out the official coroner’s death certificate, and shoved it at his chest. “Is this the proof you need, Jefferson?” “The story was obviously buried. If you actually bothered to look into it, you would know.” Stella leaned over his arm to glance at the paper. She let out a mocking laugh. “Jefferson, look at it. It’s obviously forged. Who carries a fake death certificate around in their purse? She pre-printed this just to manipulate you.” Jefferson took the certificate. He stared at it. Then he looked at it again. For a split second, I thought the reality had finally pierced his thick skull. Instead, he slapped the paper down onto the nightstand. “Avery, clean up this mess on the floor right now. If you keep using these psychotic, fabricated lies to get my attention, I will actually sign those divorce papers.” Stella leaned her head against his shoulder, her voice dropping into a pitiful whisper. “Jefferson, my hip really hurts where she pushed me. Can we just go? I don’t feel safe here.” Jefferson wrapped his arm around her waist and guided her out. Right before he crossed the threshold, he threw a final order over his shoulder. “Clean this up. The house looks like a dumpster.” My heart turned into an absolute wasteland. I knelt on the floor. One of the lenses on my grandmother’s reading glasses was shattered. I picked up her passbook. Her monthly pension was barely a few hundred dollars. She had saved every penny for six years, hoarding a little over five thousand dollars. She used to tell me she was saving that money to give as a red envelope to my future child. I picked up her photo. It was taken last Christmas. She was wearing her red winter coat, the wrinkles on her face deep and kind. I pressed the photograph against my cheek. I remembered how she raised me single-handedly, working her fingers to the bone to pay for my college tuition, never complaining a single time. I took a shaky breath. I made a vow. Even if it was the last time I ever spoke to Jefferson, I was going to use him to get justice for her. I went back to my new apartment and dug out the thick manila folder containing all of my grandmother’s evidence against the developer. Flipping to the corporate registry page, I stared at the name of the parent company. Summerset Development Corporation. Summerset. Stella Summerset. My finger stalled on the page. Then, I turned it over. I took the file straight to Jefferson’s office. His massive desk was buried under case files. When he saw me walk in, his brow furrowed out of pure habit. “Why are you here?” I dropped the heavy folder right onto his desk and looked him dead in the eye. “I am only going to ask you this one last time. Are you going to help me or not?” Jefferson opened his mouth, clearly ready to reject me. I could literally see the word “no” forming on his lips. But he glanced down at the folder. He pulled the documents out. When his eyes hit the page listing the developer’s details, he froze. Then, in a completely unprecedented move, he agreed. “Alright.” His tone was bizarrely gentle, almost coaxing. “I’ll handle this case for you. I know I haven’t been fair lately, ignoring her situation. Give me a few days, and I’ll go with you to visit your grandmother, okay? I’ll apologize to her face-to-face.” I stared at him, a sickening, twisted feeling rising in my throat. Even now, he genuinely believed she was still alive. Whatever. I didn’t have the energy to explain it to him anymore. As long as he used his legal weight to crush the developer and get justice for my grandmother, that was all that mattered. Once the lawsuit was filed, I would sign the divorce papers and vanish from his life. He could walk his golden path, and I would walk my ruined one. We would never cross paths again. I gave a curt nod. “Fine. I’m leaving it to you.” Jefferson smiled faintly, sliding the manila folder into his locked desk drawer. “Be a good girl and leave it to me.” But over the next three weeks, whenever I texted him for an update on the filing, he deflected. He kept stalling. I knew something was wrong. Jefferson was an apex predator in the legal world. He never took more than a week to transition a case from intake to a formal lawsuit. If he was stalling, it meant he had no intention of doing it at all. I decided to follow him. I sat in a parked rental car across the street from Stella’s luxury condo. I watched Jefferson walk out of her lobby, carrying the exact same manila folder I had given him. He got into the driver’s seat of his Mercedes. Stella slipped into the passenger side, laughing brightly. Jefferson must have forgotten something crucial. Months ago, after a string of break-ins in our old neighborhood, I had installed a hidden audio-monitoring dashcam in his car that synced directly to my phone. Now, I opened the app. Through the static, Stella’s excited voice rang out crystal clear. “Thank you so much, Jefferson. With this evidence shredded, I don’t have to be scared anymore.” I heard the sound of Jefferson gently ruffling her hair. “Yeah. You can sleep easy tonight.” My legs gave out. I collapsed against the steering wheel. Jefferson’s soft laughter filtered through the speaker. The afternoon sun was blinding, but I felt like I was drowning in ice water. So that was it. He never intended to help me. He just wanted to con me out of the original evidence so he could hand it directly to Stella. From the very beginning, his only priority was protecting her. I got out of my car and marched up to his Mercedes, rapping my knuckles hard against the tinted glass. Jefferson and Stella both jumped. Jefferson rolled the window down, his face tight with shock. “Avery? What are you doing here?” I ignored him, my eyes locked on the manila folder in Stella’s lap. “Give me my documents back.” Stella instinctively shoved the folder behind her back, her face morphing from shock into wide-eyed innocence. “Documents? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” “My grandmother’s legal files. Hand them over.” Jefferson unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped out of the car, physically blocking my path to Stella. “Avery, drop it.” The pain in my chest was so sharp I could barely breathe. “You stole my grandmother’s evidence to give to her. What the hell is wrong with you?” Jefferson let out a heavy, patronizing sigh, talking to me like I was an irrational toddler. “Avery, you need to listen to me. This case is infinitely more complicated than you think. Stella’s corporation is in the middle of a massive restructuring. They cannot afford a fatal negligence scandal right now. I’ve already negotiated with her. She is going to write your grandmother a massive settlement check. It’s more money than you could spend in a lifetime.” “A settlement?” I stared at him, genuinely doubting my own sanity. “Jefferson, do you have any idea what kind of building they built? It was a condemned death trap! My grandmother died crushed under that concrete! And you want me to take hush money?!” “Calm down,” Jefferson snapped, his patience fraying. “Stop using such dramatic language. I’ve personally reviewed the blueprints for Stella’s project. The permits were legal, the quality passed inspection. If that specific building failed, it was a localized issue with the sub-contractors. It has absolutely no direct connection to Stella’s family.” “No direct connection? Their corporate seal is stamped on the contract! Are you insane?” Jefferson’s face hardened into pure disgust. “Avery, cut the crap. You just want a payout. I’ll get Stella to cut the check. What’s your price? Half a million? A million? Just name a number and walk away.” “I don’t want her dirty money. I’m calling the police.” I pulled my phone out and started dialing. Jefferson lunged forward and snatched the phone violently out of my hand. His voice was laced with venom. “Avery, don’t push your luck. Stella’s family finally has this PR nightmare under control. Are you really trying to bankrupt an innocent girl just because you’re bitter? Let me make this crystal clear: her company does not build shoddy structures. This is a targeted smear campaign against her. Your grandmother just had bad luck. The building just happened to collapse.” Just happened to. Bad luck. I stared at the man I had married. It felt like I was looking at a complete stranger. A heavy, absolute exhaustion washed over me. But strangely, the exhaustion brought clarity. I reached into my bag, pulled out the folded divorce agreement, and threw it directly at his chest. “Keep the settlement money. We are getting a divorce.” Jefferson caught the paper, a cruel smirk twisting his lips. “You carry this around with you just so you can use it to threaten me every time you don’t get your way?” He pulled a silver pen from his breast pocket, clicked it, and aggressively signed his name. “Fine. We’re done. Let’s see how long you survive out there.” I reached out to grab the signed document, but his hand shot out, his fingers locking around my wrist like a vice. “Avery, you better think this through. Without me, you have absolutely nothing. No job, no house, no savings. How exactly do you plan on feeding yourself?” “Let go of me.” “I am telling you, outside of this marriage, you are a nobody.” “I said, let go.” His grip tightened painfully, his knuckles turning white. I yanked my arm back with everything I had. He violently shoved me away. I stumbled backward in my heels. My lower back slammed brutally against the sharp metal corner of a city trash can. A blinding flash of agony ripped through my spine. The world tilted, and I crashed heavily onto the concrete pavement. Jefferson looked down at me. He didn’t even twitch to help me up. He just turned around, grabbed Stella’s hand, and sneered. “Let’s go. Leave her to her theatrics.” Stella glanced back at me through the window, a victorious little smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. The Mercedes roared to life and sped off, leaving me completely alone. I lay curled on the pavement. A violent, tearing cramp seized my lower abdomen. A thick, terrifying warmth began pooling down my thighs. I reached down with a trembling hand. My fingers came back coated in bright, sticky red. Right before the darkness swallowed me, only one thought echoed in my fading consciousness. Jefferson. Whatever love tied us together is dead. It died today, right alongside my grandmother and my unborn child. From this day until my last, you are nothing but a ghost to me.
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