His Love Turned To Ruin After My Death

The water was so cold it burned.

I pressed my palms against the iron bars and looked up. Somewhere above all that black water, Grayson was going home. Maybe he was already back to mourning Brooke.

He’d said I had three days of oxygen. Three days to pay for what he believed I’d done to her.

But the air in my mask was already turning thin.

I sucked in a breath. Then another. Each one gave me less than the last. That wasn’t right. It hadn’t even been a full day.

The pregnancy test was still clutched in my fist, sealed in its plastic bag. I’d held it up to him on the shore, begging him to look. Just once. He’d turned his back instead.

My spirit rose from a sunken cage on the ocean floor and somehow found its way to Grayson Hayes.

Marcus Reed, his assistant, told Grayson, "Mr. Hayes, Mrs. Hayes has been down there for a full day and night. The water is freezing. She may not survive."

Grayson didn’t even look up. “A day and a night is nothing. My Brooke is never coming back.”

Marcus tried again, "But the dead can't be brought back. If something happens to Mrs. Hayes..."

Grayson threw a stack of papers at him. "She has enough oxygen for three days. Anyone who begs for that vicious woman during those three days will regret it."

Marcus went pale and kept his mouth shut.

Once the door closed behind Marcus, Grayson took out the necklace Brooke Whitmore had given him and ran his thumb over it. “Brooke,” he murmured, “I miss you so much.”

Suddenly, hatred filled his eyes. "I've put the bitch who killed you in the ocean with you. Don't worry. I'll torture her until she pays for what she did to you!"

Floating in midair, I watched how gentle Grayson was with Brooke and how cruel he was to me. A sharp pain went through my heart. Even as a ghost, I could still feel pain.

It’s over, Grayson. You can’t hurt me now. I’m already dead. Brooke chose to end her own life, so why am I the one paying for it?

Two weeks earlier, Brooke had been diagnosed with acute kidney failure and needed a transplant. Both the Hayes and Whitmore families called in every favor they had, searching for a donor.

Grayson held Brooke's hand as she lay in her hospital bed. "Brooke, don't worry. I'll find you a kidney. You'll get through this."

Then the news came: I was a match.

But no one had ever tested me. How could I possibly be a match? Brooke Whitmore, my half-sister, and my stepmother had made my life hell since I was a child. I would not donate a kidney to them.

After I refused the surgery, Grayson had me taken to the hospital by force. He strapped me to the operating table. "You have two kidneys. Give one to Brooke. You'll still be fine."

A friend helped me get out. Not long after, I learned I was a month pregnant with Grayson’s baby.

After I escaped the hospital, Brooke jumped into the sea. She left a suicide note saying she didn't blame me for refusing and didn’t want us to fight over her.

I held on to hope and brought my pregnancy test results to Grayson. If he didn’t want me, I would divorce him and leave.

But Grayson didn’t even let me speak. He forced me to the shore, put an oxygen mask on my face, and lowered me into the ocean in an iron cage. "You cruel woman! You’ll pay for what you did to Brooke!"

With the mask over my face, I couldn’t say a word. All I could do was hold up the test results and pray he’d glance at them. He didn’t. He turned his back and left me in the icy water.

Hurried footsteps broke into my thoughts. Marcus opened the office door again.

"Mr. Hayes, Miss Whitmore is back."

Grayson's eyes went wide. "What did you say?"

Marcus repeated, "Mr. Hayes, Miss Whitmore is back. She's downstairs."

Grayson rushed out. My spirit followed. I wanted to know if Brooke was alive.

Brooke stood in the lobby in a white dress, her dark hair a stark contrast to her pale face. She looked fragile. Grayson ran to her and pulled her into his arms.

His hands shook as he touched her face. "Brooke, it's really you. You're alive?"

Tears streamed down Brooke's face. "Grayson, it's me. I didn't die. I missed you so much. I was afraid I'd never see you again."

Clinging to him in the middle of the lobby, Brooke explained that a fishing boat had pulled her out of the water after she jumped.

Grayson was overjoyed. "Brooke, someone up there must be looking out for you. Promise me you won't try to kill yourself again."

Brooke's voice broke. "Grayson, I won't. I've thought it over. I'll stay by your side until the end."

Grayson promised, "Brooke, I'll never let you die."

I watched them, ice-cold, one hand on my stomach. And what about me? What about my baby? Fury tore through me. I wanted them both dead.