Chapter 3

Adrianne Cummings POV:

"You're tough enough." The words, always a backhanded compliment, echoed in the hollow space where my heart once beat. They were the reason I was here, a ghost watching my own lifeless body. Bradford had always used my competence against me, twisting my strength into an excuse for his neglect. It went back years, fueled by a misunderstanding, a petty grudge he latched onto like a drowning man to a life raft.

He' d always held my past relationships, particularly the one before him, against me. A phantom scar on his fragile ego. He saw me as less pure, less worthy than Flora, his untouched "first love." It was an undercurrent in our marriage, a silent current of disapproval that constantly pulled me under. I felt perpetually judged, constantly striving for a validation he was incapable of giving.

I remembered the day I found out I was pregnant. A tiny, fragile hope bloomed in my chest, daring to defy the frozen landscape of our marriage. I clutched the positive test, my hand trembling not with fear, but with a cautious optimism. This baby, I thought, could change everything. It could soften Bradford, remind him of the love that once existed, before his heart hardened against me.

I decided to keep it a secret, just for a little while. I wanted the perfect moment, a quiet evening where his guards were down, where he might actually see me, Adrianne, his wife, not just his efficient business partner or the woman he tolerated. But those moments never came.

He was always distant, always preoccupied. With work, with himself, and increasingly, with Flora. I saw them together sometimes, a casual lunch, a "meeting" that stretched into the evening. He insisted they were just friends, that Flora was "fragile" and needed his advice, his support. I bit my tongue, swallowed the bitter taste of suspicion and jealousy, and tried to convince myself he was just being kind. He had a savior complex, after all. And Flora, the perennial damsel, played her part beautifully.

Then, just last week, I saw them. At the annual charity gala planning committee meeting. Flora, leaning intimately into Bradford, her hand resting on his arm, her eyes wide and innocent as she whispered something in his ear. He laughed, a genuine, warm sound that rarely escaped him when he was with me.

My throat tightened. The illusion shattered. He wasn' t just kind; he was invested. In her. Not me. I was foolish to think a baby, our baby, would change anything. My hope, once so vibrant, shriveled and died. It was a cold, hard truth: I was just Adrianne, the capable wife, the one he took for granted, the one he could afford to lose.

Now, I was a ghost, hovering above Arthur, watching him. He lifted my lifeless body, his face contorted in a grief so raw, so potent, it eclipsed any emotion I' d ever seen from Bradford. Arthur, my husband' s friend, was the one truly mourning me. Not the man who had abandoned me.

Arthur' s hand went to his phone, the shattered screen a testament to his earlier fury. He found another, a burner phone, and dialed. His conversation was brief, his voice tight with suppressed rage. I knew who he was calling: my brother, Karter. My protector. The one man who had always seen Bradford for the narcissistic manipulator he was.

Then he called Bradford. Bradford, still probably with Flora, basking in her performative vulnerability.

"Bradford, she's dead," Arthur's voice cut through the phone line, devoid of any preamble. "Adrianne is dead."

I watched Arthur, his face stony, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. He was preparing for a fight. He knew Bradford.

Hours later, the emergency entrance of the city morgue buzzed with a grim energy. Arthur stood grim-faced, flanked by a few uniformed officers. Bradford arrived, not alone, but with Flora clinging to his arm, her face pale, her eyes wide with feigned shock. Her act was flawless, even from my ghostly perspective.

"Arthur, what is this melodramatic nonsense?" Bradford demanded, his voice laced with annoyance, not grief. "Is Adrianne finally done with her little game? Where is she?"

Arthur' s jaw tightened. "Her game is over, Bradford. Permanently." He gestured towards the cold steel gurney, now covered, hidden from view.

Flora gasped, a theatrical sound, and buried her face in Bradford' s chest. "Oh, Bradford! This is too much! I can't handle it!"

Bradford immediately wrapped his arm around her, his gaze darting nervously around the room, as if trying to shield her from the grim reality. He still hadn't looked at the gurney, not truly.

Just then, the double doors burst open. Karter. My brother. His eyes, usually warm and teasing, were now blazing with a fury that could incinerate mountains. He spotted Bradford, and immediately, his gaze locked onto him.

"You bastard!" Karter roared, lunging forward like a predator. His fist connected with Bradford's jaw with a sickening crack, sending him sprawling to the cold floor. Flora shrieked, scrambling away.

Arthur moved in, grabbing Karter, but not attempting to stop the blows. He understood. This was righteous fury.

"You killed her, Bradford!" Karter snarled, his voice thick with tears and rage, as Arthur restrained him. "You let her die! You chose that pathetic excuse for a woman over Adrianne! My sister! Your wife!" He gestured wildly towards the gurney. "Adrianne was pregnant, you blind idiot! She was carrying your child!"

The words hung in the air, cold and deadly. Bradford, nursing his bleeding lip, froze. His eyes, for the first time, widened in genuine shock. Flora, who had just been whimpering, suddenly stopped, her head snapping up, her eyes fixed on Bradford with a strange, unreadable expression.

My spirit, watching the scene unfold, felt a cold satisfaction. Finally. The truth was out. But the bitter irony was that it had taken my death, and Karter's fury, for him to even begin to see.