Chapter 2

Seven years passed.

Seven years of a life I thought I wanted.

Ethan Cole, the man I saved, became my husband.

He was charming, generous, and for a while, he seemed loyal.

We lived in a luxury condo, a world away from Serenity Glen.

But the city' s noise couldn' t drown out the truth.

Ethan was flaunting his affair with Tiffany Hayes.

She was a social media influencer, all surface and no substance.

He told his friends I was "too mystical," "out of touch."

The Lady in Gray was always there, a silent, grim spectator.

Her near-peace had fractured, her presence a constant, cold pressure at my side.

She seemed to feed on his betrayal, a dark satisfaction in her ethereal gaze.

I packed a small bag and left our condo.

The life I had built was a lie.

When I returned a week later, needing to retrieve more of my things, my world had shrunk.

My belongings were piled in the living room like trash.

Ethan stood there, arms crossed, Tiffany clinging to his arm.

"Tiffany needs the master suite," he said, not meeting my eyes. "She has a delicate disposition."

Tiffany smirked.

"And your old room," she added, her voice sickly sweet, "it needs to be gutted and redone. All this... energy. Ethan promised me a fresh start."

The words were a twisted echo of promises he once made to me.

He saw the moonstone pendant around my neck.

It was a gift from Elijah, an heirloom, a shield against the harsher aspects of the spirit world.

"Tiffany feels negative energy from that thing," Ethan said, his voice flat.

He stepped forward.

"Give it to me."

"No, Ethan. It's mine. It' s important."

He didn' t listen. He rarely did anymore.

He forcibly unclasped it, his fingers cold against my skin.

"She' s having it sent for energetic cleansing," he muttered, handing it to Tiffany, who dangled it mockingly.

Without the pendant, the Lady in Gray' s presence intensified.

Her coldness seeped into my bones, her whispers louder in my mind.

She was a constant, oppressive weight.

Then my phone rang.

It was a number I didn' t recognize.

A hurried, panicked voice told me Serenity Glen was being demolished.

Ethan had bought the land.

He was planning a luxury resort.

The sanctuary, my only true home, was being destroyed by the man I saved, the man I married.