Chapter 2

Unfortunately, I was nothing but an incorporeal spirit. I couldn't touch them even if I wanted to.

There had been a storm last night. I was lying on the ground and barely hanging on to my last breath when the ground began shaking. A gaping chasm opened up suddenly before me, causing the shed to collapse right on top of me. It crushed me.

I watched as the chasm widened. The split kept creeping closer to me.

Then, something struck me in the head, and I blacked out.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw my body wedged in the crevice in a grotesque position, bloody and mangled.

My soul had left my body and was left drifting.

I had tried several times to leave the York Residence but to no avail.

Over at the house, Jason had called a doctor over to check up on Jean as he was still worried about her health.

The doctor had been observing Jean's expression as soon as he entered. Slowly, he said, "Thankfully, Ms. Sullivan suffers only minor injuries. She will not need any medication."

Jason did not seem happy with that answer. "Even minor injuries are serious when it comes to Jean. She has ALS, a motor neuron disease. Did you not know that?"

Jason had told me once before that Jean had broken up with him because of her disease. She didn't want to burden him, so she left the country without telling him.

The doctor was just about to say something else when he caught sight of the glare Jean was giving him. Promptly, he swallowed his words.

Jason did not bother to hide his concern. "You have to tell me if you're feeling unwell, Jean. I'm glad that you only have minor injuries. If not, I'll make that woman pay!

"She's only alive now because my grandmother saved her. She would've been dead otherwise. She owes the York family her life!"

He was right. His grandmother, Beatrice Elsher, had saved me years ago from a near-fatal car accident.

However, she did not save me for nothing.

In repayment, I had bound ten years of my life and fortune to the York family.

The success that the York family had achieved in the past ten years was all because of me.

Everyone in the family knew that. Jason had simply forgotten.

"The rain was really heavy last night. Could Chelsea really be in trouble?" Jean asked while blinking innocently.

"She's fine. She won't die that easily," Jason said calmly. He showed no signs of uneasiness. "She's just sulking so that I'll go and comfort her."

"What if she decides to leave you? I think you should go and see her."

"Don't worry. She's an orphan, and ugly to boot. Only the York family would take her in."

I was devastated. Tears soaked my face.

I didn't know that it was possible to feel all this even though I was dead.

Last night, before Jason had kicked me out of the house, the typhoon warning had been at the highest level. I had begged him not to kick me out, but he found my pleas annoying. So, he ordered someone to gag me.

He had said, "I can't believe you are so cruel. Have you forgotten who's in charge here?"

Fleur had gotten to her knees to beg for mercy on my behalf. "Mr. York, Mrs. York still has a fever. She'll die if you throw her out there!"

Jason had kicked her to the ground. "A fever? Well then, the rain will cool her off!"

Then, coldly, he'd commanded, "Take her to the shed in the backyard and lock her up. If anyone dares to plead for her again, they can join her!"

Saddled with a crime I hadn't committed, I had been thrown out of the house and into the rickety shed.

Lightning tore through the night as the storm raged on. Thunder rumbled, terrifyingly close, as the ground shook. The old, rundown shed creaked ominously. It was barely held together with rusted nails.