An orphan.

Around my age.

Killed in almost the same way.

How could that be a coincidence?

Julian had chosen me because of my rare blood type. He had kept me as a living container for the organ he needed.

What if other powerful people needed compatible organs, too?

My spirit shook.

I wasn’t the only victim.

Behind my death, there might be something much larger.

I looked at Tessa’s parents and thought of my mother.

Tears slipped down my face.

Another daughter found and lost again.

Another family burying the child they had spent years searching for.

“Tessa!”

A young man rushed forward.

His hair was disheveled. His eyes were red. He dropped beside the body, looking destroyed.

“It’s my fault. All my fault.”

He slapped himself.

Again.

Again.

“I should have picked you up from work. If I’d gone, you wouldn’t have disappeared. Why did I have to get sick that day?”

Her parents tried to stop him.

“Owen, don’t. Nobody knew this would happen. You had only just gotten engaged. God, why are you doing this to our family?”

Her fiancé.

Owen Price.

I studied him.

He beat his chest and cried that he wanted to die with her. Two officers could barely hold him back.

Everyone seemed moved.

But I had already died once.

And I had known Julian.

Something about this performance felt wrong.

According to her parents, they had found Tessa only six months ago. From what they were saying, her relationship with Owen couldn’t have lasted much longer than that.

Yet he seemed more devastated than either parent.

I frowned and tried to move closer.

A voice screamed behind me.

“Owen, you animal!”

Cold passed straight through my spirit.

I stopped.

Tessa’s ghost rushed at him, consumed with hatred.

Now I understood.

Owen was another Julian.

Tessa hadn’t yet accepted what she was.

She cursed him and tried to close her hands around his throat.

Again and again, she passed through him.

I remembered my own first moments after death.

The same frenzy.

The same discovery that I could do nothing.

“You can’t kill him,” I said softly. “You can’t take revenge like that.”

Nobody understood her better than I did.

Slowly, she turned.

Her face was whole, as it had been in life.

Blood-red tears ran from her eyes.

“Who are you?”

“Someone like you. An orphan for most of her life. Murdered by the man she loved and trusted most.”

She closed her eyes in agony.

The tears fell in red threads, dissolving into ash.

“I was so stupid. He tried so hard to please me when he first approached me. Did anything I asked. I should have been suspicious. But I fell in love.”

I knew regret couldn’t change what had happened.

We were dead.

“Tessa. Did Owen kill you? Why were your organs removed?”

I needed to ask quickly.

If Lucian left, I would have to go.

She forced herself to calm down.

“I was walking home after a late shift. A black van started following me. I was frightened. I kept running.”

Her voice shook.

“Then I saw Owen. He’d come to get me. I was so relieved. I ran straight to him.”

She looked at the man kneeling beside her remains.

“He drugged me.”

“When I woke up, I was strapped to an operating table. Someone was cutting open my stomach. I couldn’t speak. But I saw Owen standing in the doorway.”

Every word hurt her.

“He was taking money. Smiling while he took it.”

Her hands curled.

“Then there was nothing. When I opened my eyes again, I was here.”

Almost my exact experience.

Except Julian had wanted my heart for himself.

Owen had sold her.

“Let me go! Without her, what’s the point of living?”

He was still performing.

“Then let him die,” Tessa spat, trembling.

Nobody heard her except me.

Her parents were so moved they began comforting the man who had killed their daughter.

“You’re a good boy, Owen. You loved her. But seeing you like this would hurt her.”

He dropped to his knees before them and bowed his head.

“Mom. Dad. She’s gone, but I’ll still be your son. I’ll take care of you for the rest of your lives.”

Then he turned, still kneeling, to beg the police.

“Please find whoever did this. Please get justice for my fiancée.”

Tessa looked ready to lose her mind.

“You heartless bastard! How can you keep acting? Aren’t you afraid you’ll pay for this?”

I wanted to comfort her.

But Lucian had apparently seen enough. He turned away.

I couldn’t stay.

Before the tether pulled me after him, I took her hand.

“They’ll pay. I promise.”

I didn’t quite believe it myself.

She didn’t answer.

As I was drawn away, I looked back.

She knelt beside her parents, trying to hold them.

The people who loved her were what she couldn’t bear to leave.

In the car, Lucian watched Owen through the window.

His gaze grew colder.

“Miles.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Bring that man to me later.”

He closed his eyes and tipped back his head.

“His acting is worse than Julian’s.”

For a moment, I could have sworn a halo appeared around him.

Those eyes missed nothing.

He had seen straight through another monster.