Chapter 2The Ghost of Christmas Eve: My Ex-Husband's Regret

On my first day as a ghost, I sat on the windowsill and watched the city lights glow through the night.

The phone I had left by the bathtub was filled with mass-sent holiday texts. Out of the hundreds of contacts in my phone, not a single person genuinely reached out to me on Christmas Eve.

Just as the holiday specials on TV were coming to an end, my phone finally buzzed.

I floated over to look. It was my awful ex-husband.

He sent a photo. It was a cardboard box stuffed with a few of my old clothes and half-used makeup products.

The text read: "Your trash. You have one day to get it out of here. Don't dirty my house."

My ex-husband was Grayson Lockwood. True to his reputation, he was a cold, ruthless, and calculating CEO.

He inherited the family business at a young age, and within a few short years, he multiplied their revenue exponentially. The business world hailed him as a prodigy.

His looks were even more undeniable. When he first took over the company, skeptics mocked him, saying he should just use his face to make a living in Hollywood.

But even perfect people have flaws.

His flaw was that he didn't love me.

He had a high school sweetheart, his "white moonlight," while I was merely a childhood promise made by his mother.

My family used to be wealthy, but unfortunately, we went bankrupt during my senior year of high school.

I had an entitled older sister, a spoiled younger brother, and parents who heavily favored their son.

When we went bankrupt, my sister, who was studying abroad in Paris, felt no impact whatsoever.

Meanwhile, my parents constantly lectured me: "Business is bad right now, Audrey. You need to be understanding."

I busted my back earning scholarships and working part-time jobs while juggling my studies, terrified of being a burden.

Yet, in the blink of an eye, my parents sent my useless younger brother to an expensive prep school overseas, spending fifty thousand dollars a year without batting an eye.

While I was working at a local fast-food joint making fifteen bucks an hour, my brother was partying on yachts.

While I was sweating in a heavy mascot costume passing out flyers in the summer heat, my sister was skiing in the Swiss Alps.

It seemed that the only person affected by our family's bankruptcy was me.

During my senior year of college, my parents clung to Grayson as their lifeline.

When Grayson's mother was pregnant with him, she was in a severe car accident. My parents found her and rushed her to the hospital, saving both her and the unborn Grayson.

Seeing that my mother was also pregnant at the time, and noting my parents' good looks, she promised an arranged marriage between their future children.

We all thought it was just a joke, but during my senior year, Grayson's mother became terminally ill. On her deathbed, she remembered the promise she made in her youth.

So, she came looking for our family.