AURORA MOON
Flesh bruised. Eyes blackened. Bones cracked. Ropes so tight wrists and ankles were bloodless and numb.
Flames encircled. The fire edged closer and closer.
Betrayal tasted as bitter as the coppery blood that filled Aurora Moon's mouth.
She'd been slapped and punched and kicked.
And conned.
Her longtime crush and her two-faced sister had fooled her into believing they wanted what was best for her. Their lies were honey, thick and sweet. She was a fly drawn into their sticky web of deception, and now, these poisonous spiders had killed her.
Why?
For money. For inheritance. For greed.
Aurora had abandoned the fiance who adored her to the point of obsession. Yes, his love included thorns. Possessiveness. Control. Desperation. But she traded someone who wanted her to marry a loser who wanted her inheritance. Her money. Her designs. Her very life.
I'm so stupid. Tears leaked from her swollen eyes. I'm sorry, Kellan. You were the only one who truly loved me.
Regret filled her heart as she took her last ... shuddering ... breath.
***|***|***
When Aurora regained awareness, she stood in front of an elaborate tombstone. She crouched down and placed her hand on the black marble, gasping when she saw her name inscribed. The grave site included a vine-wrapped pergola and butterfly bushes---Black Night, Miss Pearl, Royal Red.
Kellan had made this memorial for her.
Then she noticed her fingers sinking into the shiny marble.
She ... she was a ghost?
She stood up and looked at herself. She wore the wedding gown Kellan had designed himself. It had been custom-made and hand-sewn in Italy. She'd never worn it in life, but in death, it had become her shroud.
Flashes of her last day alive hit her like bullets.
Zppt! Her longtime crush Aiden Cross and her scheming stepsister Ivy Moon helped her escape from Butterfly Villa.
Zppt! She'd gone directly to the Civil Registration Bureau with Aiden and gotten their marriage certificate.
Zppt! She was so happy to be Mrs. Cross that she signed every piece of paper Aiden put in front of her. In no time at all, he had full, legal control of her inheritance.
Zppt! Hours later, Aiden and Ivy had tortured and killed her.
Tears fell and she swiped them away. Kellan's obsessive love had frightened her. She listened to Aiden and Ivy's provocations, and fought against Kellan until he put her in a real gilded cage.
It was only now she realized that, in his own twisted way, he was trying to show his love for her.
"Mr. Ward. We're sorry. We're so sorry."
Why did that voice sound familiar? She turned around and saw her so-called family: her heartless father Harold Crane, his vicious mistress Sheila Crane, and their conniving daughter, Ivy Crane. Her "family" knelt on the side of her grave, wrists bound. Their faces sported bruises and cuts. Their clothes were stained and torn.
And then there was Aiden Cross.
He looked like he'd gotten the worst of the beatings. He swayed on his knees, obviously in pain, one blackened eye swollen shut.
"Mr. Ward, please," begged her stepmother. "We were wrong. Give us another chance."
"Does Aurora have another chance?" asked an angry male voice.
Aurora's gaze lifted to the face of Kellan Ward. He looked so tired, so grief-stricken. Dark circles. Pale skin. Haunted eyes. She stretched up and put her hand against his cheek, but she was just a spirit without the ability to touch or to comfort.
"Kellan," she whispered. "I'm sorry."
"I was her father," said Harold Crane. "You think I would harm my own daughter?"
"I don't think it," Kellan said, sneering. "I know it. The same way you harmed her mother. Your jealousy of your own wife led you to ignore her, belittle her, and cheat on her. She died of heartbreak, Mr. Crane. Then you brought the mistress and the mistress' daughter into Aurora's home. You made my little butterfly feel unwelcome and unworthy."
Kellan. Aurora felt her heart ache as her fists clenched. He was venting her anger. Taking vengeance for her.
And these people deserved every second of pain and humiliation.
Kellan produced a large hunting knife, and all four people started hunching and mewling.
"It's too late for apologies. It's too late for regret. If she doesn't get to be in this world, none of you do, either." He nodded at the Ward Family guards, a group of loyal subordinates who would die, and kill, for Kellan Ward.
Today, they killed.
When the final act of revenge had been taken, Kellan waved his free hand. "Dispose of the bodies." He looked at Assistant Jingyu. "Leave me."
"Sir..."
"Jingyu." Kellan met the gaze of the only person he might call a friend. "Leave. Me."
Aurora watched Jingyu's expression turn sorrowful. He stepped back and bowed his head. "Yes, sir."
When no one was left at her grave, Kellan fell to his knees and sobbed. That jagged blade was still in his hand, and he lifted it, putting it against his own neck.
"Kellan," she whispered. "No."
"I failed you," said Kellan, tears streaming down his face. "I couldn't protect you. I loved you the most in this whole world. Aurora, I would've done anything you asked as long as you didn't leave me." He put one hand on her tombstone. "Those who wronged you paid the price, little butterfly. Now I can go to you in the Underworld."
"Kellan," cried Aurora. "Please don't!"
Kellan tightened his grip on the knife and sliced through his flesh.
Blood poured from the wound.
He collapsed against the black marble.
Weeping, Aurora draped her ghostly arms around the man who loved her the most in this world. Maybe the only person, aside from her mother, who ever loved her. "If I had another life with you," she whispered. "You would be the one in my heart. I would love you, Kellan, and only you."
As Kellan Ward took his last trembling breaths, Aurora and her promises faded away into nothingness.