Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 18308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 73(@250wpm)___ 61(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 18308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 73(@250wpm)___ 61(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry.”
His voice was raw, the pain in his tone mirrored by what she saw in his haunted eyes of gold.
“I should have...I didn’t know...”
Payton’s chest squeezed at the way he was struggling to speak, something she had never seen him do.
“Tu sei il mio cuore.”
One of his reasons for hiring her was her fluency in Italian, and so...
Tu sei il mio cuore, her boss had said.
Payton was still fighting back her own tears when his words sank in.
You are my heart.
Her stunned, confused gaze flew to Niccolò.
Did I really hear him right?
Her boss’s jaw was clenched, his expression still ravaged.
Did he really say—
But Payton had no chance to finish her thought.
Because darkness, the same kind of darkness that had swallowed her whole when Eric murdered her in cold blood—
No, wait, please!
It was back.
Chapter One
POOF!
It was like falling back into her seat after a roller coaster ride had turned her world upside-down. Her heart was racing, her stomach felt queasy, and she was trying to catch her breath like she had just run for miles.
What is happening?
Was this really normal?
Weren’t people supposed to just stay dead when they died?
So why then?
Payton slowly looked around.
Fairscale.
This was her office, and this...
She looked down dazedly.
Whoever or whatever it was toying with Payton in the afterlife, they now wanted her to be back on her desk, with her usual cup of coffee still steaming hot, and her hands still poised on the keyboard like she was in the middle of typing—
Huh?
She lifted her hands up and squinted.
What in the world?
On her left wrist was what looked like three heart-shaped birthmarks that she never had before. Not that they could be birthmarks since, by definition, that meant they should have been there since birth.
And they weren’t.
Payton knew her own body, and so she knew these marks were entirely new. She tried rubbing them off, but that only made her skin turn red. The marks were still there, completely visible, like they had always been a part of her. She tried to figure out what they meant, and all she could think of was...
Please just don’t let them mean 666.
Her dead brain already felt close to exploding every time she tried to make sense of all the things that had happened ever since her own husband killed her. If the apocalypse were to also take place, well—
Stop overthinking, Payton!
She took a deep breath, and...huh. Who knew that was still possible? Did that mean she’d still be able to pee and have periods even when she was—
Stop getting distracted!
She had to take this whole dead business seriously. That simply went without saying, and so...let’s see...oh, right!
Her gaze flew to her desktop calendar.
Thursday.
As in...the day before her birthday, and about a few weeks before her death day, and...huh.
Payton didn’t know whether to feel good or bad that she was starting to get used to the idea of being, well, dead.
But anyway.
Since she was here—
Payton got to her feet.
Tu sei il mio cuore.
Her hands flew up to her cheeks as soon as she remembered his words.
Don’t you dare blush, Mrs. Eric Cheyney!
Her husband had already murdered her, and at this point, Payton only had her soul left, and if Hell was real, a couple of Italian words weren’t worth risking eternal damnation.
And anyway, maybe she had just misheard him. Or if she didn’t, then maybe he meant it in some other way?
In fact, maybe that was the reason she was here.
Maybe her boss was, um...
What was that term again?
He was, like, a loose end?
No, that didn’t sound quite right, but anyway. That was how Payton would think of him for now. A loose end. And whatever ghosts had to do about loose ends, that was very likely what she was supposed to do, and so—ouch.
Payton had tried walking straight through the door of his office and had ended up almost knocking herself down.
Weren’t ghosts supposed to go through things?
And didn’t being dead mean she should no longer feel pain?
This whole ghostly thing was just so weird, but whatever.
She opened the door the normal way, and she almost felt like apologizing when she saw Nellie and the others look her way like they had seen a ghost.
Technically, they were seeing one, only they couldn’t really see Payton. Instead, all they saw was a door opening on its own.
Hopefully, they didn’t think she was haunting them. But if they did, well...hopefully, this would be all over quickly. As soon as she finished her business here—
Business!
Payton knew it was a small thing, but she was so glad the right words finally came to her as she entered her boss’s office.
Unfinished business.
That was what Niccolò de Vindice was. He was her unfinished business, and—whoa!
Why was her boss looking at her like he could really see her?
And now he was raising his brow at her like he always did every time she tried getting him to post something on social media—