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—
“Is there anything I can do for you?”
Could ghosts hallucinate? Because it seemed like he was talking to her—
Niccolò walked past her to close the door before looking at her again. “Payton?”
Payton’s heart nearly flew out of her chest. “Y-You can see me?”
“Am I supposed to pretend not to?”
“Y-You can really see me?”
Her boss frowned. “Are you alright?”
I don’t understand. How can he see me when I’m—OH.
“Have you always been able to see ghosts?” she whispered.
“What ghosts?”
She was about to point herself.
Me.
But then she remembered—
Today was Thursday.
As in...she hadn’t died yet in this timeline.
And so maybe that meant—
Payton hurried back to open the door and poked her head out of Niccolò’s office. “Hello!”
“Hey!”
“Hi!”
“Hello!”
While it was totally weird how everyone was smiling at Payton like she had just caught them gossipping about her, she didn’t really have time to figure that part out since...
Since...
I...
I’m...
I’m not...
She slowly walked back inside her boss’s office and found Niccolò staring at her like she had completely lost her mind.
“What is wrong with you?”
“I...”
How did she even explain?
Tu sei il mio cuore.
But the moment she remembered what he said—
“I want to know if I’m your heart.”
Payton felt like disappearing the moment the words flew out of her mouth. Had she really said that? Had she actually gone ahead and—
“Ma che?” What the? “Why would you ask that?”
“B-Because—”
That’s what you said when I died.
His gaze narrowed. “I’m listening.”
But now I’m alive.
And that was when it hit her.
She was alive, yes.
For now.
She was alive.
But until when?
The question had her looking at her boss for some reason, and...
“Payton?”
The impatience in his tone made her want to laugh and cry. How could this be the same man who had come to her funeral with golden eyes that were haunted by regret? She didn’t know if she would ever have the chance to ask him that. Or if she should even. But one thing was for sure—
“I’m s-sorry,” she stammered.
Now wasn’t really the time to think about such things.
“I’ll try to explain—”
If I’m still alive by then.
“But I have to go.”
And so she rushed out of Niccolò’s office, and she was so afraid of running out of time that she couldn’t even risk stopping to grab her phone from her desk. Because who knew, really? What if she had a supernatural deadline to meet, and she just happened to miss a clue about it?
The elevator doors slid open, and Leah looked confused as she stepped out while Payton rushed past her and started pounding on the Close button like that would magically make the doors close faster. “Is something going on?”
“Sorry, I’ll explain tomorrow!”
And hopefully, she wasn’t lying about that.
But for now...
Payton’s heart was pounding when she arrived at her husband’s workplace.
She knew coming here was a gamble. A huge one. All she knew was that maybe, if she spoke to Rosé, and if she worded things correctly, then maybe all of them could live happily separately—
“Mrs. Cheyney?”
Payton nearly jumped out of her skin when her husband’s twenty-year-old intern popped in front of her, seemingly out of nowhere.
“R-Rosé, hi.”
Payton knew she shouldn’t feel inferior or anything, especially if what Eric said was true about Ro?, but...
Rosé smiled. “I knew it was you!”
It was just hard to feel any kind of confidence with how, well, perfectly put together Rosé always looked. The girl just had this incredibly posh air about her that Payton often felt the need to put on sunglasses around her. She was just so...glossy!
“Are you here for Mr. Cheyney?” Rosé was asking. “I’m afraid he isn’t back yet from his meeting.”
Payton shook her head. “I’m here because...”
Please let this be the right thing to do.
“I’d like to speak to you, actually.”
"Oh, of course. Shall we go up to Eric's office?”
Payton blinked. "Eric?" Not Mr. Cheyney?
Rosé just looked at her innocently. "Yes?"
Payton forced a smile. “Sorry. It’s nothing.” Maybe she had just misheard the other girl.
They took the elevator to the 34th floor. Once in a while, their gazes would meet, and Rosé would smile, and Payton would smile back even when the whole thing made her feel like they were playing hide-and-seek for some reason.
How weird.
“This is your first time to see Eric’s new office, isn’t it?”
Payton nearly stumbled.
There it was again, but this time she knew she wasn’t mistaken. Todd & Tolstoy was a firm with a very traditional corporate culture, and Payton would know, since she had also worked here, once upon a time.
This was not the kind of workplace where people could be casual with their higher-ups or have Free Fridays where everyone was allowed to dress however they wanted.
And yet Rosé here...
Payton’s stomach started cramping.
The younger girl clearly wanted to make some kind of point, and what that was, well...
“We’re here.”
Rosé was all smiles as she opened the door to Eric’s office. Her husband had wanted this for so long, and Payton had seen how hard he had worked for it, too. When he told her he had finally gotten his own corner office, she remembered bursting into tears because she had been so, so happy for him.
‘You still haven’t changed, you little softie.’
That was one of her few good memories of their marriage, and even though she knew now, in a way that most wives would never know, how her marriage would end—
There was still a part of her that wished they could start all over again.
Because if it was possible for her to go back in time, couldn’t it be possible for Eric, too?
“Mrs. Cheyney?”
“Oh, sorry, I...I was thinking of something.” It was the lamest excuse ever, but that would have to do since she would always suck at lying.
“Come in then.” Rosé held the door open for Payton. “Would you like to see the terrace?”
Payton was afraid of heights, but since it felt terribly impolite to say no, she forced another smile. “I’d love to.”