Three Years Dead, He Calls My Name

My son and I are both dead.

I died of a systemic infection after my husband forced me to donate bone marrow to his ex-girlfriend while I was battling a severe illness.

My three-year-old son, Skyler, was left with no one to care for him. He starved to death right beside my rotting corpse.

Three years passed before Alaric Blackwood finally remembered us. He only did so because his precious ex, Rosalind, needed another bone marrow transplant.

He didn't expect my old neighbor to tell him the truth. "Serafina died three years ago. I heard it was complications from some bone marrow procedure. She passed just days after coming home."

Alaric's face twisted with nothing but impatience. "Is she still playing these pathetic games?"

"Tell her this: if she doesn't show up within three days, I'm cutting off every cent of that brat's medical bills."

Alaric planned to use our son's life to force me out of hiding.

But he had no idea.

The child he called a bastard was, in fact, his own flesh and blood.

I watched from the void as he kicked the gate of the small cottage where I used to live.

Three years had changed him. Alaric's eyes were colder and more ruthless than ever.

He was both familiar and a total stranger to me.

He was no longer the struggling entrepreneur I had helped build from nothing. He was now a titan of the business world, a man everyone envied.

I felt a flicker of curiosity.

My son and I have been dead for three years. Why did he suddenly care?

It's true. We've been lingering here as ghosts for three long years.

Our souls were bound to this tiny plot of land. We couldn't leave, and we couldn't move on to what comes next.

Three years ago, Rosalind was diagnosed with leukemia. Alaric forced me to undergo the matching process.

When the results came back, he ignored how weak I was. He dragged me to the hospital and made me give my marrow to her.

The procedure was invasive and brutal.

The hospital staff was incompetent, and my immune system was already failing.

A week after the procedure, a massive infection took hold. I died in a feverish coma on my floor.

Skyler, only three, was left alone. With no one to feed him, he eventually withered away next to me.

In those three years, Alaric never called. He never visited. Not once.

He used to think I was disgusting. He thought I'd slept with clients to get him resources when he was poor.

That was why he believed our son wasn't his.

Now, I held Skyler's tiny, translucent hand. We hovered in the air, watching Alaric kick the door again and again.

Rosalind stood behind him, wearing a designer mask and expensive clothes.

Her cheeks were rosy, and her figure was healthy. She didn't look like someone who was dying.

Skyler flinched at the loud thuds against the gate. He hid his face in my lap.

He looked up with eyes full of both hope and terror.

"Mommy, is Daddy finally here for us? It's been so long."

"But he looks so angry. Did Skyler do something bad?"

I stroked his hair, trying to comfort him. My heart felt like it was being shredded, even though it no longer beat.

"Serafina Sterling! Get out here right now! Stop playing dead!"

Alaric's roar echoed through the yard.

The noise drew out Mrs. Gable, the neighbor from next door.

She stepped out and looked at him. "Young man, who are you looking for? No one has lived here in years."

Alaric straightened his coat. "Serafina Sterling lives here. Did she move?"

Mrs. Gable's eyes dimmed. She sighed heavily. "Serafina? That poor girl died three years ago."

Alaric froze for a split second.

Mrs. Gable continued, "I heard she was forced to donate bone marrow while she was sick. She didn't last a week after she got back. It was a tragedy."

Rosalind's expression shifted. Her face turned pale.

She chimed in with a fake, trembling voice. "Ma'am, please don't say such things. Bone marrow donation is perfectly safe. It doesn't kill people."

"If Serafina didn't want to help me, she could have just said so. She shouldn't curse herself like this. It's bad luck."

She spoke loudly, as if she expected me to be eavesdropping from behind the curtains.

Alaric, who had looked stunned, suddenly relaxed. A sneer touched his lips.

"Is she still acting? If she's going to lie, she should at least make it believable. Tell her to Google if anyone actually dies from giving marrow."

Mrs. Gable didn't understand his cynicism.

She only repeated, "Poor thing was in that house for days before anyone found them"

Alaric's face turned to stone. He looked at the old woman. "I don't know why you're helping her lie to me."

"But tell her this: she has three days to show up for Rosalind's transplant. If she doesn't, that bastard child of hers won't get another dime for his dialysis."

Mrs. Gable stood there, her mouth hanging open.

She shook her head and turned to walk away.

Alaric shouted after her, "Three days! If I don't see her, she can watch that brat die right in front of her!"

Mrs. Gable's eyes were red as she walked away. She whispered to herself, "That poor child he's been gone just as long. If only I had checked on them sooner"

"Alaric, do you think Serafina is hiding because she doesn't want to save me?" Rosalind asked, her eyes welling with fake tears.

Alaric reached out and tenderly smoothed her hair.

"Don't be silly. It's just a little leukemia. Even if she won't do it, I'll search the whole country to find you a match."

Rosalind pouted. "But the doctors said her marrow was perfect. They said they'd never seen such a high match rate between two unrelated people."

Alaric glared at the locked door. His voice was a vow. "Then I'll tear this world apart until I find her for you."

At that moment, my heart felt a sharp, phantom pain.

Looking at them, memories of the past flooded back.

Alaric and I were college sweethearts. Back then, he was like sunlight breaking through the morning mistDwarm and bright.

I was the one who fell first.

We stayed together after graduation. I thought he was my everything.

I worked alongside him, building his company from the ground up. We shared every hardship.

He promised to take care of me forever.

In the beginning, he meant it.

But reality has a way of crushing dreams.

During the early days of the business, I was the one handling the clients.

That's how I met Dominic Hearst, the heir to the Hearst Empire.

Dominic was a spoiled playboy who only worked to amuse himself.

From the moment he saw me, he hovered like a fly. He constantly tried to touch me during business dinners.

One night, Dominic got drunk and tried to force me into his lap. Alaric didn't hesitate. He smashed a glass bottle over Dominic's head.

That single act cost us everything.

We lost the Hearst contracts and had to empty our savings to keep Alaric out of prison.

But the true cost was much higher.

That night, Alaric held me and apologized. He promised that once he made it, he'd never let anyone hurt me again.

He kept half that promise. Once he was successful, no one else hurt me.

He took over that job himself.

I tried to push the memories away.

I looked at his cold, heartless face. It had been years, but he looked more miserable than I remembered.

The humid summer wind messed up his hair, highlighting the deep furrow in his brow.

He looked burdened.

He kept Rosalind close, his eyes fixed on the weeds that had grown waist-high around my porch.

The year I "betrayed" Alaric was our second year of marriage.

I was one month pregnant. Neither of us knew it yet.

His business was finally taking off. He had investors lined up.

Then, everything collapsed. Investors pulled out. The bank called in his loans.

His properties, his cars, and his factory were all headed for the auction block.

Alaric couldn't eat. He couldn't sleep.

To make it worse, his mother was diagnosed with cancer that same year. The medical bills were astronomical.

I used every connection I had to find out what was happening. It turned out Dominic Hearst was the one pulling the strings.

He was finally getting his revenge for that bottle to the head.

Dominic came to me with a deal.

He said he could make the Hearst Group invest in Alaric's company. He said he'd pay for the mother's treatment.

I knew there was a catch.

The devil doesn't do charity. He wanted something more valuable than money.

I asked him why he was doing this.

Dominic looked at me with pure disdain. "Because I can. I love watching you ants squirm while you realize you're powerless."

"And I still haven't forgiven your husband for making me bleed. Now, he's going to pay."

I didn't understand Dominic.

He had a hundred ways to ruin Alaric, but he chose to use me.

Years later, I can still see that room vividly.

The VIP lounge was dimly lit. Dominic had me sitting on his lap.

Alaric burst in, holding a contract. When he saw us, he froze.

His eyes were bloodshot. His voice was a broken rasp. "Why?"

I looked him in the eye and lied. "You can't give me the life I want, Alaric. But Dominic can."

Dominic let out a boisterous laugh.

His greasy hand squeezed my waist.

I felt like a thousand arrows were piercing my soul. It was pure humiliation, but I forced a giggle and leaned into him.

"Isn't this better, Alaric? I get you the resources, you sign with Hearst. Everyone wins."

I watched the light die in Alaric's eyes.

But he still reached out his hand to me. "Serafina, come here. I don't need the money if it means this. I'll work harder. I'll give you everything you want."

He was pleading. He looked so desperate.

In that moment, I felt like a heavy stone was crushing my chest. I could barely breathe.

"Serafina, I won't sign it. Just come home with me," he said.

The man who was once so proud, the man who would fight a billionaire for me, was now begging.

Dominic's laughter was triumphant.

"Look at your woman, Alaric. One snap of my fingers and she's in my bed."

"So, what was the point of hitting me with that bottle? Was it worth it? Hahaha!"

Alaric didn't look at him. He just stared at me.

I wrapped my arms around Dominic's neck and smiled at Alaric. "Come on, Alaric. Don't be so serious. Look at the big picture."

I don't remember much of what happened after that.

I only remember him signing the contract. His eyes were a terrifying shade of red.

"Serafina Sterling," he whispered. "I will make your life a living hell for as long as we both breathe."

After that, he became a workaholic. He was obsessed.

In just a few years, he turned his startup into a public company. By the next year, he was a billionaire.

He succeeded.

And I became the biggest stain on his soul.

When his three-day deadline passed, I obviously didn't show up.

Alaric came back to my yard.

Skyler was excited. He kept running circles around his father, trying to slip his tiny, ghost hand into Alaric's palm.

"Mommy! I'm holding Daddy's hand!" he cheered.

My eyes burned. I forced a smile for him.

For years, Alaric believed Skyler belonged to Dominic. He hated the boy. He wouldn't even look at him.

Even when I showed him the DNA results proving he was the father, he wouldn't believe it.

He told me I'd paid someone to faked the report.

After that night with Dominic, Alaric never trusted a word I said.

I had asked for a divorce. I wanted to end the toxicity.

But he just gripped my chin and hissed, "You owe me, Serafina. I told you, we are never over until one of us is dead."

"Divorce? Not a chance."

He brought countless women to our house. He would touch them right in front of me.

Whenever I tried to argue, he'd remind me how "dirty" I was for being with Dominic.

This lasted until Rosalind came back from abroad. Once she was back, he cut off all the other women.

They were always together in public.

Even his business partners started calling Rosalind "Mrs. Blackwood."

The memory faded as Alaric stood at the gate, trying to call me.

The mechanical voice told him the number was no longer in service.

He frowned and opened our old messages. The last one was from three days ago, threatening me to show up for the transplant.

I hadn't replied.

He scrolled through my old posts. He stopped on a photo from four years ago.

It was a candid shot I took. He was sitting on the sofa, and SkylerDonly two thenDwas leaning his little head against Alaric's shoulder.

I thought it was beautiful at the time. But a second after the flash went off, Alaric had shoved the boy away in disgust.

He stared at the photo for a long time. Then, he typed a new message.

"Serafina, you asked for this. The three days are up. I'm cutting off all your funds starting today."

He waited. No reply. He kicked the gate in a fit of rage.

Skyler, who had been happily dancing around him, started shaking.

His lip trembled, and he ran back to me, sobbing. "Mommy, what's wrong with Daddy? I'm scared."

I pulled him into my arms. "Don't be scared, baby. He can't hurt you anymore. Look, there's a butterfly! Why don't you go play with it?"

I tried to distract him.

Skyler looked over and saw a butterfly fluttering near the weeds.

He wiped his tears and chased after it.

Alaric paced back and forth, rubbing his temples. Finally, he pulled out his phone again.

"Hello? Is this the locksmith?"

Half an hour later.

Alaric pushed open the gate, clearing away the thick cobwebs.

The grass inside was even taller, reaching up to his waist.

The place was clearly abandoned.

He hesitated in the middle of the yard.

He'd been here twice before. He should have remembered how well I used to keep the garden. It wasn't supposed to look like this.

The first time he came was to drop us off.

Skyler had just been diagnosed with kidney failure. It was a congenital issue.

Alaric thought the boy was a curse. He bought this remote, run-down cottage and forced us to move here.

He sent me three thousand dollars a month for living expenses and Skyler's dialysis.

The second time he came was to drag me to the hospital for Rosalind's first transplant.

If he had a brain, he'd remember the hydrangeas and roses I used to grow.

He'd remember the swing set I built for Skyler.

While he was standing there lost in thought, Rosalind called. Her voice sounded weak. "Alaric? Did you find her? Is she coming for the tests?"

Alaric sighed. "I'll handle it. Just listen to the doctors and don't worry."

Rosalind started to sob. "I know she doesn't want to help me again. I understand. She already saved me once. I shouldn't be greedy. I don't blame her for hiding. Truly."

She was framing it perfectly. She was making it look like I was hiding just to watch her die.

Alaric was silent for a few seconds.

To my surprise, he didn't take her side. "That's not it. I haven't reached her yet. She probably doesn't even know your cancer is back. How could she hide from something she doesn't know about?"

Rosalind went quiet, caught off guard.

"Alaric, I didn't mean it like that," she stammered.

Alaric cut her off. "Rosalind, don't worry. If Serafina is still on this earth, I'll find her. Even if I have to drag her here by her hair, she will save you."

Rosalind seemed satisfied with that.

After they hung up, Alaric stood in front of the cottage door for a long time. Even though it wasn't locked, he didn't push it open.

If he had, he would have seen it.

Two white chalk outlines on the floor.

The police had drawn them after they found our bodies.

But he just stood there.

Finally, he backed away, locked the gate with a new lock he bought from the locksmith, and left.

I noticed something strange.

As long as we stayed near Alaric, we could leave the place where we were trapped.

Skyler was bored of that yard after three years. I decided to take him exploring.

He was so excited, pointing at everything and chirping with joy.

But we couldn't go too far. There was a tether between us and Alaric.

We followed him back to his massive mansion.

Skyler's jaw dropped when he saw the luxury.

He had lived here until he was two. But he was too small then. He had forgotten.

He flew around the rooms while I followed Alaric into his study.

I watched him call the bank. He froze the credit cards he'd given me.

If he had actually looked at the statements, he'd realize something.

There hadn't been a single transaction on those cards in three years.

Every cent he'd sent for the past thirty-six months was still sitting in that account.

He thought that by cutting me off, I'd come crawling back within a week.

After all, Skyler needed dialysis twice a week. He knew I couldn't afford that on my own.

After finishing the call, he stared at his phone.

I drifted behind him. He was looking at that old photo of him and Skyler.

The resemblance was undeniable. The same forehead, the same thick lashes, the same slight curve of the eyes.

They were carbon copies.

He wasn't an idiot. He had to see it.

The silence of the study was broken by a phone call. It was the hospital.

Rosalind had collapsed.

Alaric grabbed his keys and raced out.

Skyler and I were pulled along in his wake.

In his rush through the hospital lobby, Alaric collided with a man in a bespoke suit.

I knew that man. It was Dominic Hearst.

Dominic stumbled back. When he realized it was Alaric, a smirk spread across his face.

"Well, if it isn't the great Alaric Blackwood. What brings you to the hospital in such a hurry in the middle of the night?"

Alaric muttered a quick apology and tried to push past him toward the elevators.

Dominic didn't let it go. He followed Alaric all the way to the oncology ward.

Rosalind wasn't in her room. Alaric sprinted to the doctor's office.

When he learned she wasn't in a coma, but just had a dizzy spell from anemia, he finally exhaled.

He sat on a bench outside her room, gasping for air. His eyes were blank, staring at the floor.

He really did care about her. It was sickening.

Dominic leaned against the doorframe, watching him. "I thought your little girlfriend was cured. Why is she back in the lion's den?"

Alaric didn't want to talk. "It came back," he said curtly.

Over the last few years, Alaric's company and Hearst Group had become major partners. Their business deals were worth billions.

Three years ago, Dominic's father had forced him to go abroad to handle international branches.

Without Dominic there to sabotage him, Alaric had thrived.

"So, whose life are you going to trade for hers this time?" Dominic asked suddenly.

Alaric looked at him like he was crazy.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Dominic studied his face, a strange, twisted smile forming on his lips.

"You're a good actor, Alaric. Sometimes even I can't tell if you're faking it."

Alaric was losing his patience. "Dominic, if you have something to say, say it. Don't play games."

Dominic shrugged. "I'm just saying since Serafina is dead, who's going to be the sacrificial lamb for your ex this time?"