“Are you sick?” Maya’s voice shot back. “I already told you, Ethan. Chloe is dead. She died the same day her mom called you. While you were in that hospital room, playing house with Sarah. You want to find her? Go join her in the afterlife.”

After hearing Maya’s words, Ethan just stood there, stunned and disoriented.

He tried to replay the day of the accident in his mind, searching for any proof that I couldn’t possibly be dead.

A flicker of panic crossed his face, but he quickly masked it with his usual arrogance.

“You people are unbelievable,” he said, forcing a calm he didn’t feel. “Is this some kind of sick joke? Just because she hurt Sarah, she’s too scared to come home, so you cook up this pathetic lie?”

“Are you trying to make me worry? Are you trying to force me to say that if she just comes back safely, I’ll forgive everything?”

“Well, you can tell her this: if she comes back right now and apologizes to Sarah, I’ll consider putting the divorce on hold. Otherwise, she’s not going to like the consequences.”

I couldn’t help but shake my head, a strange, hollow feeling spreading through my non-existent heart.

I always knew Ethan was cold, but I never thought he could be this cruel.

To completely disregard our history together, to refuse to trust me even in a matter of life and death.

Just then, Sarah emerged from the bedroom and took the phone from him.

“Maya,” she said, her voice dripping with fake sincerity, “I know you have a problem with me, but you can’t joke about things like this just to help Chloe. Ethan and I are both very worried about her.”

Her innocent expression was a stark contrast to the mocking tone in her voice.

Seeing her, Ethan’s temper flared again.

“I’m warning you two, stop these games!” he roared into the phone. “Get Chloe to come back here and admit she was wrong, or the divorce is happening, no discussion!”

Maya actually laughed, a bitter, humorless sound.

“Wow, Ethan. You’re really something else. Fine. Go ahead. Serve her the divorce papers with her ashes.”

Before Ethan could respond, Maya composed herself and added one last thing.

“Ethan, I need you to be rational for one second. Every single one of us wishes Chloe was still alive more than you do. There’s no point in fighting with me about this. Just call the damn hospital and ask them. Then you’ll know if we’re telling the truth or not.”

Maya was trying to force him to face reality, to stay as calm as possible herself.

But Ethan was still wrapped up in his own pride.

“I’m not calling because I don’t want to expose your little charade,” he said smugly. “I’m giving you a chance to come clean. Because when I make that call and prove you’re lying, how embarrassing will that be for you?”

Maya was done.

She had nothing more to say to him.

Ever since Sarah had reappeared, he’d been completely irrational, deaf to any reason.

“You’re on your own,” she said, and hung up.

After the call, Ethan violently kicked a nearby chair.

The sound of it crashing to the floor echoed through the room, a physical manifestation of his rage.

Sarah jumped, frozen in place, unsure what to do.

But after a moment, she put her innocent mask back on and wrapped her arms around him, murmuring words of comfort.

Since the accident, I had spent every day floating over Ethan’s head, watching them together.

I was numb to it by now.

In fact, it was starting to make me sick.

Once he had calmed down, Ethan finally picked up his phone and dialed the hospital.

“Hello,” he said. “I’m calling to ask about a patient, Chloe Miller, who was admitted after a recent car accident. When will she be discharged? I’m her husband.”

During the thirty seconds it took for the nurse to check the records, his hands fidgeted restlessly.

A hint of anxiety seeped into his usually cold eyes.

The line of his jaw was tight.