Left to Rot My Husband Plunged Me into the Abyss

My husband's first love wanted to see a high-altitude bungee performance. So, even though I was three months pregnant, they suspended me from a platform a thousand feet in the air. I was shaking all over, crying and begging them. "I'm terrified of heights, and I have a heart condition! Please, the baby and I will die!" But my husband, Julian, only sneered impatiently. "Stop acting, Chloe. You used to climb trees to rescue stray cats. Now you're playing the coward?" Our five-year-old son, Leo, joined in. "Chloe, Vivian wants to see a duo performance anyway. Why don't you show her a cool jump with the baby in your tummy?" I stared in shock at the two most important people in my life. A bitter, suffocating pain filled my chest. Before I could say another word, Julian pressed the release switch. Cheered on by my son, Vivian pushed me off the edge with a giggling laugh. The feeling of weightlessness engulfed my entire body. A blood-curdling, agonizing scream echoed through the rooftop lounge. Yet, Vivian only pouted, looking offended. "Chloe's screams are so loud and scary. Is she doing this on purpose just to ruin my birthday?" Julian and our son immediately rushed to comfort her. "Don't be mad, sweetie. We'll make her do it again for you in a minute." "Yeah! If she doesn't perform well for Vivian, I'm never calling her Mom again!" A sharp, stabbing pain pierced my heart. The world around me turned completely black. When I opened my eyes again, I realized my soul was floating right next to Julian and my son. Recognizing that I was dead, I instinctively reached down to touch my stomach. "I'm so sorry, baby. I couldn't protect you." But before the grief could even sink in, the conversation between Julian and Vivian made me shake with pure rage. Vivian leaned against the rooftop railing, her face twisted in mockery. "Why did she stop screaming? Is she throwing a tantrum because she didn't want to perform for me?" Julian scoffed. "She probably thinks she embarrassed herself. She's just playing dead." "Let's see how long she can keep up this act. Crank up the tension on the rope." But I wasn't acting. I was dead. Down below, suspended by the bungee cord, my corpse hung limply. My eyes were wide with terror, and my face had already turned a bruised, suffocating purple. If they had pulled the rope up just once to look, they would have known. The person who was begging for her life just minutes ago had already taken her last breath. Perhaps because I remained silent for too long, Vivian pouted again. Julian's impatience grew. "Chloe, stop playing dead!" "If you ruin Vivian's birthday party, you will pay for this!" Leo also frowned, crossing his little arms. "Yeah, Chloe! Don't make Vivian unhappy!" Looking at them, I let out a bitter, ghostly laugh. Every time I didn't cater to Vivian's whims, Julian would be the first to point fingers at me. And once Leo grew older, Julian taught him to do the exact same thing. Together, they bullied me. Seeing that I still didn't respond, Julian and Leo went over to the control panel to "teach me a lesson." My lifeless body jerked and swung helplessly in the cold night wind. I hovered right beside them, screaming at the top of my lungs that I was dead. But no one could hear me. Infuriated by my silence, Julian snarled at the staff. "Turn the machine to maximum power." "Since she likes to play games, let her swing out there all night!" I tried to stop him, throwing my hands out, but my ghostly fingers slipped right through his chest. "Ugh, what a buzzkill," Vivian sighed. "Let's go somewhere else to celebrate." Julian took Leo's hand with one arm and wrapped the other around Vivian's waist. He didn't look back once as they walked away. Before leaving, he gave a cold order to the venue staff. "Don't bring Chloe down until sunrise." Watching their retreating figures, the last warmth in my heart froze over. My eyes felt empty, but as a spirit, I couldn't even shed tears. Just when I thought my body would rot high up in the air, a strange, invisible force suddenly yanked my soul. It dragged me right back to Julian's side. I looked up. He had taken Vivian back to our house—the home I had lived in and decorated for five years.The moment Vivian sat down on the sofa, Leo ran to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of premium sparkling water for her. "Here, Vivian! This is your favorite. Chloe wanted to drink it last week, but I didn't let her." Seeing the proud, smug look on my son's face, my heart completely shattered. Last week, I had a raging fever. I was so thirsty that my throat felt like sandpaper. I opened that bottle of water and took one sip, only for Leo to throw a massive, crying tantrum. At the time, I thought it was just a child being possessive over food. Now I realized the truth. I simply wasn't worthy of drinking it in his eyes. Watching the three of them interact, a horrifying realization washed over me. This home, which I had painstakingly put together, had already been taken over by another woman. The custom throw pillows on the couch—the ones I was never allowed to touch—were custom-made for Vivian. The expensive designer tableware I was forbidden from using was a matching three-piece set for Julian, Vivian, and Leo. Even the spare bedroom, which Julian promised would be for our second child, had been fully decorated as a guest suite just for Vivian. Late at night, Vivian quietly slipped out of her bedroom. Curious, I floated after her. She stopped in front of the giant wedding photo of Julian and me hanging in the hallway. Looking at my younger self in the photo, smiling with pure adoration at Julian, it felt like a lifetime ago. Back then, I thought I was the luckiest woman in the world. I had a man who loved me unconditionally. We went from high school sweethearts to husband and wife, like a fairytale. But everything was a lie. Vivian's long, manicured fingernail scraped against the glass frame, making a screeching sound. "Chloe... if the Julian family hadn't been on the brink of bankruptcy back then, and if I hadn't wanted to escape his debts by going abroad, do you really think you'd ever have the chance to marry him?" I froze, staring at her in disbelief. Then, a wave of dark amusement hit me. The woman Julian loved so desperately only cared about his money. Meanwhile, the woman who had sacrificed everything for him—the woman currently carrying his unborn child—had been murdered by his own hands. Vivian's voice turned incredibly venomous. "So what if you got married and had his kid? His heart, and his son's heart, still belong to me." "Honestly, if you had just stepped aside and given me my spot back, you wouldn't have had to die tonight." Her words hit me like a lightning bolt. It was a setup. My death wasn't an accident. They had planned this! "Why? Why would you do this to me?" "My baby was only three months old! He didn't even get a chance to see the world!" I screamed in agony, lunging forward to tear her face apart. But my hands passed right through her body. I was dead. I collapsed to the floor in despair, forced to listen as Vivian muttered the rest of the truth to the empty hallway. She let out a low chuckle. "You actually thought Julian loved you? He just needed a free maid to take care of his kid while he built his empire." "The second his company secured that new venture capital, he immediately wired me one million dollars for my allowance." One million dollars? I snapped my head up to glare at her. Years ago, when Julian's company was failing, he told me he desperately needed cash. I sold the cottage my grandmother had left me in her trust fund to give him the money. But just two days later, he claimed there was still a one-million-dollar deficit. So, I sold all the heirloom jewelry my parents had given me. I worked three different low-wage jobs, sleeping only three hours a night, just to scrape together that one million dollars. And he gave it all to his first love as pocket money. I laughed. A silent, hysterical laugh. Chloe, you absolute fool."What are you doing staring at that photo?" Julian's voice suddenly echoed as he opened his bedroom door. Vivian instantly wiped the malice from her face. She rushed over, wrapping her arms around his neck, looking deeply hurt. "If my parents hadn't forced me onto that plane to Europe years ago, the woman in that wedding dress would be me." Julian's eyes flickered with guilt. He gave her a somewhat dismissive pat. "Don't talk nonsense. I have a wife." With that, he gently untangled himself from her grip, sat on the couch, and began scrolling through his phone. Vivian stood frozen, her eyes flashing with anger, but Julian avoided her gaze. I found the scene pathetic. He had just murdered his pregnant wife, and here he was, playing the role of a devoted, conflicted husband. Just then, the front door clicked open. Five-year-old Leo walked in, rubbing his sleepy eyes. "Julian, where's Chloe? Isn't she back yet?" Looking at my son's familiar face, I felt a chilling sense of dread. I couldn't reconcile this sweet-faced little boy with the monster who had cheered as I was pushed off the platform. Vivian knelt down, putting on her sweetest voice. "Chloe went to stay at a friend's house, sweetie. She won't be back for a few days." Leo peeked at Julian cautiously, then leaned in to whisper in Vivian's ear. "Vivian, now that the obstacle is gone, can you finally be my real mom?" The obstacle. He was talking about me. My heart felt like it was being shredded by a thousand knives. I never could have imagined that my own flesh and blood viewed me as a mere roadblock in his life, waiting eagerly for me to die. Vivian smiled warmly and nodded, kissing his forehead. "Yes, baby. I'll stay here and take care of you and Julian forever." Leo clapped his hands in joy. "Yay! Chloe was always so embarrassing at school. I've wanted you to be my mom for a long time!" Julian heard every word. Yet, he remained completely indifferent, his eyes glued to his phone screen. At that moment, I finally understood why Leo had insisted I attend Vivian's birthday party. He had complained that I was "too basic" and didn't fit in with the wealthy parents at his private school, which supposedly made his classmates ignore him. He said if I didn't go to Vivian's party, his friends would laugh at him. It was all a trap. A trap to lead me to my execution. Pure, unadulterated hatred consumed me. My soul burned with a pain so intense it felt like it was ripping apart. In the next second, I was dragged away. I was back by my body. But I wasn't on the rooftop anymore. I was inside a rumbling, foul-smelling garbage truck, buried beneath heaps of trash and discarded party props. The drivers' voices drifted in from the front cabin. "Man, that party venue throws away some realistic stuff. That dummy looks exactly like a corpse. Let's just dump it at the landfill." They thought my dead body was a discarded Halloween prop. No matter how loudly I screamed, no sound came out. I could only watch in horror as the truck drove toward the city landfill. An hour later, the truck stopped. My body was brutally dragged out and tossed into a massive pile of rotting garbage. Flies swarmed. Stray dogs lingered in the distance. A heavy bulldozer slowly rolled forward. Tons of waste were dumped over me, burying my body deep beneath the filth. My consciousness plunged into darkness once again. When I woke up, the invisible force had dragged me back to the house. In the living room, Julian was pacing back and forth, furiously shouting into his phone. Vivian sat on the couch, looking highly annoyed. "I don't care! Dig up the whole city if you have to, but find Chloe! She has to be my date for the gala tomorrow night!" This gala was something Julian had been preparing for over a year. If he couldn't convince a powerful female tech CEO at the event to invest in his firm, his company would go under. Julian had mentioned before that this CEO only did business with family-oriented, devoted family men. If I didn't show up with him, it would ruin his reputation. No wonder he was panicking. Vivian rolled her eyes. "She knew how important this night was for you, Julian. She's clearly hiding on purpose just to screw you over." "If she doesn't show up... can't I just go as your date?" Vivian asked, testing the waters. "No," Julian snapped. "Going alone is one thing. But if I bring you..." He trailed off, but I knew what he was thinking. He was terrified of being labeled a cheater in the high-society circles. Vivian immediately burst into tears. "I've given up everything for you! I live like a hidden mistress in the shadows!" "We can't even hold hands in public without hiding! Oh, God..." Julian, always soft-hearted toward his mistress, folded within three seconds. He pulled her into his arms, murmuring apologies. As I watched them, a terrible sense of unease crept over me. Days bled into one another while I hovered around them in a state of constant anxiety. Until one afternoon, Julian's phone rang. Through the speaker, a gruff, distorted voice demanded: "Hey, Julian. If you want your pretty little mistress to stay alive, you better prepare fifty million dollars." Vivian was kidnapped?"If your wife, Chloe, isn't happy with the exchange, we can't guarantee what will happen to your side piece." Chloe? Me? But I was dead! How could I have kidnapped Vivian? Julian's face went pale, then flushed with rage. He grabbed his coat and bolted out the door. "Chloe... you smart little bitch. You really need to be taught a lesson!" He dialed my number repeatedly, but it went straight to voicemail every time. "Since you want to play dirty and kidnap Vivian, don't blame me for what I do to your parents!" He slammed his foot on the gas, and his sports car roared down the street. I flew after him, screaming at him to stop, but he couldn't hear me. Julian arrived at a modest, older apartment complex on the outskirts of the city. He kicked the front door open, confronting my startled father. "Where is Chloe? Did she kidnap Vivian? Hand her over right now!" My father stared at him, utterly confused, but tried to remain calm. "I was about to ask you where Chloe is! We haven't heard from her all day." "Today is my birthday. She never misses my birthday. How could she possibly be kidnapping anyone?" My mother rushed over, her face pale with worry. "Julian, what's going on? Chloe hasn't called us. Has something happened to our baby girl?" But Julian didn't believe a word. He shoved my father backward. He tore through the small apartment, throwing drawers and kicking down closet doors, finding nothing. Losing his mind, he grabbed my elderly father by the collar and slammed him against the wall. My mother screamed, trying to pull Julian away, but he violently pushed her aside. She stumbled, her forehead striking the sharp corner of the dining table. Blood immediately began to pour down her face. "If you don't tell me where Vivian is, I will beat both of you to death!" "Julian, stop! I didn't kidnap her! Leave my parents alone!" I threw myself at him, screaming, crying, trying to claw at his eyes. But my hands kept passing through him. "I beg you, please! They are old! Let them go!" Blinded by fury, Julian signaled his bodyguards. "Trash the place. Make them talk." The heavy-set men began kicking and punching my elderly parents. Julian pulled out his phone and started recording a video. "Chloe, look at this," he sneered into the camera. "If you keep hiding, I'll make sure your parents don't survive the night." I floated beside my battered parents, watching them writhe in pain on the floor. My soul felt like it was being ripped into shreds. Driven to absolute despair, my father grabbed my bleeding mother's hand. With one final, desperate look at the apartment, he dragged her toward the open window and jumped. Just then, a bodyguard ran into the apartment, holding his phone out. "Sir! Something's wrong! Your wife..."