Chapter 7: The Cold Between Us

Ellie lay still, her breath shallow, her skin tingling with phantom touches that weren't Ben's.

She felt tainted. Violated. Like Victoria had slithered beneath her skin and left something rotting behind.

Ben was still holding her, his fingers trembling as they caressed her cheek, searching her face like he could erase what had just happened.

But he couldn't.

No one could.

"Ellie," he whispered. "I swear, I—"

She shoved him away.

Not gently.

Ben stumbled backward, his expression a mixture of shock and pain.

"Don't," Ellie snapped, voice sharp as broken glass. "Don't touch me right now."

Hurt flickered across his face, but Ellie didn't care.

She was done pretending this wasn't real. That Victoria was some sad little ghost mourning her lost love.

No. She was a monster.

A jealous, intrusive, obsessed monster.

Ellie sat up, her pulse pounding in her ears. The air was still thick with the icy residue of Victoria's presence. She could still smell her—something floral, intoxicating, wrong.

Her stomach twisted.

Ben swallowed hard, his hands balling into fists at his sides. "Ellie, please."

She laughed bitterly. "Please? What, Ben? Please what? Pretend that your psycho dead ex didn't just grope me? That she's not inside this room every time you breathe my name?"

Ben flinched. "I—"

"Do you like this?" Ellie cut him off, eyes burning. "Do you want her here? Do you still love her?"

Silence.

Ben's lips parted, but nothing came out.

Ellie's heart cracked wide open.

A lump formed in her throat. "God." She buried her face in her hands, her body trembling. "You don't even know, do you?"

Ben took a step closer. "Ellie, it's not like that."

"Then what is it like?" she shot back, snapping her head up. "Because from where I'm standing, it sure as hell seems like she still has her claws in you. And you're letting her."

Ben exhaled shakily. "I don't want her here."

Ellie glared. "But you don't want her to leave either."

His silence was all the confirmation she needed.

Her chest ached.

She loved him. God, she loved him. But how the hell was she supposed to compete with a ghost?

A ghost who didn't need a body to own him.

Ellie clenched her fists. "Fine. If you won't make her leave, I will."

Ben stiffened. "Ellie—"

"No." Her voice was cold, unyielding. "I am not living in her shadow. I am not waking up to her touching me. And I am sure as hell not spending my nights fighting for my own damn boyfriend."

She stormed toward the door.

But before she could reach it—

The temperature dropped again.

The hair on Ellie's arms stood up.

A whisper curled around her throat, wrapping tight, suffocating.

"You think you can erase me?"

Ellie froze.

She could feel her. Inside her. Not touching her body, but inside her mind, creeping, curling, poisoning.

Her vision blurred. For a split second, she wasn't in Ben's apartment anymore.

She was in water.

Cold, dark water.

She gasped, her lungs burning, her body sinking. She clawed at nothing, her screams swallowed by the deep, suffocating abyss—

A hand grabbed her wrist.

Ellie jerked back into reality, gasping for breath.

Ben's hands were on her shoulders, shaking her. "Ellie! What the hell just happened?!"

She stared at him, wide-eyed, drenched in fear.

"She drowned," she whispered. "That's how she died."

Ben paled. "Ellie, how do you—"

Ellie's breath hitched. Because just beyond Ben, reflected in the dark window—

Victoria was smiling.