---- Chapter 14 Arthur POV: Jody' s empty room had become my tomb. | would sit on the edge of the bed for hours, the scent of her perfume still faintly clinging to the pillows, a ghostly reminder of everything | had lost. Claudia found me there one afternoon. | heard her sharp intake of breath from the doorway and saw the flash of triumphant glee in her eyes before she could mask it. She thought she had won. She thought with Jody gone, she would finally have me all to herself. She quickly rearranged her features into a mask of concern. "Arthur," she cooed, walking into the room. "You can' t keep doing this to yourself." She tried to place a comforting hand on my shoulder, but | flinched away from her touch. Her hand dropped, but her smile didn' t falter. "She just ran away, Arthur. It' s what she does. She' s selfish. She never really loved you, not like | do." | didn' t respond. Her words were meaningless noise. "Arthur, please talk to me," she whined, her voice starting to grate on my raw nerves. ---- "Get out, Claudia," | said, my voice low and dangerous. She froze, shocked. "What?" "| said, get out," | repeated, my voice rising. "l want to be alone." Her face turned pale. She looked like she was about to cry, but for once, her tears had no effect on me. She finally seemed to realize it, and with a wounded expression, she turned and left, closing the door softly behind her. | rubbed my tired eyes, a wave of guilt washing over me. It wasn't her fault Jody had left. Claudia had always been fragile, demanding. | was the one who had enabled her, the one who had let her manipulate me. | stood up, deciding | should go downstairs and apologize. As | reached the top of the staircase, | heard her voice from the living room below. She was on the phone, her tone sharp and urgent. "| don' t care what it costs, find her," she was saying. "| want to know where Jody Campbell is." A strange warmth spread through my chest. She was worried about me. She was trying to help, trying to find Jody for me. | started down the stairs, ready to tell her | had my own people looking, ready to thank her for her concern. But then her next words stopped me cold, freezing the blood in my veins. ---- "And when you find her," Claudia' s voice dropped, becoming a low, venomous hiss, "make sure she disappears. Permanently." | froze, my foot hovering over the next step. It felt as if the world had suddenly tilted on its axis. Disappears? Permanently? The sweet, fragile girl | had protected my whole life, the sister | owed everything to, was ordering a hit on the woman | loved. My mind reeled, refusing to process what | had just heard. It had to be a mistake, a misunderstanding. But the cold, ruthless finality in her voice was undeniable. This wasn't the Claudia | knew. Or was it? A flood of memories washed over me, suddenly cast in a new, sinister light. Claudia' s crocodile tears. Her endless, manufactured emergencies. The way she had always subtly undermined Jody, planting seeds of doubt in my mind. The fall down the stairs. The soup. My god, the soup. Jody' s severe allergy. Claudia had known. She had to have known. And I... | had held the spoon. | had forced it into her mouth while she was helpless in a hospital bed. A wave of nausea so profound it made me dizzy washed over me. | stumbled back, leaning against the wall for support, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. ---- | had been a fool. A blind, arrogant fool. | had been a pawn in her sick, twisted game, and my prize had been the destruction of the only good thing in my life. The rage that began to build in my chest was a terrifying, all-consuming force. It was a rage directed not just at her, but at myself, for my unforgivable blindness.