---- Chapter 2 Khloe Rojas POV: The day after | finalized the plans, | walked back into the penthouse that had once been my home. It felt like a museum of a dead woman's life. Every surface, every object, was a testament to the nine years Julian had erased. | started in our bedroom. Methodically, | pulled his clothes from the closets-the bespoke suits, the cashmere sweaters, the silk ties. | piled them on the floor. Then came my things-the designer gowns he'd bought me, the jewelry that had once felt like tokens of love and now felt like chains. | sorted everything into three piles. Sell. | watched the flames consume our memories, turning ---- our smiling faces to black, curling ash. There was no pain. Just a hollow, cleansing numbness. My final stop was a tattoo parlor in the Village. The artist, a man with more ink on his skin than canvas in his studio, raised an eyebrow when he saw the delicate script on my shoulder blade. 'Amor Vincit Omnia' - Love Conquers All. Below it was Julian's signature, an exact replica. He'd designed it himself on our honeymoon. "You sure you want to cover this up?" the artist asked. "It's good work." "I'm sure," | said. "| want a phoenix. Something rising from the ashes." As the needle buzzed and stung, | thought of the day we got the tattoos. We were sun-drenched and drunk on love in a tiny shop in Positano. "Forever," he had whispered against my skin. "Love conquers all, Khloe. Even time." What a beautiful lie. The buzz of the needle was a welcome pain, a physical- sensation to distract from the void inside. Love didn't conquer all. It didn't conquer a traumatic brain injury, and it certainly didn't conquer the insidious poison of a manipulative childhood friend. The old me was dead. | would not carry the mark of a false promise on my new skin. My phone rang as | was leaving. It was the funeral home. Leo ' s service was scheduled for the next day. A fresh wave of ---- grief, sharp and potent, cut through the numbness. This was the last thing | had to do. The last tie to my old life. The funeral was a small, somber affair. Only a handful of friends and distant relatives showed up. | stood by the open casket, looking at Leo's peaceful face, trying to memorize the brother | loved, not the broken boy in the alley. Then, the doors to the chapel swung open. Julian walked in, with Helena clinging to his arm like a designer parasite. He looked wary, his bodyguards fanning out behind him as if he expected me to attack him. He kept a protective arm around Helena, shielding her from the grieving sister of the boy he had effectively murdered. "What are you doing here?" | asked, my voice dangerously low. "Helena was upset when she heard about your brother," Julian said, his tone dismissive. "She wanted to pay her respects." He glanced at the casket with an expression of mild annoyance, as if Leo' s death was a tacky inconvenience. "It's a shame. He was young. But people who play stupid games win stupid prizes." My hands clenched into fists at my sides. "A stupid prize? Is that what you call a human life, Julian? A life you took?" "Don't be dramatic," he scoffed. "I didn't touch him. His own ---- bad decisions killed him. Helena was just trying to protect me from his... unsavory connections." His words were so outrageously callous, so detached from reality, that a laugh bubbled up in my throat. It was a broken, hysterical sound that made everyone turn to stare. | looked at Helena, who was clutching a small, fluffy white dog in her arms, her face a mask of angelic sorrow. | noticed a small scratch on her wrist, barely visible. "Protect you?" | laughed, the sound turning into a sob. "He looked up to you, you bastard. He thought you were a god. He used to tell me how lucky | was to have you." My voice broke. "And what did you do? You had him beaten to death over a scratch on her wrist." "Don't speak to Helena that way," Julian snarled, stepping in front of her. "Why is there a dog in a funeral home?" | snapped, my grief transmuting into white-hot rage. Helena feigned a flustered look. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Fluffy gets anxious when she's alone. | didn't mean any disrespect." As she spoke, her grip on the dog seemed to loosen, a subtle, almost imperceptible shift. The little white dog, sensing freedom, leaped from her arms. It happened in slow motion. The dog scrambled forward, its paws scrabbling on the polished floor. Before anyone could react, it jumped. Right into Leo' s coffin. ---- A collective gasp filled the chapel. The dog, small and thoughtless, began sniffing and pawing at my brother's face, its claws catching on the careful work the mortician had done to hide the bruises. It yipped happily, tail wagging, desecrating the last image | would ever have of my brother. "Oh, Fluffy, no!" Helena cried, her voice laced with fake horror. A primal scream tore from my throat. | lunged forward, shoving the dog away from Leo's body. "Get it off him! Get it out of here!" Julian rushed to Helena's side, ignoring the monstrous sacrilege that had just occurred. He pulled her into a protective embrace, stroking her hair. "It's okay, darling. It was an accident." He glared at me over her shoulder, his eyes filled with contempt. "An accident?" | shrieked, cradling Leo's head, trying to smooth his hair back into place. "She did that on purpose!" He looked down at the coffin, at the body of my brother, the boy he had condemned to death, and sneered. "Does it matter? It's not like the degenerate can feel it."