---- tackled you out of the way." Achill shot down my spine. "What are you talking about?" "But I chose not to," she purred, turning to face me. " I let the bullet find your hand. A career-ending injury for you, a flesh wound for me to play the hero." "You're insane..." "Insane? No, I'm crystal clear." Sophia stepped closer, her laugh low and cruel. "To this day, Vincent thinks I was the one who saved him in that church. I knowit was you. But you'll never get the chance to tell him." My knees buckled. The church... that rainy night fifteen years ago... The little boy, covered in blood... "Do you get it now?" Sophia caressed my stinging cheek. "He loves the woman who saved him. And ---- right now, that woman is me." I shoved her away and fled, their pitying looks and mocking whispers burning my back like a brand. I went back to our mansion. Vincent didn't come home until late. He was off comforting the "wronged" Sophia, I was sure. Thinking about the pain, my art, my life-all stolen by her-my heart turned to ash. I pulled out my phone and dialed the encrypted number. "Grandpa, I need to disappear in three days," I said, my voice cold and steady. "I need everyone to believe Isabella Torrino is dead." The second I hung up, a voice cut through the darkness behind me. "What are you doing?"