---- Chapter 10 Sarah' s car tore through the night, its headlights cutting through the darkness. Her knuckles were white on the steering wheel. Her face was a mask of cold fury. This was the final desecration, the ultimate act of disrespect. When she arrived at the cemetery, the scene under the harsh glare of the security lights was even worse than she had imagined. The ground around my grave was torn up. A shovel was discarded on the grass. And standing there, in the middle of the mess, were two figures: Chloe and Mark. Chloe looked lost, her eyes vacant, her clothes disheveled. Mark was the one holding a second, smaller shovel, his suit now rumpled and stained with dirt. "What in God' s name do you think you' re doing?" Sarah's voice was a low growl. Mark had the audacity to look indignant. "We' re paying our respects! Chloe wanted his ashes. We were going to move them to a proper family mausoleum. A place of honor." "A place of honor?" Sarah laughed, a harsh, bitter sound. "You mean a place where you could control his last remains? You think there' s some inheritance, don' t you? You think this struggling game developer was secretly a millionaire, and you want to get your hands on it." ---- She turned her furious gaze on Chloe. "And you," she said, her voice breaking with the weight of her disappointment. "I almost felt sorry for you. | almost thought you understood. But this? To do this with him? How could you?" Chloe just shook her head, muttering, "I had to... | had to have him near me." She was clearly not in her right mind, manipulated by the man beside her. That was the last straw for Sarah. The promise she made to me, the promise to protect Chloe from the truth, was made to a man who thought Chloe deserved that protection. But this woman, this accomplice in grave-robbing, was not the Chloe | had died for. "You want to know about honor, Chloe?" Sarah said, her voice trembling with suppressed rage. "You want to know about the man you threw away? Let me tell you about him." She took a step closer, her eyes locked on Chloe' s. "Two years ago, your father' s company was about to collapse. He was going to lose everything. But a mysterious benefactor paid off all his debts. Anonymously. Do you know who that was, Chloe?" Chloe just stared, confused. "It was Ethan," Sarah said, the words landing like hammer blows. "He sold everything his grandparents left him. Every last cent. That was the 'failed investment' he told you about. He lied to protect you. He lied to save your father' s pride. He ---- chose to look like a failure in your eyes rather than let you see your family' s shame. That' s the money you accused him of wasting. That' s the man you said was holding you back." The color drained from Chloe' s face. The vacant look in her eyes was replaced by a dawning, soul-crushing horror. "No," she whispered. "No, that' s not true." "It is true," Sarah said, her voice relentless. "And you want to know about the man you chose instead?" She pulled out her phone. "I did some digging after the funeral, Mark. You' re not as careful as you think you are." She turned the screen toward Chloe. It showed photos. Mark, kissing another woman, his supposed "business partner." Screenshots of texts, intimate and damning, dated from the weeks leading up to the wedding. The proof was undeniable. He had been cheating on her the entire time. Chloe looked from the phone to Mark' s face. The final piece of her shattered world crumbled into dust. "You..." she whispered, her voice a strangled gasp. She launched herself at him, her grief and rage finally finding a target. She beat at his chest with her fists, screaming, a string of incoherent, heartbroken sounds. Mark, shocked by her sudden violence, shoved her hard. "Get off me, you crazy bitch!" The push was too strong. Chloe, already unstable, stumbled backward. Her heel caught on the edge of the disturbed earth ---- around my grave. She fell, her head hitting the corner of my granite headstone with a sickening, final crack. She lay still. A dark pool began to spread from her head onto the green grass. Mark stared down at her, his face a mask of panic. Sarah screamed. In the ensuing chaos of sirens and flashing lights, | felt my purpose here finally fade. The truth was out. My legacy was safe in Sarah' s hands. My name had been cleared in the most tragic way imaginable. As they covered Chloe' s body with a sheet, just as they had covered mine, | felt a lightness | hadn' t known since before the sickness. The pain, the love, the betrayal-it all dissolved into the cool night air. My game, "Chloe's Star," was released by Sarah a few months later. It became a global sensation. Critics praised its innovative gameplay and its beautiful, heartbreaking story of a love that built a universe. My name was no longer a synonym for failure. It was a symbol of a legacy that triumphed in death. And me? | was finally at peace. | turned away from the world of the living, from the wreckage and the sorrow, and faded into the quiet, starlit darkness.