Chapter 3

My arm throbbed. The fall into the fountain, though Chloe engineered it, had scraped my knees and head.

I woke up in a hospital room. Again.

The pain was a dull, constant companion.

A nurse checked my vitals. "You had a nasty fall, dear."

If only she knew.

The door opened. Ethan.

His clothes were damp. His expression was thunderous.

He didn' t ask if I was okay.

"You pushed her, Ava." Accusation, cold and hard.

My head swam. "Ethan, she... she set it up. Just like she did before."

I remembered another time, college. A small misunderstanding. Chloe twisted it, made me look bad to him. He' d believed her then too, for a while.

"She wouldn' t risk her own safety like that," he said, his voice flat.

Pain lanced through me, sharper than any physical injury.

"Wouldn' t she?" I whispered. "She knew you' d save her, Ethan. You always save her."

He stared at me, a flicker of something – confusion? – in his eyes.

But it vanished.

He used to look at me with such devotion. Years ago, a small fire in our dorm. He' d run through smoke, risked himself, just to make sure I was out. He' d held me then, his face smudged with soot, his eyes full of fierce, protective love.

That Ethan was gone.

This man, this cold stranger, only saw a monster.

"I' m tired, Ethan," I said, turning my face away. "Please leave."

A moment later, I heard Chloe' s voice from the hallway, soft and distressed. "Ethan, darling? Are you in there?"

He was gone in an instant. Her beck and call.

Later, I heard voices outside my door. Marcus. Eleanor. Doting on Chloe.

"My brave girl," Marcus was saying. "He' s buying you that diamond necklace you wanted. The Starlight. Five million."

Five million. For a necklace.

I remembered begging, pleading for a fraction of that for Liam' s life. The memory was a bitter pill.

The disparity. It was a chasm.

The next morning, they allowed me visitors.

Chloe appeared, flanked by her mother and father. Ethan stood slightly behind them, his face unreadable.

She looked radiant, despite the "ordeal."

She saw me, her eyes feigning concern.

Then, she did the unthinkable.

She sank to her knees beside my bed.

"Ava," she whispered, tears welling in her eyes. "I' m so sorry. I don' t know what came over me. Can you ever forgive me?"

A performance. For Ethan. For everyone.

The audacity. The sheer, unadulterated gall.

Something snapped.

The pain, the injustice, the years of her cruelty.

I reached for the water pitcher on my bedside table.

With a cry of pure rage, I threw it.

It missed her kneeling form, smashing against the wall behind her.

Water and glass shards everywhere.

Chloe shrieked, cowering.

The facade shattered. Mine and hers.