Chapter 1

The noise of the Orlando theme park was a dull roar in my ears, a chaotic backdrop to the memory that seared my mind.

I was eighteen again, but this wasn't the first time.

Last time, on this exact Spring Break trip, I screamed when I saw my sixteen-year-old brother, Kevin, talk to those men.

I ran, I pulled him away from their beat-up van, I saved him.

Or so I thought.

Kevin never forgave me for "ruining" his chance, his meticulously planned escape to a rich family he believed was waiting for him, a fantasy he' d concocted from a misheard conversation about distant, wealthy relatives of a classmate.

For the next twenty-two years, he made my life a living hell, a slow, meticulous torment.

He blamed me for his every failure, his every mediocrity.

He ended it on my fortieth birthday, a special blend in my celebratory champagne.

As the poison worked, he leaned close, his eyes glittering with triumph.

"You should have let me go, Sarah," he whispered, "This is all your fault."

Then darkness.

Now, the scene replayed, the Florida sun just as hot, the cheerful music just as grating.

There was Kevin, a cocky smirk on his young face, nodding to the same suspicious men by the same beat-up van near the park's edge.

He glanced around, a quick, furtive movement, then started towards them.

This time, I didn't scream.

This time, I didn't run.

A cold stillness settled over me, a chilling echo of the grave he'd put me in.

I saw him climb into the van, his face alight with what he thought was his brilliant future.

The van door slammed shut.

I turned my back, the screams of children on a nearby roller coaster filling the air.

I walked away, a ghost with a second chance, not for salvation, but for a different kind of justice.

My heart was a stone, my path clear. He wanted to be gone, and this time, I would let him.