Chapter 3

The first image to appear on the screen was fire.

Flames licked up the side of a wooden barn, angry and orange against a stormy night sky. Rain was pouring down, but it did nothing to stop the inferno. The fire jumped from the barn to the small farmhouse next to it. My farmhouse.

The memory was from ten years ago.

A younger version of me, a teenager, was visible through a second-story window, surrounded by smoke.

On the screen, a boyish Ethan, soaked to the bone, was screaming at his father.

"Dad, you have to save her! Please! Jocelyn' s still in there!"

His father, a strong, imposing man, didn' t hesitate. He and his ranch hands ran towards the burning house. They kicked down the door and disappeared into the smoke.

The live stream chat, visible on the laptop screen, exploded with comments.

User7823: See! They saved her life!

MontanaMom: What a monster. They took her in and she repaid them with poison.

JusticeForLester: Ethan is a hero for doing this. Make her pay.

The memory on the screen shifted. I was in a hospital bed, covered in bandages. Mr. and Mrs. Lester were there, their faces full of concern. They told me my parents didn' t make it. They told me I wasn' t alone. They held my hand and promised to take care of me.

The scene changed again. Years passed in a blur of images. The Lesters paying for my college. Buying me my first professional fiddle. Standing proudly in the audience at my concerts. They treated me like a daughter. They gave me a life my own parents could only have dreamed of for me.

The final image of the memory was of Ethan proposing to me on a hill overlooking the ranch, the same spot where we had our first kiss. He was smiling, and I was crying with joy.

The memory faded, and the screen went dark.

The pain in my head subsided to a dull, throbbing ache. I was breathing heavily, sweat dripping down my face.

Ethan looked at the screen, then back at me, his face even harder than before.

"You see?" he said to the camera, his voice thick with rage. "You all see what they did for her? They gave her a family. They gave her a home. And she murdered them at her own wedding brunch."

He looked at me, his eyes full of a pain so deep it felt like a physical blow.

"Why, Jocelyn? Why?"