Chapter 3

I stayed dormant for a long time, a silent passenger in Molly' s mind. I let her believe she had found her safe harbor. She truly thought that the Hewitts, her "true" family, would be her salvation.

The hope in her was a fragile, beautiful thing. I didn't have the heart to crush it.

But that hope was a lie.

The night of her 18th birthday, when Andrew' s fist slammed into her face, I felt a tremor. When he kicked her, I felt a crack in the wall I had built around myself.

Then they sent her to Dr. Albright' s facility.

That' s where they killed her.

I was there, trapped in the back of her mind, as they broke her. I felt every needle, every shock, every punch. I heard every lie Dr. Albright whispered in her ear, words paid for by Nicole' s blood money.

"You are worthless."

"No one wants you."

"You deserve this."

Molly cried. She begged. She broke.

But she didn' t die. Not yet.

The final straw came on a cold, sterile night. Dr. Albright, with a sick smile, told her she had a "special treatment" planned. He had three male orderlies hold her down.

He told them to "show her what happens to girls who don' t behave."

As their hands tore at her clothes, as the last shred of Molly' s hope was ripped away, I felt her give up.

It wasn't a scream. It was a sigh. A release.

In the silent abyss of our shared mind, I heard her whisper one last thing.

Stella... make them pay.

And then, she was gone. The gentle light of Molly winked out, leaving only me.

The orderlies never got to finish what they started.

Because when they looked down, it wasn't Molly' s terrified eyes staring back at them.

It was mine.

And I was smiling.