Chapter 1

The fire burned everything.

It ate the cheap curtains in my apartment and the wooden frame of the bed where I had cried for so many nights, the flames licking away the evidence of my misery.

Outside, sirens screamed closer, but I knew they would be too late.

That was the point.

I held the gas can in my hand, its metallic smell mixing with the smoke that filled my lungs.

Across the room, Tiffany Chen was tied to a chair.

Her expensive clothes were ripped and dirty, her perfect hair was a mess, and her eyes were wide with a terror she had never known before.

She was the one who did this to me.

My roommate. My friend.

She was the one who came to me with a smile, telling me about a quick way to solve my money problems.

I was a stupid college kid from a small town, working two jobs just to pay tuition and rent.

I was struggling, and she knew it.

"It's just an online loan, Chloe," she had said, her voice smooth and convincing. "Super easy, fast approval, you just use your ID. My family's company runs it. I can get you a great deal."

I trusted her.

I gave her my information, and she handled everything.

A few days later, she showed me the confirmation for a ten-thousand-dollar loan.

The relief was huge, it was like I could finally breathe.

But the money never hit my account.

When I asked, she told me there was a delay. Then she said there was a problem with the transfer.

The excuses kept coming, and the friendly texts from the loan company turned into threats.

The interest rate was insane, something I had never agreed to. The ten thousand dollars quickly became fifty thousand, then a hundred thousand.

I was trapped.

Tiffany finally dropped the act.

"The money is gone, Chloe," she said, not even looking at me. "But you can work it off. My family owns a nightclub. They need girls."

It wasn't a nightclub, it was a hellhole.

A place where rich men paid to do whatever they wanted. I was forced to serve them, to smile, to endure their hands on me.

Each night was a nightmare that I couldn't wake up from.

But that wasn't enough for her.

She wanted to destroy me completely.

She took the photos and videos from the club, the ones they used to keep the girls in line, and she posted them online.

She sent them to the university, and she sent them to everyone in my small, quiet hometown.

The place where everyone knew my name, where my parents were respected, hardworking people who loved me more than anything.

My father had a heart attack the day he saw the pictures.

My mother found him on the floor of their little hardware store.

The shame was too much for her.

The whispers in the town, the looks from neighbors, the phone calls from people who used to be her friends, it all broke her.

She drove her car off the old bridge into the river a week later.

They were gone.

My whole world was gone because of Tiffany Chen and her family's greed.

The police said there was no evidence of foul play. The university dean told me my scholarship was revoked, that I had brought shame to the institution.

I had nothing left to lose.

So I waited. I found out where Tiffany lived, a fancy high-rise apartment paid for with the money she stole from girls like me.

I bought a can of gasoline.

Now, in the smoke-filled room, her screams were just noise.

"Please, Chloe! I'll give you the money! I'll give you anything!"

"It's too late for that, Tiffany," I said, my voice empty.

I looked at her, at the face I used to think was so beautiful.

Now all I saw was the monster who had murdered my parents.

I tossed the gas can into the corner.

The fire roared, a beast unleashed.

It reached her, and her screams became something inhuman.

I closed my eyes and let the heat wash over me, a final, terrible peace.

This was my justice.

Then, a sudden, blinding light.

A feeling of being pulled apart and put back together again.

I gasped, my eyes flying open.

I wasn't in a burning apartment.

I was in my old dorm room.

Sunlight streamed through the window, landing on a textbook I hadn't seen in years.

The air smelled like cheap coffee and laundry detergent.

"Chloe? You awake?"

I froze.

That voice.

I turned my head slowly, every muscle in my body screaming.

Tiffany Chen sat at her desk, putting on makeup.

She looked young, happy, and completely innocent.

She turned and smiled at me, the same smile that had started my nightmare.

"You were tossing and turning all night. Bad dream?"