Chapter 2

Aileen Garza was a musician from a working-class neighborhood in East LA. Kalen Cooper was a Silicon Valley billionaire who had appeared in her life like a fairy tale prince.

He hadn' t just loved her; he had saved her family. When her brother Ernesto' s cystic fibrosis took a turn for the worse, Kalen had paid for the best doctors, the most expensive experimental treatments, a fortune spent without a second thought. He had rented a large, sunny house for her parents and brother, a world away from their cramped apartment.

For Aileen, he had built a state-of-the-art recording studio in his lavish Bel Air mansion, a palace of glass and steel overlooking the city. He believed in her talent fiercely, telling anyone who would listen that her music would change the world.

She had worried about the vast gulf between their lives. "I' m just a girl from the barrio, Kalen," she' d once told him. "You' re... you."

He had silenced her with a kiss. "You' re everything," he' d said. "And I' m nothing without you."

He had proven it, or so she thought. When his family' s board of directors had tried to force him into an arranged marriage with another tech heiress, threatening to oust him from his own company, Kalen had fought them. He had risked his entire empire, the company he had built from the ground up, just to be with her.

"I choose you, Aileen," he had declared, standing in the middle of her tiny studio, his eyes burning with an intensity that took her breath away. "I will always choose you."

And for two years, he did. Their life was a whirlwind of passion and music. Then came the car accident. A drunk driver had T-boned her car, leaving her with a shattered leg and a long, painful recovery. Kalen had insisted she go to a specialized clinic in Switzerland, the best in the world.

While she was gone, something in him broke. Or perhaps, the broken parts he' d kept hidden finally surfaced. He became obsessed with Izabella Booth, a musician with a fraction of Aileen' s talent but an uncanny resemblance to her.

When Aileen finally returned, months later, planning to surprise him, she walked into her own studio to find him with Izabella. Kalen was holding the other woman' s face in his hands, his expression one of desperate adoration.

The sight shattered Aileen' s world. She turned and fled, a silent scream caught in her throat.

Kalen ran after her, his face pale, his hands trembling. He caught her at the gate, pulling her into a frantic embrace.

"It' s not what you think," he' d pleaded, his voice ragged. "She' s... she' s a therapeutic substitute. My doctors recommended it. For my personality disorder. I need her to function, Aileen. But it' s you I love. Only you."

It was a lie, a twisted rationalization for his infidelity, but he delivered it with such conviction, such pain in his eyes, that she almost believed him. When she tried to pull away, he smashed his fist into the stone gatepost, again and again, until his knuckles were a bloody pulp.

"Don' t leave me," he' d wept. "If you leave, I' ll kill myself."

She couldn' t bear to see him like that. She was a musician, a healer of souls, not a destroyer. So she stayed. She chose to believe him, to trust that this was a sickness he could overcome.

But it only got worse. He continued to see Izabella, showering her with gifts, taking her to the same restaurants he had taken Aileen. He even brought her to their home, the mansion that was supposed to be their sanctuary. He moved Izabella into a guest suite, just down the hall from their bedroom.

"I' m sorry, my love," he would whisper at night, holding Aileen tight. "Just be patient. I' m getting better. I' ll send her away soon."

Aileen endured it, clinging to the hope that the man she loved would return to her.

Then, one rainy afternoon, she received a call from her mother. Her brother, Ernesto, was dead. He had been found in his room, his medication bottle empty beside him. An apparent suicide.

Aileen' s world collapsed. She had expected Kalen to be her rock, to hold her as she grieved. Instead, he was distant, his mind clearly elsewhere.

A seed of suspicion took root in her heart. She drove to her brother' s house, her mind reeling. And then she saw it. A detail in the police report, a receipt from a pharmacy near Izabella' s old apartment, timestamped the day before Ernesto' s death. For a drug that, when mixed with his regular medication, was fatal.

It was then Aileen understood. This wasn' t a random tragedy. It was murder.

She ran into the house, into her brother' s room, her heart pounding with a terrible, final certainty.

But the body on the bed wasn' t her brother. It was a life-sized mannequin, dressed in Ernesto' s clothes.

She stared, her mind struggling to comprehend the scene. A cruel, elaborate prank.

The relief was so immense, so overwhelming, that her legs gave out. She sank to the floor, sobbing, laughing, a hysterical mess of emotions.

Kalen appeared in the doorway. He walked to her, pulling her to her feet.

"I love you, Aileen," he said, his voice soft. "I had to be sure you loved me too. That you wouldn't leave me, no matter what."

He held her close, stroking her hair. "But Izabella is fragile. She gets scared when you' re upset. You need to be strong for her."

Aileen stared at him, her face blank. The love she had felt for him was gone, replaced by a cold, hollow emptiness.

She pulled away and walked to the window, watching him leave. She felt nothing.

Later that night, Ernesto found her in his room. He hugged her tight, a small, warm presence in the cold, empty house.

"He' s a bad man, Aileen," Ernesto whispered, his voice trembling. "I' m scared of him."

Aileen held him, stroking his hair. She didn't say a word.

"I' ll protect you," Ernesto said, his small voice filled with a fierce determination that broke her heart. "I promise."

The next day, she took him to the hospital for a full check-up, just to be sure. As the doctor went over the results, a decision formed in her mind, hard and clear as diamond.

She remembered Kalen' s old promises, his vows of eternal love. They were nothing but lies now. This relationship, this life, it was over. She would end it. She would erase Aileen Garza from the face of the earth.