Chapter 2

The phone buzzed on the nightstand, a harsh sound in the quiet apartment. I didn't need to look at the caller ID.

"It's done," I said, my voice hoarse.

There was a pause on the other end, then the crisp, controlled voice of Mrs. Miller. "So soon? I'm surprised, Eva. I thought he was a tougher case."

"He's re-engaging with the world," I said, choosing my words carefully. "He's found something to focus on." Or someone, I thought, the bitterness rising in my throat.

"Good," she said, the single word conveying her satisfaction. "You did what I paid you to do."

"I'm grateful for the opportunity, Mrs. Miller," I said, the words tasting like poison. She had saved my art studio from bankruptcy, pulling me from the brink. This was the price.

"The final payment will be in your account by morning. Ten million dollars," she stated, the amount meant to impress, to put me in my place. "After that, I expect you to disappear from his life. You know your place, Eva. You were a means to an end. Don't forget that."

"I won't," I said, my voice colder than I intended.

"Good girl." The line went dead.

I stared at the black screen of the phone, her condescending tone echoing in my ears. A tool. A means to an end. That' s all I' d ever been to the Millers.

I promised myself that once I had the money, I would vanish. I would never see Kane or his mother again.

I walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows and looked out at the glittering expanse of the city. It was a beautiful, lonely view. This cage of glass and steel had been my home, but it had never been my own. Soon, I would be free.

My phone buzzed again. This time it was a text.

`Club Elysian. 10 PM. - K`

My heart did a stupid, traitorous leap. A text from Kane. He never texted. And he never, ever asked me to meet him in public.

Doubt crept in. Why now? After telling me he was leaving for a week?

I hesitated. Part of me, the stupid, hopeful part I thought was dead, wanted to go. Maybe this was it. Maybe he had a change of heart.

The other, smarter part of me screamed that it was a trap.

But I was tired of hiding. Tired of being a secret.

I walked to the mirror. I put on a black dress, simple and elegant. I reached for the red lipstick he liked, the one he said made my lips look like a "perfect wound." My hand paused. I put it down and chose a soft, nude shade instead. A small act of rebellion.

He always said I looked best with minimal makeup, that my natural features were what drew him in. I knew now it was because it made it easier for his software to map Coral' s face onto mine.

Club Elysian was a cacophony of bass and shimmering lights. The air was thick with expensive perfume and desperation.

A man I recognized as one of Kane's business associates stopped me at the entrance to the VIP lounge.

"Eva," he said, his eyes raking over me with a knowing smirk. "He's waiting for you. Big night."

His tone was off, laced with something that made my skin crawl.

I pushed open the heavy door. The music was slightly muted here, the lighting more intimate. And there was Kane, sitting in a plush booth, a glass of whiskey in his hand.

He wasn't alone.

Sitting beside him, laughing at something he'd said, was my stepsister, Coral Stewart.

She looked radiant, dressed in a white dress that made her look angelic. A stark contrast to my black. She saw me and her smile widened, a perfect, predatory expression.

"Eva, darling!" she called out, her voice dripping with false sweetness. "So glad you could make it."

My blood ran cold. "Kane," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "Why did you ask me to come here?"

He looked up, his expression genuinely confused. "I didn't."

Coral patted his arm. "Oh, don't be silly, Kane. Of course you did. I used your phone. I thought it would be a lovely surprise for my dear sister to see us together."

My gaze snapped to her. The look in her eyes was pure, unadulterated malice.

"What a thoughtful sister," someone at the table sneered. "Making sure the help gets to see the real thing."

"She's not help," another person chimed in, their voice slurring slightly. "She's the warm-up act. Right, Kane?"

All eyes turned to him. Kane's jaw was tight, but he said nothing. He just looked from me to Coral, his expression a mask of indifference. His silence was the loudest answer in the room.

I remembered the day my father brought Coral and her mother home, just months after my own mother' s funeral. Coral, with her innocent face and venomous heart, had immediately marked me as her enemy.

She was an expert at playing the victim, at twisting every situation until I was the villain and she was the wounded party. My father, a weak man besotted with his new wife, always took her side.

"Eva, you need to be more understanding," he would say. "Coral is sensitive."

Sensitive. She was a sociopath.

She had gotten more sophisticated over the years. Her manipulations were smoother, her lies more believable. But I could still see the same cruel girl underneath the polished veneer.

"Don't call me that," I said to Coral, my voice low and steady. "We're not sisters."

The table went quiet. One of the women laughed. "Ooh, feisty. Someone's forgetting her place."

Kane's eyes remained on Coral. The way he looked at her... it was the same look of obsession I' d seen on his face when he watched those deepfake videos. A painful, ironic pang went through me.

My family history flashed through my mind. My mother' s death. My father's quick remarriage. My slow, systematic erasure from my own home. I was no longer the daughter of the house; I was an unwanted guest. The day I finally packed a bag and left, no one tried to stop me. I was an outcast from my own family, a footnote in the story of their new, happy life.

I thought I had put it all behind me. I thought the pain had numbed into a dull scar. But seeing Coral here, basking in Kane's attention, wearing my life like a costume... I realized I hadn't moved on at all.

Someone at the table was talking about Coral' s upcoming marriage.

"I hear the Marks family is quite the catch. Keegan Marks is a genius, even if he's... you know." The man made a vague gesture.

Coral blushed prettily. "We're very happy."

I saw Kane's hand tighten around his glass, his knuckles white. The air crackled with his jealousy. It was a strange feeling, to see him jealous over the woman he'd used me to emulate. It was a sick, twisted validation of my pain.

"Weren't you and Kane a thing back in high school?" one of the women asked playfully.

Coral laughed, a tinkling, false sound. "Oh, heavens no. Kane and I have always just been friends. He's like a brother to me."

"Just friends," Kane echoed, his voice flat. He looked at her, and in his eyes, I saw a world of unrequited longing.

My own heart, the one I thought was already shattered, broke a little more.

I couldn't watch anymore. I couldn't breathe in the same room as them.

"I'm leaving," I said to no one in particular.

I turned and walked away, my back straight, my head held high. I didn't want them to see how much this hurt.

I made it to the elevator bay, my hands trembling as I jabbed the button.

"Leaving so soon, sister?"

Coral's voice was right behind me. I turned to face her, the elevator doors sliding open. The two of us were alone in the small, mirrored space.

"Are you in love with him?" she asked, her tone light and mocking.