Chapter 1

When I was ten, I begged my brother to come home for my birthday.

The plane went down. He was gone, his body never recovered from the wreckage.

From that day on, I became the villain in my parents' eyes. A thorn in their hearts that they wished to pull out.

They blamed me for his death. Every year, on his memorial, they forced me to kneel at the cemetery and beg for forgiveness.

I spent eight years on my knees.

I thought I would spend my whole life paying for that mistake. But on my eighteenth birthday, I was hunted and killed by a monster.

Before the light left my eyes, I tried to message my mother for help. Her response was a cold, sharp blade of words.

"You're just lying to get out of your penance! If you hadn't forced him to fly back, my son would still be alive. This is your karma!"

She hung up without a second thought.

I stared at the black screen, and in that moment, I let go. I didn't want to fight to stay alive anymore.

Maybe a girl like me really didn't deserve to breathe.

But then, eight years after his supposed death, my brother walked through the front door. He had a pregnant wife by his side.

When they found out I was already dead, their world finally shattered.

Chapter 1

On my tenth birthday, I made a fatal mistake.

I caused the death of my only brother.

Before that day, my life was perfect. I had parents who adored me and a brother who was my hero.

I was the center of everyone's world.

But one phone call changed everything.

It was my birthday, and I called my brother, Nolan, begging him to fly home.

The plane crashed. There were no survivors, and his body was never found.

After that, my parents grew to hate me with a passion that burned.

They told me more than once, "Why did you have to force him back? Why wasn't it you who died?"

The accident didn't just kill Nolan. It killed the girl I used to be.

Guilt and regret became my shadow, pushed deeper by my parents' constant accusations.

I asked myself a thousand times why I made that call. Why did God take him instead of me?

If I had just stayed quiet, he would still be here.

But there are no second chances in this world.

From the age of ten, my life was defined by one word: Penance.

Every year on Nolan's memorial―which was also my birthday―my parents sent me to the cemetery.

They made me kneel before his empty grave and apologize. I did this for eight years.

Just when I thought my life couldn't get any darker, the Storm Stalker found me.

I was brutally murdered in the pouring rain.

The truth is, I fought so hard to live at first.

I reached for the taser my father had once given me. It was hidden inside a white plush lamb keychain, looking completely harmless.

Years ago, my father's job as a lead forensic investigator made him a lot of enemies.

Once, a criminal kidnapped my mother and me. She was dragged for yards by a car trying to save me.

My father was stabbed in the chest protecting us.

We were only saved when the police tactical unit arrived.

Because of that trauma, my father gave me that keychain. It was a high-voltage self-defense tool.

He taught me how to use it and looked me in the eyes.

"I can't be with you forever, Vivienne. You have to protect yourself."

But when the killer grabbed me, I triggered the device and jammed it into him.

Nothing happened. It was broken.

The last thing I had to save myself failed.

I remember every second of what happened next.

The wrenches, the pliers, the axes. He used them all on me without mercy.

My terror was like a drug to him.

It hurt. It hurt so much I lost control of my body, sobbing until I couldn't breathe.

I never knew the sound of bones snapping could be so loud. It echoed in my ears like thunder.

Then came the cold steel. He began to peel the skin away.

Everything turned red, and the world finally went black.