Chapter 3

3

After leaving the hospital, Gale sat in his car and lit a cigarette, staring into the dark.

I couldn't read his mind, but I could feel the heavy aura around him. He wasn't happy. This revenge wasn't giving him the rush he expected.

He opened the glove compartment, and a smooth, jade pendant caught the light.

It was the gift I gave him for his eighteenth birthday. It was the last thing I ever gave him.

It was a lucky charm from a temple at the top of a mountain. You had to climb thousands of steps to earn the right to buy one. He said he wanted it, so I climbed until my legs went numb to get it for him.

I thought he would have thrown it away years ago.

Gale traced the jade with his thumb. To my shock, tears began to stream down his face. No matter how much he cursed my name, he held that jade as if it were the most precious thing in the world.

"Kiana Hennessey, why do I hate you so much? You were so cold when you broke me. Why is it so hard to make you show your face now?"

"Why are you still alive? Why didn't you just die? Then I wouldn't have to think about you every single day!"

I watched him slump over the steering wheel, sobbing until he could barely breathe. I sat quietly in the passenger seat next to him.

I did die, Gale. I did exactly what you wanted. You just don't know it yet.

He sat there for a long time until his phone buzzed. A voice on the other end reported that the target was secured.

I was confused. Who else was he planning to hurt?

As Gale started driving, the route became terrifyingly familiar. My heart―or where my heart used to be―froze.

He was heading toward Gigi's school.

She had been staying in the dorms, so I hadn't thought about her. But today was the start of the weekend.

Gale didn't rush. By the time he arrived, the campus was empty. Only Gigi, a young girl, was huddled in a corner, shivering.

Gigi had only been a child when Gale lived with us, but she still remembered the brother she used to adore.

When she saw him, she thought she was being saved. She let out a small, hopeful cry.

"Gale! Big brother, help me..."

Gale's face hardened. He stepped forward and delivered a stinging slap to her face.

"Shut up! You don't get to call me that. Your whole family has a talent for leeching off the rich. It must be in the DNA."

Gigi curled into a ball, sobbing. She couldn't understand why the man she looked up to now looked at her with such pure loathing.

She only remembered the times they played together...

Gale leaned down, forcing her to look him in the eye.

"Don't blame me. Blame your sister. Everything happening to you is her fault. I'm just balancing the scales."

He pulled a pocketknife from his jacket and tossed it to one of his men. Then, he gave the most horrific order of all.

"Your sister treated me like a dog. She forced me to eat slop that made my mouth swell and bleed for weeks."

"Now... I'll take the payment from your mouth. I hope you don't mind."

He grinned as his men pinned her down. The blade flashed, and they sliced into the corners of Gigi's mouth.

Her screams filled the alleyway. She had so much she wanted to say, so much confusion and hurt, but the pain made it impossible to speak.

I was on my knees beside her, howling in grief.

This was my baby sister. My parents and I had protected her like a diamond her whole life, and now she was being mutilated because of me.

I am a sinner. I am the reason for all of this.

Gale watched with cold, dark eyes as Gigi writhed in pain. Finally, he ordered them to take her to the hospital.

He never wanted them dead. He wanted them alive, fully conscious, so they could feel every second of the misery he inflicted.

Gale had finally finished his round of revenge on my family. Yet, I still hadn't appeared. I hadn't crawled to his feet to beg for mercy.

He sighed, sinking into the leather sofa at home as Luna fed him strawberries.

"I thought if she saw what I was doing, she'd show up. I was even going to go easy on them if she just begged. I guess she really doesn't care about them."

Luna smirked. "Maybe she's just a coward? She'd rather let her family suffer than risk her own neck. She's heartless."

No, that's not it. I wanted to show up more than anything.

I would have traded my soul to make my family whole again. But my body was long gone, burned to ash in a furnace. There was nothing for my soul to return to.

Luna's words seemed to trigger a memory in Gale. His face darkened, and he whispered to himself.

"Yeah... she's heartless. She never cared who stayed by her side for how many years."

Gale eventually decided to use his vast resources to find me, no matter what it took. He put out a massive search, acting like he was ready to dig up the entire earth to find me.

But my death hadn't been a secret back then. It didn't take long for the truth to surface.

In his high-rise office, his assistant stood trembling as he handed over a file.

"Boss... the reports are in. She's been dead for nine years."

"Nine years ago, she had late-stage lung cancer."

"Her final act was donating her heart to her ex-boyfriend."

"Should we... find the ex-boyfriend and bring him in for questioning?"