Chapter 1

The air was cold and damp, clinging to me as I stood on the porch of the Hayes family home. It was late, the kind of late where the world feels silent and heavy. My knuckles were white as I gripped the strap of my purse. I knocked.

The door opened, and Mrs. Hayes stood there, her kind face etched with concern when she saw me.

"Chloe, dear? What's wrong? You're as pale as a ghost."

I swallowed hard, the words catching in my throat. "Mrs. Hayes... I need to ask you something. And I need you to be honest with me."

Her expression softened. "Of course, dear. Come in, come in."

I didn't move. I couldn't. "Is it true? That Liam... that he's been in love with me? His whole life?"

A wide, brilliant smile broke across her face, chasing away the late-night shadows. It was the answer.

"Oh, Chloe," she breathed, her eyes shining with unshed tears of joy. "He's loved you since you were kids playing in the sandbox. He never looked at another girl."

She pulled me into a warm hug, and for the first time in what felt like a lifetime, I didn't flinch from the contact. I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding.

"Okay," I said, my voice steady and clear. "I'll marry him."

Mrs. Hayes gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. "Oh, my goodness! Liam will be ecstatic! When? When do you want to do it?"

I looked past her, into the darkness of the street, but all I could see was another face, another life I was leaving behind.

"December 8th," I said, the date tasting like ash in my mouth. "I want to get married on December 8th."

That was the day my adoptive brother, Ethan Miller, was getting married.

The drive back to the Miller house was a blur. The house was a place I once called home, but now it felt like a gilded cage full of ghosts. I was an orphan at six, a lost little girl until the Millers adopted me. Ethan, seven years my senior, was the one who practically raised me. He taught me how to ride a bike, helped me with homework, and protected me from bullies. He was my sun, my moon, and all my stars.

And like a fool, I fell in love with him.

It was a secret I kept locked away, a treasure I only looked at in the dark. I poured all my feelings into drawings, sketchbook after sketchbook filled with his face, his smile, his every expression.

Then, one day, he found them.

The look on his face wasn't just shock. It was disgust. Pure, undiluted disgust.

"This is sick, Chloe," he'd spat, the words like acid. "It's disgusting."

He threw the sketchbook at my feet, the pages scattering like dead leaves. That was the day he told me about his girlfriend. Madison Lee. My college roommate. The girl I had considered a friend.

From that day on, my life became a living hell. Madison was an artist of manipulation. A broken teacup, a "stolen" piece of jewelry, a lie whispered in Ethan's ear-she framed me for everything. And Ethan, my Ethan, believed her every single time. He looked at me with those cold, disappointed eyes, and a piece of me died with every glance.

The final nail in the coffin was the night they announced their wedding. I tried to talk to him, to explain, to plead. He didn't listen.

"Get out," he had said, his voice flat and devoid of any warmth. "I don't want to see your face."

He threw me out of the house he had brought me to as a child.

So now, I was done. The Chloe who loved Ethan Miller was dead. She died on that cold, hard pavement outside the home that was never truly hers. Tonight, a new Chloe was born. One who would sever every tie and burn every bridge.

And I would start with the fire.