Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The world exploded in my ears.

Leo was my only living relative left on this earth.

Without thinking, I kicked off my heels and sprinted toward my family home.

My bare feet tore against the rough pavement, but the physical pain meant nothing.

When I finally reached the street, towering flames and thick black smoke greeted me.

"My brother is still in there! Let me in!" I screamed, clawing toward the inferno.

A powerful arm seized me from behind.

It was Zachary again.

His brow was furrowed with professional detachment.

"Clara, calm down! The fire has been burning for over an hour, and the roof collapsed! No one survived. Going in is suicide!"

"Let me go! Zachary, let me go!" I fought him wildly, my nails digging into his forearms. "That's my brother! Gemma did this! I'm going to expose her to the world!"

Hearing Gemma's name, Zachary's voice turned dangerously cold.

"It's too late. To protect Gemma from being dragged into a fan's rogue actions, I already issued an official police press release."

He paused, delivering every word like a hammer to my chest.

"The statement says your brother, Leo Hayes, felt unbearable shame over having a dishonest sister who slanders innocent people. So… he set the fire himself."

My body went completely rigid.

I picked up my cracked phone from the ground, unlocked it, and opened social media.

The top trending topic was right there:

#LeoHayesTakesOwnLifeInShame

I tapped on the headline with trembling hands.

A tidal wave of vile comments flooded my screen.

"A toxic sister ruins an innocent brother! Why doesn't Clara Hayes drop dead too?"

"The sister frames our Gemma for fame, but at least the brother had some shame left. Good riddance!"

"Her whole family deserves to burn! Is she next?"

Every comment was a poisoned blade slicing through my heart.

In a single day, my mother and brother were murdered without justice.

My career was incinerated, and the entire internet cursed my name.

Meanwhile, the real murderer, Gemma, stood untouched, shielded by my husband.

A sharp, crushing pain seized my chest, stealing my breath.

Eventually, the firefighters extinguished the flames, leaving only charred ruins.

Two emergency responders carefully carried out a stretcher holding a blackened, unrecognizable body.

Seeing my brother's remains, the world spun around me.

Darkness took over, and I collapsed into unconsciousness.

When I woke up, I found myself in the master bedroom of Zachary's secluded mountain villa.

The quiet woods stood outside, far from the bustling city.

Yet, faint chants from protesters could still be heard in the distance: "Clara Hayes, leave the industry!"

"The city isn't safe right now. Protesters surrounded your apartment, so I brought you here," Zachary said from beside the bed.

He poured a glass of warm water and offered it to me.

I let out a cold laugh, raised my hand, and violently knocked the glass away.

Shattered glass and water sprayed across the hardwood floor.

My eyes burned crimson. "Stop playing the caring husband, Zachary! My mother and brother are dead, my life is ruined, and you and Gemma did this to me!"

Zachary ignored the mess on the floor.

Instead, he gently took my hand and wiped away the water droplets on my skin.

"Don't move. You might cut yourself on the glass."

Looking at his lowered lashes and tender gestures, I laughed at my own stupidity.

For three years, this counterfeit gentleness had fooled me completely.

I snatched my hand back as if touching venom.

I threw off the duvet and tried to swing my legs out of bed.

"I need to bury Leo… I won't let him wander without a resting place…"

"Clara," Zachary called out, his voice hesitant.

He stopped, struggling to find the words.

"Don't bother looking. Your brother's body… has already been handled."

I froze mid-motion.

"Handled? What do you mean? What did you do to my brother?!"

Zachary swallowed hard, avoiding my murderous glare.

"Gemma took a role on a medical reality show. She needed realistic anatomical models for her training. The heart and lung tissue from his remains… were harvested for her."

He braced himself and added:

"As for the rest… Gemma said looking at it gave her nightmares. So… it was discarded into the sea."