I smiled at Talia’s generosity.
She had opened her home, her closet, and apparently her entire life to me without hesitation.
That was extremely kindandcareless of her.
I swayed slightly against the wall, still committed to my fake drunk performance. “You’re literally the best.”
“I know,” she boasted confidently. “Don’t get too emotional and throw up on my carpet,” she kidded.
I gasped dramatically. “Wow. And here I was about to write you into my will.”
Talia chuckled. “Girl, go to bed. I’ll be in my room if you need me,” she called out, disappearing down the hallway.
Once inside the room, I laid down to rest.
Truth was, I was a little tipsy. I wasn’t as drunk as Talia thought… not even close. A ride home was all I needed for my plan to work. But staying at her house? Even better. That was a blessing wrapped in opportunity.
Around two in the morning, I woke to silence. I eased out of the bed and moved quietly through the hallway, my eyes scanning corners and ceilings.
Old habits… Willowgate habits.
I located two cameras: one was in the living room, the other near the hallway. I disconnected both, smoothly and quickly, coiling the cords neatly under the kitchen sink. Then I creptinto Talia’s room holding a little parting gift I’d taken from Willowgate before they released me back into the world—a syringe. It was just a mild sedative, nothing lethal.
After spending years locked around unstable people, paranoid staff, and padded walls, I’d learned one thing: never move through the world defenseless, so I carried it everywhere I went those days.
People think meds make a person harmless. What they don’t know is, it just makes them prepared.
Talia stirred the moment the needle kissed her skin.
“Ha-Haelyn?” she murmured weakly, eyelids fluttering as if she was trying to wake up through a dream.
I gently brushed a curl away from her forehead.
My voice came out soft, almost loving. “Shhh. It’s okay, love… just sleep. I would say this is business, and nothing personal, but it is personal. Still, it’s nothing you did wrong, just something I have to do.”
I stood there for a moment, watching Talia drift into unconsciousness, chest rising slowly and steadily. The sedative smoothed her breathing into something fragile and childlike.
In that moment, I thought about the girl who used to share closets, secrets, and dreams with me. The sister I once believed would always be mine.
Then I bent over slightly and whispered, “You were my sister once, that’s why I’m letting you keep your breath… for now.”
As I straightened, her phone caught my attention from the nightstand.
A soft, almost dreamy smile touched my lips as I picked it up and sat on the edge of the bed.
There was no passcode to enter, no fingerprint lock, or face ID. The phone was just sitting there unlocked and exposed, like an invitation, practically begging the wrong person to pick it up.
“Rookie mistake,” I muttered, smirking. “You can tell who’s meant for greatness and who’s just meant to be used.”
I swiped through photos first—selfies, food snaps, and memes that made me want to laugh and gag at the same time. Then I moved to the messages that consisted of friend chats full of gossip, random men trying too hard, bank alerts… little pieces of a life so normal it almost felt foreign to me.
After a few minutes of scrolling, I came across a message thread between Talia and a woman namedZonnique.
My eyes sharpened.
She must be the one claiming to be Jace’s fiancée?I wondered.
My hand trembled slightly as I read the name repeatedly.
