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Irene’s face crumpled.

“She’d be better off without you. You don’t understand her.”

“Yara is not like the rest of you.” She wasn’t. She was more. “She’s special. She feels everything. She pretends she doesn’t, but she does. It overwhelms her, but she survives it. She carries everyone else’s pain like it belongs to her, like it’s her obligation.”

How my little love has suffered. Not anymore. Not after this.

“She deserves someone like me, who will stand by her, who will carry the weight of the world for her. You can’t. She’s more than what your simple mind can comprehend.”

“Yara would never love you, because you are… just like the people she killed. Heartless and evil.” Irene nodded. “You’re right. She’s special, but you’re not. You’re just another rabid animal she must put down. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“You don’t know anything!”

She didn’t flinch back when I took a step toward her. She only stared, her expression unreadable, her breathing steady.

“I know one thing,” she said. “I thought the Strangler was some kind of invincible, terrifying monster. A force of nature.” She leaned forward slightly, her eyes shining like this was all a joke, like I was a joke. “But here you are. Just a weak, lonely girl who desperately needed the attention the world never wanted to give you.”

Something inside me snapped.

I struck her across her face. The crack of my palm against her skin rang in my ears, over and over like a bad song.

A thin trickle of blood ran from the corner of her mouth, but her smile—that fucking awful smile—stayed.

“When Yara finds you, Trish, or whatever the fuck your name is, you better pray she kills you on the spot.”

“She won’t kill me.”

Irene laughed. “You’re delusional.”

I took a calming breath and switched on the old television.

A broken sound came from the screen.

“What are you doing?” Kat let out a panicked whimper. Irene’s eyes snapped open.

Katelyn looked pale and bruised. The video quality was really poor, but it was enough. Irene saw her sister, and the smug smile instantly died.

“Yara will save me.” Kat sobbed from the screen.

“Just like you, your sister believed it too. Isn’t it funny?”

“Stop,” Irene whispered. “Stop.”

“When she died, she kept saying your name and Yara’s like it was a prayer, like if she wished hard enough, she would be saved.” I scoffed. “When she finally died, she knew no one was going to save her.”

I smiled.

“Just like you’ll know it too.”

“Why are you doing this, Patty? I thought…” Katelyn’s tear-stained eyes met mine.

“Did you think I was your friend? I’m not your friend. You stole my life. You lived where I was supposed to live.”

“What are you talking about?” Katelyn sobbed.

“The life you live with Yara, it’s mine. It should have been mine.”

Katelyn sniffled. “I don’t understand. How do you know Yara?”