A wave of loneliness swept over me. I really was a complete failure.

Aria pulled Miles into her arms right on cue, eyes glistening. "It's okay, sweetie. Don't blame your mom. It's all my fault."

The three of them huddled together like a real family, and I was the villain.

"Grant, I am never clearing her name," I hissed. "Get that through your head."

Suddenly, my brother Connor Burke's voice came from behind me. "If she won't do it, we'll send her back to the psych ward. Let's see how long she holds out."

The moment I heard him, my body started trembling uncontrollably.

When the news of my parents' deaths first broke, none of them had acted this way. But after Aria lost her memory, everything changed.

On the day of the trial, my own brother stood before the court as a member of the victims' family and submitted a clemency letter on her behalf. My husband took the stand as her defense attorney. The two people closest to me in the world had me declared mentally unfit right there in the courtroom.

When it was over, they sent me to a psychiatric facility. They said it was for treatment.

The day they took me there, I was still trying to defend myself. "I'm not sick. There's nothing wrong with me."

The first time I refused treatment, they strapped me to a bed and injected me with sedatives. I heard one of the nurses say, "Her family told us that if she doesn't cooperate, we keep treating her."

The third time, they locked me in an isolation room with no sound and no water. I survived by counting my own heartbeats.

The seventh time, the current tore through my body while my screams echoed down the hallway. It didn't stop until I said I understood.

Connor's voice dragged me back to the present, and I flinched before I could stop myself. He saw my reaction and his eyes flickered with revulsion.

"I don't even know why you're being so stubborn. Mom and Dad liked Aria too. If they were watching, they wouldn't blame her. Would it kill you to just say a few words on her behalf?"

I held his gaze. "Yes. It would."

Connor froze.

"If Mom and Dad were watching," I said, every word deliberate, "the only thing they'd regret is raising such an ungrateful son."

The slap landed before I even finished speaking. At least now both cheeks matched.

"You really have lost your mind!" Connor bellowed. "I'm their son. They would never resent me."

But something flickered behind his eyes—a flash of guilt he couldn't quite hide.

Grant scoffed. "Connor, drop it. Don't waste your breath. Tomorrow she's reading that statement whether she likes it or not."

Then he walked forward. "Let's eat."

He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the dining room.

At the table, Aria eagerly slid a plate of shrimp scampi in front of me. "Carly, I made this myself. I used to bring you this all the time, remember? Come on, don't be mad!"

I stared at the plate without a word.

Grant immediately lost his temper. "What now? What more could you possibly want? Do you just live to make my life difficult?"

I looked up at him. There was a time when every restaurant we went to, he'd flag down the server before I even sat down and say, "My wife has a seafood allergy."

But now all he had to say was, "Eat it or don't."

"Grant, I'm allergic to seafood. You forgot." I said it quietly.

Grant went still. The smile on Aria's face froze for just a second before she hurried to pull the plate away. "I'm sorry, Carly. I forgot."

Of course she forgot. Forgetting was such a convenient excuse. As long as someone claimed they forgot, nothing ever happened.

Connor slammed his plate on the table. "Then don't eat!"

He added, "Aria's been sleeping in the master bedroom for the past year. We're not about to kick her out just because you're back. You don't want to eat, fine. Go sleep in the storage room."

I walked into the storage room. It was packed with junk, leaving only a small patch of bare floor. I looked around and let out a quiet, bitter laugh.

Cold air seeped through the cracks in the walls, carrying the smell of mildew.

Hurried footsteps approached, and when I looked up, Miles was standing in the doorway with his fists clenched. He'd followed me in.

I looked at my son, the child I'd nearly died bringing into the world, and the hard shell I'd been building around myself crumbled in an instant. He reminded me of when he was little, the way he used to come running to me whenever something upset him.

I reached out without thinking, the way I always used to, just to touch his hand and ask what was wrong. My fingers hovered just above his sleeve, not quite touching.

Miles recoiled like I'd burned him. "Can you not be so disgusting?"

His voice was sharp and breathless. "Ari is the sweetest. She's kind and gentle. Why can't you just leave her alone? She's spent the whole year with people whispering behind her back. Can't you see that? Are you not going to stop until you've driven her to her grave?"

My chest tightened as though a vise had clamped around my heart. The dull, suffocating ache spread through me until my nose stung and my eyes burned.

I opened my mouth, my voice cracking. "But I lost my mom and dad too. Those rumors hurt me just as much."

That was what set him off. The disgust in his eyes turned to outright rage, and he shoved me hard from behind.

I lost my balance and slammed into the wall. My temple split open on impact and blood ran down the side of my face.

Miles clearly hadn't expected that. His eyes went wide. But he steeled himself just as quickly, stiffening up and forcing himself to look calm.

"That's what you get for going against me," he said. "You fell by yourself. I didn't do anything."

Then he turned and ran.

Bracing myself against the wall, I pushed myself to my feet. I touched my forehead and looked down at the blood on my fingers with a hollow laugh.

Before long, Grant showed up. He tossed a food tray at my feet, sending lukewarm leftovers spilling across the floor.

"Don't say I didn't feed you," he said. "Eat here. Once tomorrow's over and you've done what you need to do, we're sending you back."

I looked at the tray. "I'm not hungry."

This was exactly the kind of slop they'd fed me at the psychiatric facility. Just looking at it made my stomach turn.

Grant took it as a personal insult and kicked the tray over. "Eat it or don't. Starve for all I care."

He shot me one last glare and left.

I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes. Then, I heard the system's voice.

"Carly, you have 12 hours remaining."

I ran my thumb along the edge of the dinner knife I'd slipped into my sleeve. Laughter drifted in from outside the door, and I smiled too.

"System, do you think they'll regret it?" I asked. "After tomorrow?"

"Carly, do you still care?"

I didn't answer.

…

The next morning, someone ripped the blanket off me. "You're awake, so get up and write the statement."

My head was pounding, a sharp throbbing at my temples.

Grant hauled me to my feet and dragged me to the living room. One of them set a piece of paper in front of me. The other pressed a pen into my hand.

"Write."

I slammed the pen down on the table. "I already told you. I am never clearing her name."

Grant's expression darkened immediately, his brow furrowing. "What is your problem? Your parents have been gone for a year. The rest of us have moved on. Are you going to stay stuck in the same place forever?

"Aria survived a car accident that left her with amnesia. She's spent the entire year dealing with gossip and rumors and nearly fell apart. Hasn't she suffered enough?"

I shouted back. "No, it's not enough! I want her to pay with her life!"

Grant let out a cold laugh. "Your parents' graves are right there. You know what'll happen if you push me."

I stared at him in disbelief. "Grant, what are you saying?"

"You won't write it, I'll have your parents' graves dug up," he said, like it was the most casual thing in the world.

I turned to Connor. "Connor, those are your parents too. You let the person who killed them walk free, and now someone's threatening to desecrate their graves and you're just going to stand there and watch?"

I was practically screaming, my voice raw and shredded.

Connor wouldn't meet my eyes. He stared at the table. "Mom and Dad wouldn't blame me. They'd blame you for being the reason they can't even rest in peace."

There was a time when he would've thrown himself at anyone who hurt me, fists swinging, telling me not to be scared because he was there. Now he was willing to use our parents' graves as leverage to protect the woman who killed them.

Aria spoke up, her voice trembling as tears filled her eyes. "Carly, don't blame them. This is all my fault."

They wanted a statement? Fine.

I lowered my head, picked up the pen, and wrote something out quickly before folding the paper. "Let's go. I'll read it like a good girl."

In the car on the way to the cemetery, the system spoke up. "Carly, you still have 10% Affection remaining. If you can bring the score back up in the final three hours, there's still a chance."

I closed my eyes and pressed my hand against the hard object hidden inside my jacket. I didn't respond.

When I arrived at my parents' graves, my eyes began to sting. A full year had passed, and I was finally standing in front of them again.

Grant shoved me from behind. "Go on. Read your statement out loud for everyone."

He'd invited a crowd to back Aria up. I stood in front of all the mourners and took a deep breath.

"I, Carly Burke, swear before God…"

Grant exhaled, visibly relieved, thinking I'd given in.

"…that the person responsible for my parents' deaths is Aria Sinclair. If a single word of this is a lie, may I never know peace."

The whole place went silent.

The smile hadn't even fully disappeared from Aria's face before her eyes flooded with tears. She clapped a hand over her mouth and started sobbing.

"Carly, how could you do this? I have amnesia! I don't remember anything about the accident! Are you trying to kill me?"

Before she'd even finished, Grant kicked me square in the lower back. The force sent me flying into a stone railing. My spine hit the edge of the stone, and the pain was so sharp my vision went black.

"You have a death wish!" He stormed over and grabbed me by the collar, hauling me off the ground. "You really have lost your goddamn mind!"

Aria rushed forward and grabbed his arm, crying, "Grant, stop! Don't hit her! It's all my fault! I'm the one who deserves this!"

She sobbed and sobbed, but between the tears, she snuck a glance at me. There was no guilt in that look, only triumph.

Grant's eyes when he turned back to me were colder than I'd ever seen them. "Do it," he said. "Scatter the ashes."

The bodyguards he'd brought started smashing the headstones.

Grant pinned me to the ground with his foot, the sole of his shoe grinding into my back. "Carly Burke, your parents' graves are being destroyed because of you. You did this."

"Stop!" I clawed at the dirt, dragging myself forward. "Connor, have you completely lost it? Those are your parents too!"

Aria stood off to the side, hands over her mouth, her voice quivering. "This is horrible… This is so horrible."

Connor murmured something soothing to Aria, then turned to me. "Take it back right now and I'l

l make them stop. Mom and Dad are going through this because of you. Don't you see that you're the one who's wrong?"

My parents' headstone shattered into pieces right before my eyes. I lay facedown on the ground and watched it happen.

"System, is it time?"

"20 seconds remaining… 19…"

I looked at the people standing around me, the people who were supposed to be my closest family in this world, and let out one last wretched smile.

The next second, I pulled the dinner knife from my pocket, the one I'd hidden long before this, and drove it into my chest.

"I'll remember every lesson you taught me. But watching wasn't enough to make it sink in, so I'll carve it into my life instead."