Chapter 3

Beth grew more frantic. She jammed in more extractor ports.

The needles drove into my scalp. Blood ran down from my forehead.

I screamed until my voice went raw. The images on the screen flickered and jumped, scene after scene. The pain nearly suffocated me.

Then the screen froze.

The footage stopped on the moments before Mia and I were rescued. She'd been beaten bloody. She was barely conscious. I was holding her, weeping.

"Mia, hold on!"

The kidnapper had gone to douse the place with gasoline. In this part of my memory, all I could see was Mia. The killer was nowhere in frame.

My voice was shredded from crying. I wiped the blood off Mia's face and begged the kidnapper to let her go.

I told him I'd stay behind as his hostage.

I said I'd accept any death.

Tears streamed down my face. Watching this footage, the room erupted in shocked murmurs.

"How could she..."

"Why was she like that?"

"Her memory is all about Mia. There's no image of the killer. Does that mean... the only person who mattered to her was Mia?"

Beth clenched her fists. "It's fake!

"If she really cared about Mia, why wouldn't she name the killer?! That year, we got on our knees and begged her. She wouldn't say a single word. This is all an act.

"She's the type who's best at pretending!"

Then the kidnapper came back. He stayed just outside the frame. Only the gun in his hand was visible.

Everyone held their breath, eyes locked on the screen.

I had my face buried in Mia's chest, sobbing, pleading with the kidnapper not to shoot. He said nothing. He raised the gun and aimed it at my chest.

The moment he pulled the trigger, Mia threw herself in front of me with everything she had.

The bullet tore through Mia's shoulder. A mist of blood exploded into the air.

The entire room gasped. They stared at me, jaws clenched.

Beth's fists came down on me. "This is your fault!

"Mia took a bullet for you! And you won't even say who did it! She treated you like a sister. Did you ever treat her like one?!

"Our whole lives, we made sure you never had to go first. We stepped on every trap for you, cleared every path. And what did you do?!"

Mia was my little sister. After she became heir, she'd taken on the role of the elder one, always shielding me.

She was always the one standing in front of me, taking the danger.

One year, a weapons deal at the docks went sideways. She went alone with her gun to draw the enemy away, making sure I got to safety.

She also saved the entire shipment. Afterward, Dominic praised her quick thinking, but she gave all the credit to me.

I remembered all of it like it was yesterday.

Hitting me didn't satisfy Beth. She cranked the chair's current higher.

In an instant, every bone in my body felt like it was coming apart. The pain was excruciating.

"Mia is dead because of you."

Beth said it as her own tears fell, heavy and fast. Even tearing me to pieces wouldn't ease the hatred inside her.

She slapped me, hard, again and again.

My cheeks swelled. The pain wiped my mind blank. I stopped breathing for a few seconds.

Beth exhausted herself. Her chest heaved.

She wiped her tears, stumbled backward, then fixed me with a stare so cold it cut to the bone.

"I will find the killer.

"And when I do, you and the killer are dying together, right here.

"You can rot in agony until then."

Beth cranked the voltage higher, then had a guard inject me with drugs. The moment the needle pierced my skin, my body went cold. I thrashed against the restraints.

The pain ripped through every nerve, like ants chewing through my veins. I screamed.

Beth's face twisted with rage. "Tell me who did it now, and you can at least die without this kind of pain.

"Talk! Who is the killer?!"

I couldn't form words. I started shaking.

The screen glitched. The image kept flickering, the signal growing more and more unstable.

Beth's brow furrowed. "What's going on?!"

The technician operating the screen said, "The increased voltage is affecting her brain. She's resisting the extraction."