Chapter 1

My hands were locked around the steering wheel, and my knuckles were slowly turning white. Memories from my previous life came rushing back, each one cutting deeper than the last.

By the time I reached the building, my younger brother, Callum Veyne, was already lying in a pool of blood. I dropped to my knees beside him. I called his name over and over, but he never opened his eyes.

Just the night before, he'd looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, "Liv, I swear I didn't take those videos. I was just walking past the gym. Why won't anyone believe me?"

I hadn't known what to tell him.

Elara Winslow, the most popular girl at school, had cried like her whole world was falling apart. The videos were right there on her phone.

Everyone kept saying the same thing. No girl would make up something like that and put her own reputation on the line.

There were witnesses. There was evidence. There was her accusation. And every last bit of it pointed straight at Callum.

Before the scandal, he'd been one of the school's most promising science students. Quiet and withdrawn, maybe, but undeniably brilliant.

His teachers used to say he could go anywhere. Our parents were convinced he would end up at one of the country's most prestigious universities.

I'd believed that too. I'd always thought my little brother would get to grow up without anything standing in his way.

He would go to an incredible university, fall in love with someone who loved him back, get married, and have a family. He'd live the kind of long, bright life that had always seemed like a given.

After that day, none of it was possible anymore.

His classmates called him a creep. Parents demanded that the school kick him out. Even his teachers urged him to admit what he'd done, telling him things might go more easily for him if he just confessed.

In the name of protecting the "victim", the school stripped him of his competition eligibility. The opportunity he'd worked toward for years disappeared overnight.

From then on, it didn't matter who Callum had been before. To everyone else, he was just a pervert with a camera.

Eventually, he dropped out. He shut himself away in his room and stopped facing the outside world altogether.

Then came the day we lost him for good. I thought nothing could ever hurt more than that.

However, after the funeral, I came home to find Mom and Dad together in their bedroom. There was a single note waiting on the table.

It read, "We failed Callum. We should have protected him."

I stared at those words, but no tears came. There was nothing left to cry for. My entire family was gone.

After that, finding the truth became the only thing keeping me going.

I dug through everything I could get my hands on until I found the original video file. I tracked down the person who'd helped Elara record it. Eventually, I discovered that her boyfriend had been given the competition spot Callum lost.

That was what all of this had been about. Elara had destroyed my brother's life just to clear the way for her boyfriend.

I took everything I'd found to court. At long last, Callum's name was cleared. The school apologized, his former classmates apologized, and Elara went to prison.

Everyone finally admitted what Callum had been telling us from the beginning. He was innocent.

Yet none of it mattered anymore. My brother was dead, and my parents were dead. No verdict could put my life back together.

I hated her. Really, I hated all of them. More than anything, I hated that the truth had come too late to save anyone.

The rage hit me so hard that my eyes flew open. The dull yellow glow of a streetlamp spilled through the car window. I gasped and snatched up my phone.

It was 7:22 am, June 29, 2026.