I sat perfectly still.

For twelve years, I’d worn long sleeves in the dead of summer. For twelve years, I’d endured the relentless heatstroke, the whispers from classmates, and the physical isolation—entirely to protect Chloe from remembering the night our world burned down.

I’d sacrificed my youth, my comfort, and my dignity to keep the monsters locked in the dark corners of her mind.

But looking at the sheer, undiluted hatred in her beautiful eyes, a chilling, heartbreaking realization washed over me.

The silence wasn’t protecting Chloe anymore. It was festering. The lie was mutating into a poison that was actively destroying her soul, turning her into a cruel, narcissistic stranger. If I kept hiding, she would spend the rest of her life hating me, and hating our parents.

The protective instinct that had defined my whole existence warped into a cold, terrifying resolve.