Page 58 of Vintage

“You’re not dead,” I say aloud, my words echoing in the empty room. My voice cracks like I’m trying to convince myself. “I’m still here. I’m stillprotectingyou.”

I can hear my own words spiraling, a twisted mantra in my head. The house, the cursed house, the folklore — it’s all part of the plan. It always was. I made it my plan, a way to undo all of the years of torment. Years of being erased. Years of pain.

Amir. His face haunts me. That damn face. It’s like looking at Tyson again, but it’s not him, it’s someone else, someone I can’t control. Every time I see him, my skin crawls. He’s nothing but a reminder of the past, of everything I couldn’t stop. Of the pain thatTysoncaused me, Dad and Willow. Of the betrayal.

But Amir doesn’t know what he’s dealing with. He doesn’t know what it’s like to be hunted, to be hunted by your own mind, by a ghost that won’t leave.

I wasn’t supposed to be alive. I wasn’t supposed to be here. But I am. I survived, and I’ve built this life, this plan, around my hatred. I was supposed to vanish, but I couldn’t let go. I couldn’t forget what Tyson did, what he took from me.

Willow's death—her death—is a lie, just like everything else.

I swallow hard, my stomach turning. My hands are shaking, but I can’t stop them. I’ll fix this. I’ll finish it. It’s almost done. The house, the ring, thehallucinations I’ve fed Amir, the girl who looks like Willow—all of it. It's allmydoing.

But the hardest part, the part that pulls me apart from the inside out, is the way I convinced myself that this was right. That I could take her place. That I could become the thing she was supposed to be: the protector. The one who would avenge her.

But in the process, I’ve become something worse than I ever feared. I’ve become a monster.

“Amir is going to pay,” I mutter, my voice low, but it’s not enough to calm the storm in my chest. “You’re going to pay. All of you.”

I take a deep breath, my fingers trembling as they grip the edge of the sink. The reflection staring back at me, the one that’s Willow and yet isn’t, feels like a judgment. Like I’m being torn apart by the person I used to be. But I can’t stop now.

I’ve already gone too far. There’s no turning back.

Willow...

I close my eyes, squeezing the tears that burn behind my eyelids.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper to the mirror. But even as I say it, I know it’s a lie.

Chapter Twenty Five

Awarm hue of red was staring at me, the fleeting memory of his grip on my hands feeling like a second skin. I was trembling in the hospital waiting area, my fingers wrapped tightly around my phone—the only thing I could hold onto when Dimitri and his crew stormed in and took Luhak and Willow. The chaotic memories of shouting and Ro bleeding were seared into my mind.

The sharp scent of antiseptic hit my nose, blending with the soft hum of fluorescent lights. Time felt distorted, each second dragging on forever as I fixated on the double doors leading to the operating room.

I could still hear the frantic voices of the paramedics ringing in my ears, the way they hurried Amir past me, his face ghostly and his eyes unfocused. The sight of the blood-soaked bandage on his side made my stomach churn. They were applying pressure to his wound until they could wrap it up, and his blood... it was everywhere. On them. On me.

The faint sound of his breathing haunts me. I hated it. I really hated it.

I was craving any update, but the silence in the waiting area felt like it was suffocating me, broken only by distant footsteps and muffled conversations that seemed so far away.

My gaze drifted to the wall clock—again. It felt wrong to keep checking, as if each tick was mocking my anxiety. I remembered how Amir had smiled that morning while chatting with Dimitri about our plan, knowing the tracker he planted on Luhak also had a microphone, and we were aware they were coming to our house that night.

We just had to keep them occupied until Dimitri got back from grabbing proof from the mansion. But we had no clue when or how they were planning to strike. It was a risky move, and Amir decided to take it on himself to keep me safe. Maybe he had an idea of how things would play out and just didn’t share it with me, but I can’t blame him for doing what he thought was best, especially since I would’ve likely done the same in his position.

Luhak was the mastermind, and Willow was his daughter. They had schemed to take Amir down, and I was just an extension of him, someone Luhak wanted to exploit for his own gain.

We knew Luhak was tapping our phones, so we had to play our roles. Even with all the knowledge of what was to come, my anxiety didn’t fade, but the sound of Ro’s laughter still rang in my ears, a stark contrast to the grim reality I was facing now. He kept reassuring me.

And I listened. I let him do it!

I shouldn’t have.

What if I made a different choice?

Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm the growing panic inside me as I glanced at the clock once more. The doctor had promised they were doing everything possible, but the uncertainty felt overwhelming. Each tick of the clock reminded me just how fragile life could be and how quickly things could turn upside down. Because of others, I had already made him pay. I wish I could’ve seen beyond the surface of it all.

Tears streamed down my face, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop the shaking that coursed through me. It just wouldn’t go away.

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