LETCH

I walked into the luxury boutique on Fifth Avenue, the air conditioning chilling my skin.

There she was-Alivia, my adopted sister-swiping my husband' s Black Card for her wedding dress.

Three years ago, she tampered with the neonatal equipment during my home birth, suffocating my newborn son.

Then she told everyone I was a drug addict who killed my own baby in a hallucination.

My husband, Carter, didn't just believe her; he locked me in a high-security psychiatric facility in Nevada to "fix" me.

For three years, I rotted in isolation while she took my life, my husband, and paraded a child that wasn't even his as the Fletcher heir.

Even my parents sided with her, protecting their image over their own daughter's sanity.

They think I' m still the fragile socialite who would crumble under their gaslighting.

They think I' m here to beg for forgiveness.

I pulled a silver flash drive from my clutch and stepped into the light.

"Shopping for a wedding dress, Alivia?" I whispered, my voice cutting through her laughter.

"I hope it goes well with the forensic report proving you murdered my son."

The game is over, Carter.

I' m not here to reconcile.

I' m here to burn your empire to the ground.

Chapter 1

My return to New York City after three years wasn't quiet. It was a calculated detonation, timed for the exact moment Alivia Marsh would be at the Fifth Avenue luxury boutique, swiping Carter Fletcher' s Black Card for her wedding dress. The world needed to see her. They needed to see me.

I stepped out of the sleek black car, the city's pulse a familiar, jarring rhythm against my skin. Three years in a high-security psychiatric facility in Nevada had stripped away the softness, leaving behind only edges. My designer dress, a sharp, emerald green that contrasted with my pale skin and dark eyes, felt like armor. Jonas' s team had ensured every detail, from the perfectly styled hair to the subtle, almost imperceptible earpiece.

The boutique was a glittering cage of haute couture, hushed and exclusive. Alivia, a vision of false innocence in a cascade of ivory lace, turned from a three-way mirror, her laughter tinkling like broken glass. It was my cue.

"Alivia." My voice, though soft, cut through the air like a razor.

Her eyes, wide and blue, snapped to mine. Recognition, then a flicker of pure terror, twisted her porcelain features. She clutched the wedding dress to her chest, as if I might rip it from her. The sales associates, trained for discretion, froze.

"Kylie? What are you doing here?" Her voice was a trembling whisper, perfectly pitched for maximum fragility.

I ignored her question. "Shopping for a wedding dress, I see." My gaze swept over the opulent fabric, then back to her face, devoid of any warmth. "I suppose after three years, one would expect a new wardrobe for the new Mrs. Fletcher."

The words hung in the air, cold and sharp. The sales associates exchanged nervous glances. The other shoppers, initially perturbed by the intrusion, now leaned in, their interest piqued. Whispers started, a low hum of curiosity.

Just then, a small boy, no older than two, toddled out from behind a rack of evening gowns. His hair was the color of autumn leaves, his eyes a startling shade of blue. Alivia' s son. The one she paraded around New York, the supposed heir to the Fletcher legacy.

He looked at me, then at Alivia, his face uncomprehending. He reached for Alivia' s hand, a silent accusation in his innocence.

Alivia scooped him up, pressing him against her side like a shield. "Stay away from us, Kylie! You're not well. You shouldn't be here." Her voice rose, a practiced tremor of fear. "She's unstable! She attacked me before!"

The murmurs intensified. People were pulling out their phones, snapping photos, recording snippets. This was exactly what I wanted. A public stage, an audience.

I watched her, a ghost of the old Kylie, the soft-spoken socialite who would have crumbled under such an accusation. But that Kylie was gone, buried under the weight of three years in hell.

She was playing the victim, as always. Painting me as the crazy ex-wife, freshly escaped from the asylum. It was her go-to script, the one Carter and my own parents had helped her write. But I had rewritten the ending.

"Unstable?" I let a small, mirthless smile touch my lips. "Is that what we're calling it now, Alivia? Or is it simply inconvenient that I remembered where Carter' s Black Card was hidden? Just like how I remembered that you conveniently 'forgot' to pay the bill for the private clinic' s medical equipment when our son was being born."

The air went still. The sales associates gasped. Alivia' s face, usually so composed, fractured. Her eyes darted wildly, her grip on the child tightening. A vein throbbed at her temple. She looked like a trapped animal.

"What are you talking about?" she stammered, her voice thin and reedy. The practiced tremble was gone, replaced by genuine panic.

I pulled a small, silver-plated flash drive from my clutch. Its surface gleamed under the boutique' s spotlights. "This, Alivia," I said, holding it up, "is a copy of the clinic's unpaid invoices. The ones for the neonatal resuscitation equipment that 'malfunctioned' during my home birth." My voice dropped to a chilling whisper. "And the forensic report that shows the equipment was tampered with before it arrived at my bedside."

Alivia' s face drained of all color. The child in her arms whimpered, sensing the sudden shift in the atmosphere. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. She looked less like a fragile philanthropist now and more like a cornered snake. The crowd, initially sympathetic to her, now buzzed with a different kind of energy-a hungry, judgmental curiosity.