My fiery hamster

My fiancé and my adopted sister framed me for burning down our Hamptons beach house. They had me declared insane and used a forged power of attorney to lock me away in a private facility for four years.

While I was drugged, tortured, and systematically broken, they stole my company, my reputation, and my life.

When I was finally released, they stood before me, dripping in the wealth they'd stolen. Kelly, my sister, even wore my mother's engagement ring, a glittering trophy on her finger.

They saw a vacant, docile shell, not the woman who spent every waking moment meticulously planning their ruin. They thought they had extinguished the fire.

At a party meant to celebrate their victory, Kelly held up a dog collar studded with cheap rhinestones.

"Wear this," she cooed, "and you can have your mother's watch back."

I dropped to my knees and barked. They thought it was my final, crushing humiliation; it was the beginning of their end.

Chapter 1

My fiancé' s screams were the sweetest sound I had ever heard as the Hamptons beach house exploded behind me, painting the night sky with a brutal, orange glow.

The heat licked at my back, but it felt like a caress compared to the ice in my veins. Elias McIntosh stumbled out onto the sand, his expensive suit singed, his face contorted in a mask of disbelief and pain. Kelly Klein, my adopted sister, was right behind him, her designer gown ripped, her perfect blonde hair smoking at the ends. They looked like creatures from a nightmare, and for the first time in years, I felt awake.

The guests, once laughing and clinking champagne glasses, were a frantic scattering of shadows against the inferno. Their shrieks blended with the roar of the fire, a symphony of chaos that suited my mood perfectly. Elias looked at me, his eyes wide with a terror that was almost comical.

"Christy! What have you done?" he shrieked, his voice raw.

I watched him, my breath coming in short, even bursts. The salty air filled my lungs, carrying the scent of burning wood and regret. I had loved him. I had given him everything.

"What I had to," I said, my voice barely a whisper, yet it cut through the din.

He took a step towards me, then another, his hands reaching out as if to grab me. His face was a contorted mess, fear warring with anger.

"You're insane! You burned it all down!" he accused, pointing a trembling finger at the raging fire. The flames illuminated his panic, making his handsome features ugly.

Kelly finally found her voice, a sharp, piercing sound that grated on my nerves. "She's sick, Elias! She needs help! She always has!" Her words were laced with a false concern that I recognized immediately. It was the same tone she used when she wanted something for herself, wrapped in a sugary coating of false sympathy.

My eyes narrowed, the heat from the fire doing little to warm the coldness that had settled deep within me. My heart hammered, not from fear, but from a fierce, exhilarating sense of release. This was the opening I needed. This was the beginning of their end.

Elias, forever the manipulator, was already shifting gears, his fear quickly replaced by a calculated rage. "She's unstable! A danger to herself and others!" he yelled, turning to the horrified guests, some of whom were pulling out their phones, ready to record the spectacle. "She had a breakdown! A complete psychotic episode!"

The emergency sirens began to wail in the distance, a fitting soundtrack to the destruction. Elias saw his opportunity, his eyes glinting with a familiar, predatory light. He gestured wildly towards the burning mansion, then back at me, a picture of a distraught fiancé trying to protect society from his deranged bride-to-be.

"I tried to help her! I tried to get her treatment!" he shouted, his voice cracking with feigned emotion. "But she refused! Now look what she's done!"