Chapter 17
Alynna woke up to the antiseptic scent of bleach and the distant hum of monitors beeping in a sterile hospital room. Her eyelids fluttered open, heavy and raw, and for a moment she didn’t remember where she was or why her insides ached like they’d been carved out.
–
A nurse hovered at her bedside, adjusting the IV drip. When Alynna shifted, the pain shot up her spine, making her whimper.
“My baby…” she croaked, her throat dry as ash. “Where’s my baby?”
–
The nurse’s eyes softened with that pitying look that always made Alynna’s stomach twist “Miss Smith I’m sorry. The stress, the… circumstances… you were found very late. We did everything we could, but-”
Alynna didn’t hear the rest. Her wail ripped through the thin walls, so loud the nurse flinched back. She thrashed on the bed, the IV line pulling at her skin as she screamed until her voice broke.
When she finally fell silent, her hands curled into fists around the hospital blanket, she grabbed her phone. She called Clinton first. Straight to voicemail. Then her father Leo, the man who’c once told her she was the only daughter worth keeping.
Nothing. No answer. No returned calls. Just a dull, endless ring that made her want to slam the phone into the floor.
It didn’t take long for her to find out why. Later that night, alone in her room, she read the headlines on her screen: Chloe Smith and Nathan Jones – Wedding Date Set. Carlos Moore Gives His Blessing. Photos of Chloe at her café, Carlos at her side, the city swooning over the new fairytale.
Alynna stared at the glowing images, her vision swimming with hot, sticky tears. They’re all looking at her. They’ve all forgotten me.
She dragged herself out of bed days later, ignoring the doctor’s protests. She needed to see it for herself this perfect world Chloe had built while Alynna’s life rotted. She went to the café, head low under a scarf, lurking across the street like a phantom.
Inside, Chloe was laughing with Carlos, pouring him coffee. She was surrounded by flowers, by warmth. Alynna’s nails dug crescents into her palms. Not one glance her way. Not one shred of the life she thought she’d stolen.
If I’m not happy, Alynna thought, a shudder rolling through her as her vision narrowed to the café’s warm glow, then she can’t be either.
No one noticed her slip into the back alley that night. No one saw her break the small window with shaking hands. The gasoline can smelled sharp and cruel as she splashed it across the counters she’d once envied the place where Chloe had been reborn while Alynna rotted in her
father’s locked house.
–
When she struck the match, she whispered to the darkness, “If I die, you’ll burn with me.”
The flames bloomed fast, licking the walls, curling the paper menus into ash. Alynna stood in the middle of it, eyes wide, lips split in a smile so broken it looked like a wound.
But Nathan arrived earlier than she ever expected. The wind howled as he pulled up and saw the
GO
orange glow in the windows. He didn’t think he only ran, kicking through the glass door as smoke poured out like a living thing.
“Chloe!” he screamed, tearing through the flames, coughing as he fought his way to her office. He found her slumped by the door, eyes closed, her skin pale under soot-streaked hair.
He carried her out through the smoke, coughing up blackened air, his hands blistering where the heat licked his skin. Outside, he collapsed on the pavement, cradling her against his chest as the sirens wailed in the distance.
For two days, Chloe lay still in the ICU, her breaths ragged through the ventilator. Nathan sat by her bed every hour, barking orders at doctors, demanding updates that never changed. When Clinton heard, he arrived at the hospital in the dead of night. Nathan didn’t like the sound of him going to visit her.
“What are you doing? You did this!” Nathan hissed.
“No! I didn’t. I swear! I would never hurt her again! I’m just here to make sure she was okay!” Their shouts brought Leo storming in, his face pale when he saw Chloe lying there, so small, so quiet. “Who did this?” Leo barked. “Tell me who touched my daughter.”
Nathan’s jaw clenched. “If you’re not really the one who did it, then we’ll find out. And they’ll pay.”
t didn’t take long for the truth to surface. The security footage. The charred footprints. The gas can from Leo’s own garage. Alynna’s name surfaced like a curse that no one could swallow.
_eo turned on his remaining loyal staff, voice shaking as he snarled orders through gritted teeth. ‘Find her. Drag her back here if you have to. She’ll never see sunlight again.”
Alynna, meanwhile, was already trying to disappear. She’d sold her jewelry, stolen cash from Leo’s safe. She knew she had hours, maybe minutes before they traced her.
n the back of a battered taxi, she clutched her bag, eyes darting over her shoulder as the city blurred by. I’ll go somewhere they can’t find me, she told herself. I’ll start over. I’ll-
But the taxi didn’t stop at the docks. It veered sharply into an abandoned warehouse near the port, tires crunching over broken glass.
‘What are you doing?” Alynna screamed at the driver. The man only stared at her through the earview mirror, blank and cold.
The back door swung open, and two burly men stepped forward, their expressions flat under the streetlight.
‘Let me go! I didn’t do anything-!”
One of them grabbed her arm, hauling her out as she thrashed. His voice was calm, almost pored. “You can’t leave, Miss Moore.”
‘Please, I’ll pay-”
The man leaned in, lips brushing her ear. “Mr. Leo says you need to be punished for hurting Chloe.”
Alynna’s scream was swallowed by the dark as they dragged her away, the echo of her own fire now turning back on her, burning her alive in a way she’d never escape.
