I opened Sienna Ross's Instagram.

Her latest Story, posted ten minutes ago. Location: The Hamptons. Against a backdrop of exploding fireworks, she and Damian locked in a passionate kiss. The photo had that artful graininess of candid shots, yet every angle screamed professional perfection. Behind them, fireworks burst into the shape of a rabbit.


The rabbit fireworks—what Damian had planned for me. I'd mentioned it once, offhandedly, during our last anniversary.

Now it decorated their romantic reunion like a prop in some twisted rom-com.

After years of similar betrayals, my composure surprised even me.


I tapped the heart icon.

Seconds later, my phone rang—Damian. His voice crackled with barely contained fury, hot enough to scorch my eardrum.


"What the hell are you playing at?"

"Nothing," I replied, my tone as flat as if reading a grocery list. "Congratulations to you both."

"You pushed me away, Lori." His voice shifted to that practiced nonchalance. He thought this was just another round in our jealousy game. "Don't come crawling back when you realize what you've lost."

He hung up with deliberate casualness.

Expressionless, I shook out a handful of pills and washed them down with tap water.

Within a week, Damian had transformed me into Manhattan's favorite punchline.

He paraded Sienna at every A-list dinner, while film offers fell into her lap like manna from heaven. The B-list actress was suddenly everywhere, her star rising at dizzying speed.

He'd even announced a "wedding" with Sienna.

A courier delivered the gold-embossed invitation to my door.

I accepted it with eerie calm, no longer the hysterical woman I once was.

Damian, though—his face grew more haggard by the day.

My phone buzzed with Sienna's message: "You pathetic psycho, even if you get him back, his heart belongs to me."

I barely glanced at it before tossing both invitation and phone into the trash.

I turned and walked into my studio.

I lifted a massive canvas to reveal a woman's face beneath.

My mother.

My stomach twisted with familiar pain. Something warm and metallic trickled from the corner of my mouth. Blood. With trembling fingers, I picked up a brush.

In these final moments of my life, I would complete this last work.

Then I would find my mother.

***

Damian's birthday party.

Sienna Ross clung to his arm, playing hostess with practiced charm. Her red dress blazed like wildfire, drawing every eye in the room.

And there I stood in head-to-toe black, a specter at the feast.

The glances thrown my way mixed pity, mockery, and that special delight people take in others' misfortune.

Sienna sauntered over. With theatrical flair, she raised her hand before my face, her diamond ring catching the chandelier light like a signal mirror.

The design was painfully familiar.

I'd designed our wedding rings myself. Now my creation adorned the finger of my replacement.

Her diamond, of course, dwarfed mine.

The perfect metaphor for us—she glowed with vitality while I withered away.

"Lori," she stage-whispered, superiority dripping from every syllable, "honey, you've really let yourself go."

"When you divorced, I told Damian not to be so brutal—to at least leave you some cash. But damn…" She clicked her tongue, eyes raking me from head to toe. "Even with him back, you're still living like trash. Still dealing cards in that seedy underground club?"

She laughed, each note a needle under my skin.

Damian watched from nearby, allowing my humiliation like a spectator at a blood sport.

He was waiting for the breakdown, the hysterics, the begging—my usual performance.

I stepped forward.

Before anyone could react, I lunged forward, grabbed a fistful of Sienna's perfect hair, and slapped her with every ounce of strength I possessed!

The crack echoed like a gunshot.

She crumpled to the floor.

"Aurora!" Damian's face transformed with rage. He lunged forward, seizing my arm to drag me toward the private room behind the banquet hall.

I fought like a wild animal. Then suddenly, everything stopped.

The banquet hall plunged into darkness.

The electrical circuit had shorted. Total blackout.