The heart monitor beeped—a steady, mocking rhythm. Bella lay there, pale and hollow, like a photograph fading in the sun. I kissed her forehead, same as I did the night they separated us. Back then, I promised I’d come back strong. I kept that promise. Admiral Victoria Kane doesn’t break vows.

But this… this was war.

I read the school reports—'emotional fragility,' they called her. As if being kind was a disease. Three names kept appearing: Chase, Lila, Derek. Smug faces in yearbook photos, laughing at angles that hid cruelty.

My fingers curled into fists. I had resources. Contacts. Skills this world wasn’t meant to see.

A nurse entered quietly. 'She didn’t react today. Sometimes patients wake up… sometimes they don’t.'

I stood, staring at my sister’s still chest. 'They’ll pay,' I whispered. 'Every breath they take will be borrowed time.'

Now I have to decide—how deep into the shadows am I willing to go?