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One more step, and she’d beforced to yield.

Aimee drove in hard. And it felt good—sogood—to finally feel strong.

The moment hung, poised and breathless.

And that’s when Talya twisted.

A duck, a spin, and she was no longer in front of Aimee but behind her, fast as a striking snake

Then a boot slammed into Aimee’s lower back.

She hit the safety mats face-first. The impact rippled through her, limbs sprawled, body stunned into stillness.

For a moment, she didn’t move. Didn’t breathe.

Talya grinned down at her from the platform. “Point. Match. I win. Maybe you should’ve gone with a smaller bracelet. Totally wrecked your center of gravity.”

Aimee felt a flicker of… something—something she’d never felt towards the little heathen. Almost like…respect.

That feeling quickly morphed into anger which did a nosedive into white-hotrage.

Of course, Talya won. That was how the world worked, wasn’t it? Everything rearranged itself for her convenience. For her ease. For hertriumph.

She got everything.

All she ever did wastake.

She took Cori’s voice. Her memory.

She took—

Aimee stopped herself.

She’d been trying not to see it. Not to let the pieces fall into place.

The reason her father disappeared. The mysterious job that took him away for the final time.

But the shape of it was too clear now.

She took him too.

Their gazes locked.

“You killed my father.”

It wasn’t loud. Wasn’t angry. Just quiet.

Talya’s eyes widened.

Aimee surged to her feet. “Don’t look at me like that,” she snapped. “You don’t get to act surprised. You don’t get to pretend you don’t know what you took from me. Your mother was my father’s sister, and when she asked for help, he answered her call. He left us to hide you.You’rethe reason he’s not here, and you don’t even have the decency to remember him.”

Talya only stared at her.

Of course, she didn’t see it. She never had to. She never had to wonder why people stayed. Never had to fight to keep them. She never had toearnlove, or loyalty, or sacrifice. She just… existed, and they gave it to her.

“Say something!” The words tore from her throat, raw and furious. “Please, explain it to me—what is it about you that makes everyone soeagerto throw their lives away? What makesyouworth it? Because I don’t see it. You’re a mess. You lie. You disappear. You hurt people—and they still crawl back. You’re a curse on every life you’ve ever touched, and they thank you for it.”

Talya flinched. Just barely. But it was enough for Aimee to twist the knife. Because it wasn’t enough that Talya had stolen her happiness—she’d taken her escape from the resulting misery too.