I was Sterling City’s most notorious queenpin. I died with a single bullet to the head during a city-wide police raid. The moment the news broke, the internet erupted in celebration. A crowdfunded billboard in Times Square played my black-and-white mugshot on a loop. They celebrated because I had flooded Sterling City with narcotics, tearing countless families apart at the seams. They celebrated because I had leaked the details of an operation that got my ex-husband—a narcotics detective—and thirteen of his teammates killed. Over a million people signed a petition demanding my ashes be ground into the tiles of a public restroom. To appease the public’s insatiable rage, my ex-husband, now Captain of the Narcotics Division, decided to authorize a "public memory trial"—a live stream of my entire sinful life for the world to see. … On the day of the trial, Grand Plaza was packed so tight you couldn’t breathe. "A woman like that should be drawn and quartered! She ruined so many lives with her poison!" "I heard she was so ruthless she used a three-year-old as a mule. She's not even human!" "She got all those cops killed. Today, I'm gonna watch her burn in hell!" Kevin Cox, his face a stone mask, pressed the start button. The roar of the crowd was a tidal wave of hatred, a collective wish to see my body torn limb from limb, my bones ground to dust. But the next second, the image that flashed onto the giant screen was of me. In a crisp police uniform, my hand raised, taking a solemn oath under the flag. In that instant, a stunned silence fell over the entire plaza. … It didn't last long. A wave of disbelief and anger, even louder than before, crashed through the square. "No way! Ava Grant, a cop? That's impossible!" "It's a fake! That scum doesn't deserve to wear the uniform!" Kevin’s face hardened. He ordered the technicians to verify the memory source, to check if it had been tampered with. Cora Grant, my sister, glided to his side and gently placed a hand on his arm. Her voice was a soft, cautious whisper. "Kevin, this has to be a trick. Something she set up before she died." "She was always a master of disguise, wasn't she?" "Let's just stop this, okay? I'm afraid… I'm afraid you'll soften…" Kevin pulled Cora into his arms. He let out a bitter laugh, his eyes filled with disgust. "I've seen Ava’s games a thousand times." "She could dress up as a saint, and it still wouldn't wash the blood of my brothers from her hands." He looked down at Cora, his tone softening just for her. "Don't be silly. You're the only one I love now. Nothing else can shake me." Cora finally relaxed, melting into his embrace. Someone in the crowd recognized her, and whispers rippled through the plaza. "Isn't that the younger Grant sister?" "It is! She’s the one who turned in her own father! I heard she donated her entire inheritance to an anti-drug foundation. She has a good heart." "You're right. Then you look at her sister, Ava. The second their father went down, she ran straight into the arms of the drug lord Julian Thorne." "One turns her back on crime, the other dives headfirst into it. Why couldn't she be more like her sister?" The technician gave Kevin a nod. The memory source was clean. Kevin's pupils constricted. He took a deep breath and pressed play. My soul hovered in the air above, watching the pure hatred for me in Kevin’s eyes. The same eyes that once held a universe of tenderness now held nothing but icy contempt. Even in death, a pain like tearing fabric ripped through my spirit. The screen shifted to a dimly lit alley late at night. A younger Kevin had just fought off a couple of muggers. He was leaning against a brick wall, breathing heavily, a cut on the corner of his mouth. I rushed over with a first-aid kit and knelt before him. The yellow glow of the streetlight stretched our shadows long and thin behind us. I sat on the curb, fumbling with a cotton swab to clean the cut. The sting of the antiseptic made him hiss. "Trying to be a hero, huh?" I muttered, dabbing gently. "Does it hurt?" He suddenly caught my wrist, his gaze intense. "It doesn't hurt, not when you're here." A blush crept up my neck, and I turned away. "You and your smooth lines." He chuckled, pulling me into his arms. "If you're so worried, then don't let me go. Just stay with me from now on." My eyes welled up. Without a word, I stood on my toes and pressed a soft, fleeting kiss to his lips. The image froze on our two radiant smiles. In the present, Kevin’s hands clenched into tight fists. A flicker of something—regret, maybe—crossed his face. Cora noticed his distraction immediately. She spoke up, her voice laced with pity. "Kevin, my sister seemed so innocent back then." "It's a shame she couldn't resist the lure of money." "Maybe… maybe she only got close to you to get intelligence." The flicker in Kevin’s eyes vanished, replaced by an even deeper loathing. He looked at Cora, his voice gentle. "You're right." "If it wasn't for her betrayal, I never would have known who was truly worth fighting for." He squeezed her hand tightly, as if declaring to the world—and to the memory on the screen—that he had already found his true happiness. The scene changed. We were back at that lavish gala celebrating my reunion with my long-lost family. Beneath glittering chandeliers, my father, Marcus Grant, had his arm around me. "This is my daughter, Ava, who I've finally found after all these years!" he announced proudly. Before the applause could begin, the grand doors of the ballroom were kicked open. Kevin burst in, flanked by his unit, his face a mask of cold fury. He held up a warrant, his gaze like a shard of ice, pinning my father in place. "Marcus Grant, you're under arrest for the manufacturing and distribution of illegal narcotics. You're coming with us." Click. The cold steel of handcuffs snapped around my father’s wrists. As they dragged him toward the police cruiser, he suddenly thrashed, fighting back like a cornered animal. In the chaos, a rookie officer’s gun went off. Warm blood splattered across my dress, across my face. My mind went blank, a roaring static filling my ears. "Daughter of a kingpin!" I don't know who threw the first punch, but suddenly a mob swarmed me. Hands tangled in my hair, yanking so hard I thought my scalp would rip. My gown was torn to shreds. Thick gobs of spit and cold drinks rained down on me. "Your father killed my son! You deserve to die too!" a middle-aged woman shrieked, charging forward. A brutal kick slammed into my stomach. Agony tore through me, a pain so sharp it felt like my body was splitting in two. I curled into a ball on the floor, my body convulsing. A wave of heat slid down my thighs. My baby, my three-month-old baby, was gone. In the present, Kevin’s Adam's apple bobbed violently. The knuckles of his clenched fists were bone-white. But the crowd cheered. "Serves her right! Her father killed all those people, she deserved to lose her own!" The scene jumped. I was standing outside the hospital, bandages still wrapped around my face. Kevin blocked my path. His eyes were bloodshot, his voice cracking. "Ava, what happened with your father… it has nothing to do with you." "I'll take care of you. The baby… we can have another one. We can start over, please?" I looked at him and started to laugh, a hollow, broken sound. "Did you know I was stolen as a child, Kevin? That I ate out of dumpsters and slept under bridges?" "I finally found my real father, and you're the one who put him in his grave." I pulled the wedding ring from my finger and tossed it at his feet. "I want a divorce." The ring spun on the pavement, the sound a sharp, brittle crack in the silence. Kevin bent to pick it up, his fingers trembling uncontrollably. I didn't give him a second glance. I just turned and walked away. In the present, Cora clutched Kevin’s hand. "My sister was just too extreme," she sighed. "She let hatred blind her…" A snort came from the crowd. "Hatred? Looks more like greed to me!" "Exactly! Why else would she run straight to a monster like Julian Thorne?" The screen went black, then flickered back to life. It was now the grimiest underground casino in Sterling City. I was wearing a blood-red dress, slit high up my thigh. In a private room, Julian Thorne was draped over a sofa, a woman on each arm. Without a word, I picked up a tray holding twelve shots of whiskey and downed them one by one. Fire scorched my throat, and my stomach churned violently. Julian watched me, a flicker of amusement in his eyes. "You want to be with me?" He rose and walked to an iron cage in the corner. Inside, a hulking mastiff was tearing at a slab of raw meat, its jaws dripping with blood. "Get in there. Take the meat from its mouth." Julian lit a cigarette, a cruel smile playing on his lips. "Bare hands." I took a deep breath, kicked off my heels, and walked barefoot into the cage. An hour later, my right arm was a shredded ruin of flesh and bone. My left hand was punctured with bloody holes. I kicked the convulsing body of the mastiff aside and limped back to Julian, holding out the mangled piece of meat. "Mr. Thorne," I rasped. "Your dog… he's adorable." He laughed and patted the carpet beside his feet. "Interesting. Kneel." My knees buckled, and I knelt before him. I picked up a bottle and, with trembling hands, poured him a drink. "From now on, you belong to me." Julian took the glass, his eyes burning with a possessive fire. I lowered my gaze. "Yes." From that day forward, I was his most prized possession, and the most reviled woman in Sterling City. In the present, Kevin jerked his head away, unable to watch anymore. Beside him, Cora covered her eyes, her face a mask of disgust. The memory played on. I had become Julian’s right-hand woman. The screen showed me briefing a group of terrified children, directing them to different drop points for a delivery. I pulled the smallest girl aside and pressed a crumpled map into her sweaty palm. My voice was a low, urgent whisper. "Remember, you take this route and only this route. If you don't, your mother will disappear." She nodded frantically, biting her lip to keep from crying. The plaza in the present exploded in outrage. "Monster! She's using children!" "Does she have a soul? She's pure evil!" People started hurling water bottles at the screen, the plastic cracking against the display. A few hours later in the memory, Julian’s roar came through the phone. "Ava! What the hell did you do?!" The little girl, following my map, had walked straight into a police ambush. They caught her red-handed. In the present, someone in the crowd voiced a flicker of doubt. "Out of all the possible routes, how did the cops know to be on that specific one?" But their question was drowned out by a fresh wave of fury. "She's just an idiot! She screwed up! Stop making excuses for a monster!" On screen, Julian was suspicious. He produced a syringe filled with a new, potent designer drug. "You want to prove your loyalty? Inject this." My eyes fixed on the needle, and my body began to tremble uncontrollably. For a split second, the memory of myself in a police uniform, saluting the flag, superimposed itself over the syringe. I closed my eyes, took a ragged breath, and with a pale, set face, I plunged the needle into my own arm. In the present, Cora shuddered. "This is horrible. How could my sister fall so far?" Kevin held her tight, his gaze on my image on the screen turning to ice. "She chose to." The scene shifted, and now Cora’s face was in my memory. We were in an abandoned warehouse. I handed her a thick envelope. "This is all the money I've saved. Donate it anonymously to the narcotics victim fund, especially for the children." A murmur of confusion went through the crowd. This didn't fit the narrative of the greedy monster they knew. Kevin frowned, turning to Cora. "She gave you money? Why didn't you ever mention this?" Cora froze for a second, her eyes darting around. After a moment, she stammered, "Oh, right. There was also a bag of white powder in it. She was trying to get me hooked. I got scared, so I… I threw it all away." Kevin fell silent, a strange look flickering in his eyes. Immediately, people in the crowd rushed to her defense. "My God, how vile! Trying to frame her own sister!" "Miss Grant did the right thing! That's drug money! It's better off in the gutter!" "Look how scared she is just talking about it! Her evil sister must have terrified her!" Cora seized the opportunity and buried her face in Kevin’s chest. He looked down at the top of her head, his gaze lingering for a moment. He tightened his arm around her but said nothing more. In the memory, I pulled a USB drive from my pocket and pressed it into Cora’s hand. "This has all of Julian's recent operational intel. You have to get this to Kevin. You have to give it to him personally!" My voice echoed in the warehouse, sharp with desperation. "Cora, I'm begging you. Make sure he gets it!" On the screen, my eyes were wild and red-rimmed. My hands gripped her wrist like a vice. In the present, Kevin’s suspicious gaze snapped back to Cora. Her face went white, and she instinctively took a step back. "The USB drive," Kevin demanded, his voice dangerously low. "Where is it?" Tears instantly welled in Cora's eyes. "Kevin," she sobbed, "she handed it to me with a bag of drugs! How could I trust anything she gave me?" "Kevin, I was afraid it was a trap set by Julian!" she cried, her voice trembling. "I was so scared you would get hurt! I can't lose you, I just can't…" The crowd was swayed once again. "Miss Grant is right! You can't trust a single word from a drug pusher!" "She was protecting Captain Cox!" Kevin looked at her, a storm of complicated emotions churning in his eyes. Finally, as if convincing himself, he pulled her back into his embrace. The memory lurched forward. We were on a cargo freighter on the open sea. Kevin, disguised as a buyer in a baseball cap, was at the deal. The sight of him made my heart stop. I forced myself to remain calm, walking past him. As our shoulders brushed, I hissed a single, frantic sentence. "What are you doing here? It's a trap! Get out now!" He had no time to react. The ship's alarms blared to life. A cartel member screamed in terror, "We've got a mole on board!" Kevin’s hand was already moving toward the gun at his hip, his eyes locked on me, filled with disbelief and betrayal. My heart sank. In that split second, I made my choice. I whipped out my own gun and aimed it squarely at Kevin’s chest. "Don't bother looking," my voice boomed across the deck. "The mole is him!" "Tie him to the mast!" Julian's men swarmed Kevin, slamming him to the deck. I strode over to him. I raised my pistol and brought the butt down, hard, on his previously injured shoulder. He grunted in pain, sweat beading on his forehead. He looked up, his eyes burning with a hate so cold it was like ice. "Ava. I was so wrong about you." I leaned down, my lips close to his ear, and laughed. "Too bad, Captain. Better luck next life. Try to keep your eyes open." I straightened up, my laughter echoing into the storm. But no one could see the tears mixing with the rain streaming down my face. Just then, the roar of a helicopter grew louder, circling above the freighter. A rope ladder dropped, and Julian Thorne descended from the sky. He gave a slight nod, and one of his men chopped Kevin on the back of the neck, knocking him unconscious. Then, without warning, Julian turned and swung his hand. CRACK! The force of the slap sent me sprawling to the deck. "Nice acting, Ava," Julian sneered, crouching down to grab my chin. "So ruthless, even to your old flame. I almost believed you." "So what was the next part of the act? Faking your death so he could play the hero and escape? Hmm?" The screen suddenly went black. A confused murmur spread through the plaza. For the first time, a seed of doubt was planted about my crimes. "Wait… was she really just acting to save him?" "Even Thorne said it… something's not right here." A few people even rewound the footage in their minds, remembering the glint of tears mixed with the rain on my cheeks. For the first time, a few weak voices rose in my defense. In the present, Kevin’s body went rigid. He had completely forgotten my whispered warning to "get out now." A chilling premonition snaked its way up his spine. The light on the giant screen flickered back on. The image stabilized. Kevin snapped his head up, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks. The scene that appeared was something he could never have imagined in his darkest nightmares…
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