uilt and defiance. He looked tired, the ill

to talk to his old friends?" Chloe sneered, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

eplied, not giving her the

as an order. "And you are going to be Liam's best man. We're going to show

a public spectacle of my humiliation. She wanted me to stand there, smiling, as she and Liam flaunted their betraya

esence. My success, my stability, my reputation. She wanted my stamp of approval on he

ay no?" I a

, controlling monster who couldn't handle my success. My followers love a good story of a woma

d years of hard work, not on public opinion curated by likes and sha

t of there. I n

d tasting like ash in m

phant smirk. Liam just looked

id. "I knew yo

d and walked away

I opened my laptop and started digging. I went to Liam's social media pages, scrolling back months, then year

ss retreat." Liam was in the center, looking healthier than he did now, with his arm around a man I vagu

eport Dr. Evans had mentioned. The one who had int

and pointed them at the digital ghost of this man. It didn't take long. I found his burner

freed them from the constraints of a mundane life. They saw themselves as enlightened, and it was their duty t

th names of other new K-Syndrome cases. The connections were undeniable. They were recrui

the puzzle. In a password-protected section of t

enix Society, the one they called

e weak, dependent man who had clung to Chloe. It

dding, into a mass-infection site. They saw it as the ultimate act of poetic justice. The guests, a

uch bigger than a cheating fiancée.

hone. I didn't c

ed the

it, feeding him everything I had found. The names, the forum posts, the plans. We formu

e wedding had

d to pla