"You chose your path both times, and both times it ended badly. That just proves how spectacularly incompetent you are," I sneered.

"Don't get cocky! Just wait, I will live better than you!" he hissed through gritted teeth.

I chuckled. "Fine. Let's see who has the last laugh."

The Chambers returned to hurry him along. Kyle wiped his tears and straightened his posture. "Just you wait! When I'm famous, you'll regret everything!"

I watched him trail behind the Chambers like a well-trained dog.

Famous? In our past life, the Chambers did groom me into a celebrated director—but at what cost? Every ounce of talent squeezed from me like juice from an orange, and they kept the glass.

Kyle thought fame was the reward. He had no idea fame was just the bait.

After the party, Gwen found me on the balcony.

"Who was that boy?" she asked, leaning against the railing.

"My twin brother."

Her eyes narrowed. "The one the Chambers adopted?"

I nodded.

Gwen was quiet for a moment, studying me. "He looked at you like he wanted to skin you alive."

"He's just jealous."

"Of what?"

I turned to her. "Of you."

Something shifted in Gwen's expression—surprise, then a rare softness she usually kept locked away.

"Gwen, I need to tell you something before I leave for school." I took a breath. "I know about the Chambers. What they really are."

Her eyes sharpened instantly. "What do you mean?"

"They're not a loving family. They're investors. They pour resources into adopted children and extract returns—by any means necessary."

Gwen stared at me. "How do you know this?"

"I did my research." A half-truth. "Kyle is walking into a meat grinder and doesn't even know it."

"And you're not going to warn him?"

I looked out over the garden, where lanterns from my birthday celebration still flickered.

"He wouldn't believe me. He thinks I'm the enemy."

Gwen moved closer, her shoulder brushing mine. "Leo."

"Hmm?"

"You're too kind for your own good. It worries me."

Coming from anyone else, that would've sounded normal. Coming from my Yandere Gwen, it sounded like a promise.

A promise that anyone who hurt me would answer to her.

I smiled. "That's why I have you."

Gwen didn't smile back. But her hand found mine in the dark and squeezed—once, firmly—before she let go and walked inside.