POV: Sera
My phone died somewhere between the woods and Luna's apartment.
Probably for the best. I didn't want to see what they were saying about me online.
Luna's door flew open before I could knock. She grabbed my arm and yanked me inside, slamming the door behind us. Three locks clicked into place.
"Are you insane?" Luna hissed. Her dark hair was messy, like she'd been running her hands through it for hours. "The police are looking everywhere for you! They have helicopters, Sera. Helicopters!"
I collapsed against the wall, leaving muddy streaks on her white paint. My dress—the beautiful silver dress I'd spent three months picking out for my engagement party—was torn and filthy. Blood dripped from cuts on my arms where branches had scraped me.
"I didn't do it," I whispered. "Luna, I swear I didn't—"
"I know." She pulled me into a hug so tight I could barely breathe. "I know you didn't. You couldn't even cheat on a board game without feeling guilty. There's no way you'd sell company secrets."
Something inside me broke at her words. She believed me. In the whole world, one person believed me.
I started crying. Not the pretty crying from movies—the ugly kind where you can't catch your breath and your nose runs and you sound like a dying animal.
Luna held me while I fell apart on her kitchen floor.
"Come on," she said finally, helping me stand. "You need to clean up. Then we're calling my lawyer friend and—"
"No." I pulled away from her. "No lawyers. No fighting. Luna, you saw what they did. The evidence looked real. The videos, the bank statements, everything. How do I fight that?"
"We find out who made the fake evidence! We—" She stopped, staring at something behind me.
I turned. Her TV was on, volume low. But I could see my face on the screen. My company photo from the Winters Tech website.
Luna grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.
"—Sera Winters, age twenty-seven, is wanted for corporate espionage and theft of proprietary technology," the news anchor said. "Police say Winters sold her late mother's research to competitors, earning over two million dollars in illegal payments."
Two million dollars? I didn't have two million dollars. I barely had two thousand in my checking account.
The screen changed to show Marcus. He looked tired, upset. The perfect victim.
"Sera and I were together for two years," he said, his voice shaking. "I thought I knew her. I thought... I thought she loved me. But I guess she loved money more."
"That lying—" Luna started, but I grabbed her arm.
The camera had panned to show someone standing next to Marcus. Vivienne. My sister was crying, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.
"I feel so guilty," Vivienne said. "I should have seen the signs. Should have protected my sister from herself. Maybe if our mother was still alive, she could have helped Sera before it got this bad."
"How dare she bring up Mom!" I shouted at the TV. "Mom would never—"
"Winters Tech has released a statement," the anchor continued, "announcing that Sera Winters has been removed from all positions within the company. Her father, Richard Winters, will take over as CEO temporarily while they search for permanent replacement."
The screen showed my father in his office. He looked older than this morning. Tired.
"This is a difficult time for our family," Dad said. "But we must focus on protecting the company my late wife built. Sera has brought shame to the Winters name. Until she turns herself in and faces justice, she is no longer welcome in this family."
No longer welcome in this family.
My own father. On national television. Disowning me.
"Turn it off," I whispered.
Luna clicked the TV off, but the damage was done.
My phone—Luna's phone now, since mine was dead—buzzed on the counter. She picked it up and her face went pale.
"What?" I asked. "What is it?"
"Your bank accounts. They're frozen. All of them." She scrolled through the screen. "And there's a fifty-thousand-dollar reward for information leading to your arrest."
Fifty thousand dollars. My own father was paying people to turn me in.
I walked to Luna's window and looked out at the city. Somewhere down there, three hundred people who watched my humiliation tonight were probably already spending their reward money in their minds. Neighbors who'd smiled at me yesterday would call the police the second they saw me.
I had no money. No home. No family. No future.
"We can fight this," Luna said, coming to stand beside me. "My friend Tom is an amazing lawyer. He owes me a favor. We can prove the evidence was faked, we can—"
"How?" I turned to face her. "How do we prove it's fake when it looks so real? How do I fight Marcus when he has unlimited money and everyone believes him? How do I—"
My voice broke. I couldn't finish.
Luna grabbed my shoulders. "Listen to me. You are Sera Winters. You have three patents in sustainable energy. You graduated top of your class from MIT. You are brilliant and strong and you don't give up. Remember when everyone said your mother's research was impossible? You proved them wrong. Remember when—"
"That Sera is dead." The words came out flat and empty. "She died tonight at that party. I don't know who I am anymore, but I'm not her."
"Don't say that. Don't you dare—"
"I need to sleep." I walked toward her guest room. "Just for a few hours. Then I'll figure out what to do."
Luna didn't argue. She knew me well enough to know when I needed space.
I lay down on her guest bed, still in my torn dress, and stared at the ceiling. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Marcus's face. Vivienne's smile. My father looking away.
The apartment was quiet. Too quiet.
Hours passed. Maybe three, maybe four. The clock on the nightstand glowed 3:47 AM.
Luna would try to make me stay. She'd use logic and friendship and love. And maybe she was right. Maybe I should stay and fight.
But I was so tired of fighting.
I stood up slowly, careful not to make noise. Grabbed Luna's spare jacket from the closet. Found forty dollars in cash in her kitchen drawer—I'd pay her back someday, somehow.
I wrote a note on her kitchen counter: "I'm sorry. I love you. Don't look for me. —S"
Then I slipped out into the hallway.
The city was dark and empty at 4 AM. Rain had started again, soft and cold. I pulled the hood of Luna's jacket up and started walking.
I didn't have a plan. Didn't know where I was going. I just knew I couldn't stay in the city where everyone knew my face.
My feet carried me toward the edge of town, where buildings gave way to trees. The same woods I'd run through hours ago. Except now I was going deeper. Away from civilization. Away from cameras and rewards and betrayal.
The rain got heavier. Thunder rumbled somewhere far away.
I should have been scared. Should have worried about getting lost or hurt or worse.
But I felt nothing. Just empty.
I walked for what felt like hours. The trees got thicker, older. The path disappeared. My phone—Luna's phone—died, taking my only source of light with it.
I kept walking.
Then I saw them. Standing stones. Huge rocks arranged in a circle, covered in moss and strange symbols that seemed to glow faintly in the darkness.
I'd lived near these woods my whole life. I'd never heard of any standing stones.
Something about them felt wrong. Old. Dangerous.
I should have turned back.
Instead, I walked toward them. Because what did I have to lose? Everything was already gone.
Lightning flashed, and for one bright second, I saw something in the center of the stone circle.
A man. Chained. Covered in blood.
Thunder crashed, and the world went dark again.
"Help..." The voice was barely a whisper, but I heard it clearly. "Please... help me..."
Every instinct screamed at me to run.
But I'd been screaming for help all night, and no one came.
So I stepped into the circle of stones.
And my whole life changed forever.