JUSTIN – POV
June slowly looked up at me.
But she didn't know—not yet—that she wasn't speaking to Justin.
Not the boy from the orphanage who once held her hand in the dark.
Not the one who burned in the lab, scarred and bitter, bleeding rage like gasoline.
No.
I was the other one.
The one born in the dark void between their screams.
The one who thrived in cages, who grinned at the sound of chains.
The one even they couldn't contain.
The one I had tried to lock away for years… but now welcomed like an old friend.
I was the shadow behind Justin's name.
The real face beneath the skin.
The monster.
And I was awake now.
"You don't have to forget him to beat him," I murmured, voice smooth like smoke and venom. "You just have to let go of what's holding you back."
She shivered—not from fear. No, not quite.
From the instinctive recognition of something primal… something wrong.
Her lips quivered. Her eyes, red and wet, searched mine like a survivor seeking land.
