The sharp, sweet stench of the fuel hit my nose, making me cough.

“You won’t light that,” Liam said, taking a cautious step forward. “You’ll burn yourself.”

“I survived the first fire, Liam,” Beatrice said, her eyes glinting in the firelight. “I can survive this one.”

She turned her gaze to me, her lips curling into a cruel smile.

“You were always so dramatic, Audrey,” she said. “The grieving orphan.”

“You did this to my family,” I said, my voice shaking with a decade of buried anger.

“I saved you,” Beatrice snapped, splashing more gasoline near Chloe’s feet.

Chloe whimpered, her eyes wide with terror as the liquid soaked into her shoes.

“What do you mean you saved me?” I asked, trying to keep her talking.

“Do you have any idea how much debt your father left behind?” Beatrice asked.

She took a step closer to us, the lighter still flickering in her hand.

“The charity was bankrupt,” she said. “The family name was worthless.”

“So you burned it for the insurance,” I said.

“That was just the beginning,” Beatrice said, her face tightening. “But the insurance wasn’t enough.”