featuring my favorite couple from the west

They tied me to the chair. The rough hemp rope bit deep into my wrists, drawing blood. The physical pain was nothing compared to the suffocating agony burning in my chest. In front of me stood Chloe, my adopted sister. The girl I had shared a bedroom with, the girl I had protected my entire life. And right next to her, his hand wrapped possessively around her waist, was Ethan. My boyfriend. The man I thought I was going to marry.

(Right there, right in front of my face, Ethan turned Chloe around. He cupped her face and leaned down, sliding his hands down her back as he kissed her deeply. Chloe let out a soft moan, tangling her fingers in his hair, completely losing herself in the make-out session while I sat tied to a chair three feet away. They were kissing, touching, and laughing between breaths, putting on a sickening display of their betrayal)

(He dropped the lighter onto the trail of gasoline. A wall of roaring orange flames erupted instantly, circling me. The smoke filled my lungs, making me cough violently as the fire crept closer. Through the blurring heat, I saw the heavy metal doors slam shut. They left me to burn)

(I can't die here, I thought frantically, the anger inside me roaring louder than the fire. I have to survive. I will make them pay. With a final, desperate scream of agony and rage, I threw my weight forward, tipping the heavy wooden chair over into the flames as darkness swallowed me whole)

(The rain was pouring hard against the windshield as I drove through the dark, isolated roads on the edge of town) (I tapped my fingers impatiently against the steering wheel, glancing down at the glowing GPS tracker on my dashboard)

(For weeks, my nephew Ethan had been acting incredibly suspicious, neglecting his duties at the corporate headquarters and dipping into accounts he shouldn't be touching. I had finally put a tracker on his phone to catch him in whatever mess he was digging for himself)

(The GPS coordinates led straight to a secluded property—the private estate belonging to his girlfriend's family)

(But as I rounded the final bend, the dark sky didn't look dark anymore. It was glowing a sickening, violent shade of orange) (My heart hammered against my ribs. I pulled up to the estate gates and slammed on the brakes) (The warehouse at the edge of the property was completely engulfed in roaring, monstrous flames. Thick black smoke was billowing into the rainy night air)

(A small crowd of people from the nearby estates was already gathering, coughing through the smoke, their faces pale with sheer horror)

(Ethan. The name hit me like a physical blow)

(Without thinking, I threw off my heavy designer suit jacket and drenched it in a puddle of rainwater on the ground. I wrapped the wet fabric tightly around my mouth and nose, sprinting past the screaming crowd straight toward the crumbling, blazing structure)

(I kicked open the heavy, blistered side door of the warehouse. The heat inside was suffocating, instantly burning the back of my throat. Sparks rained down from the collapsing wooden roof)

(Through the wall of orange fire, I saw a fallen, charred wooden chair. And next to it, lying motionless on the ground, was a body) (I broke into a run, dodging a falling, blazing beam. I dropped to my knees beside her. Her clothes were half-singed, and her face... my breath caught in my throat. The right side of her beautiful face was severely burned, covered in blistering, raw wounds from the intense heat)

(She was barely breathing, her chest rising in shallow, ragged gasps. Even in the middle of this living hell, her fingers were clutched into tight fists, as if she was fighting with every ounce of her soul to stay alive)

(The crowd gasped, rushing forward, but I pushed past them, laying her gently into the back seat of my car)

(Before I could even start the engine to drive to the nearest private hospital, my phone buzzed violently in my pocket. It was an international number. My personal attorney)

(Five years. I gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white. I looked back at her again. If I left her in a public hospital, Ethan and Chloe would know she survived. They would come back to finish the job)

(The first thing I felt was the sterile, stinging smell of antiseptic. My eyes fluttered open, blinking against the harsh, white glare of a ceiling light) (My entire face felt tight, heavy, and completely numb. I slowly lifted a trembling, bandaged hand to touch my cheek, but a nurse gently caught my wrist)

(For days, they snipped and peeled away the layers of medical cloth. When the final layer fell away, they handed me a small silver mirror) (I looked. And I broke) (Tears instantly flooded my eyes, spilling over my hot, raw cheeks. The fire hadn't taken everything, but it had altered me forever. Seventy percent of my original face had been restored by the surgeons, but the subtle changes made me look completely different. I didn't look like myself anymore. It was like staring at a stranger—someone who looked like she could be a sister to my own past self)

(We held each other, crying until our chests ached. The burning fury inside me grew colder, sharper, and heavier with every tear)

(Just as we stepped out into the corridor, a man in a sharp suit—Dylan’s personal assistant—was walking down the hallway with a folder of legal documents. He was heading toward my room to explain the five-year plan his master had laid out) (But we didn't wait. Shifting into the shadows, Maya and I slipped past him, running out through the clinic’s back exit and disappearing into the crowded city streets before he could even open my empty hospital room door)

(I sat in my high-back leather chair, staring out at the foggy London skyline, a glass of scotch in my hand. My phone buzzed on the mahogany desk)

Five Years Later (The vintage, grainy glare of the club lights cut through the thick smoke. I stood by the VIP railing, swirling a cocktail, my eyes fixed on the man sitting at the center table downstairs) (Five years had passed. The girl who cried in that hospital bed was completely dead. I had legally buried my real name, Barbara, deep into the earth. To the world, I was now Athena—a cold, calculating woman with a face beautiful enough to kill)

(And downstairs, surrounded by bodyguards, was Dylan Sprouse. He was finally back from abroad, more powerful and ruthless than ever)

(Downstairs, as if feeling the sheer intensity of my gaze, Dylan suddenly stopped talking to his associate. He slowly lifted his head, his sharp, calculating eyes scanning the upper VIP balcony, looking straight toward the dark corner where I stood)