Chapter 1

The smell of smoke was the first thing Ava Miller registered.

Then, the screaming.

Her mother' s scream.

Ava' s eyes flew open.

Darkness.

The power was out.

Panic seized her chest, cold and tight.

"Mom? Dad?"

She scrambled out of bed, her bare feet hitting the cold floor.

The hallway was thick with acrid smoke.

Flames licked at the far end, near her parents' bedroom.

"No!"

She ran, coughing, her eyes stinging.

Then she saw him.

Ethan.

Ethan Carter, the man she loved, the man she was supposed to marry next month.

He stood in the flickering orange light, a silhouette of pure menace.

He wasn't trying to help.

He was watching.

Two burly men she didn' t recognize were dragging her father, Dr. Robert Miller, out of his study.

Her father was bloodied, his face a mask of pain and disbelief.

"Ethan! What are you doing?" Ava screamed, her voice cracking.

Ethan turned his head slowly.

His face, illuminated by the growing fire, was devoid of any warmth she once knew.

It was cold, hard, and filled with a terrifying satisfaction.

"Ava," he said, his voice calm, chillingly so. "You're awake."

"Let him go! What is this?"

The men threw her father to the ground at Ethan' s feet.

One of them kicked him viciously in the side.

Dr. Miller groaned, curling up.

"Stop it! Please!" Ava begged, tears streaming down her face.

She tried to run to her father, but Ethan stepped in her way.

He grabbed her arm, his grip like iron.

"This, Ava," Ethan said, his voice low and dangerous, "is justice."

He gestured to the fire consuming their home, to her injured father.

"This is for my parents."

Ava stared at him, confusion warring with terror. "Your parents? What are you talking about?"

Ethan's eyes, usually so full of love for her, now held only hatred.

"Your father, Dr. Robert Miller, the esteemed surgeon," he spat the words. "He killed them. He let them die on his operating table, all those years ago."

"No," Ava whispered, shaking her head. "That's not true. My father saves lives."

"He destroyed mine," Ethan snarled. "He took everything from me. So now, I take everything from him. And from you."

He looked around at the burning house, the chaos.

"An eye for an eye, Ava. A life for a life. Or in this case, a prosperous life for the hell he put me through."

The men were now dousing furniture with gasoline.

Her mother, Sarah, stumbled out of the master bedroom, coughing, her face pale with terror.

"Robert! Ava!"

"Mom!"

One of the thugs grabbed Sarah, roughly.

"Let her go!" Ava shrieked, struggling against Ethan's hold.

Ethan watched, his expression unyielding.

"Your father will lose his hands, his career. Your family will lose its wealth, its home. And you, Ava, you will lose your comfortable life."

A sickening crack echoed as one of the men stomped on her father's hand.

Dr. Miller screamed, a sound of pure agony that tore through Ava.

"No! Dad!"

Ethan finally let her go, and she stumbled towards her father.

But it was too late. The damage was done.

Her world was collapsing in fire and violence, orchestrated by the man she loved.

The betrayal was a gaping wound, more painful than any burn.

Ethan watched Ava crumble beside her father.

His heart, a thing he thought long dead, felt a strange, unwelcome twinge.

He crushed it.

"This is what he deserves," Ethan said, his voice flat, trying to convince himself as much as her.

"He took my parents from me. A botched surgery for my father, a refusal to operate on my mother because her case was 'too risky', condemning her to a slow, painful death. He was negligent. He was arrogant."

He pulled out a faded photograph from his pocket. A smiling couple. His parents.

"They were good people, Ava. They didn't deserve to die like that, while your family lived in luxury built on their graves."

Ava looked up, her face streaked with soot and tears. "Ethan, there has to be a mistake. My father wouldn't..."

"There's no mistake," Ethan cut her off. "I've spent fifteen years piecing it together. Fifteen years planning this."

He looked at her, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes before they hardened again.

"You were just collateral damage. A means to an end. Loving you was the hardest part of the plan."

His words were like individual shards of ice piercing her.

The fire roared louder, the heat becoming unbearable.

Sirens wailed in the distance, finally. Too late.

Ava felt a sharp pain in her chest, a familiar tightness.

Her breath hitched.

Not now. Please, not now.

She clutched her chest, a small, involuntary gasp escaping her lips.

Ethan didn't notice, or didn't care.

He was too consumed by his victory, his revenge.

Only she knew the truth.

The heart beating in her chest wasn't entirely her own.

A transplant, years ago. A secret her family guarded fiercely.

A condition that required careful management, medication, and avoiding extreme stress.

Like watching her family be destroyed and her home burn down.

The doctor had warned her. Any severe shock could be fatal.

She had a limited time, a hidden vulnerability.

This was more than a severe shock. This was annihilation.

The irony was a bitter pill. Ethan, in his quest for revenge for a death, was causing another.

Ethan gestured to two women Ava vaguely recognized.

They were Chloe Vance, a social climber Ava had always disliked, and her sycophantic friend.

They had been her bridesmaids, once.

Now, they looked at her with cold, triumphant eyes.

Chloe sauntered over, a cruel smirk on her face.

"Ava, darling," Chloe purred, "you look a mess."

Ethan spoke, his voice devoid of emotion. "Chloe, make sure she understands her new position."

Chloe' s eyes gleamed. "With pleasure, Ethan."

She grabbed Ava's hair, yanking her head back.

"Your father is ruined. Your family is bankrupt. And you, Ava, you belong to Ethan now. To do with as he pleases."

Chloe's friend kicked Ava in the ribs.

Ava cried out, pain exploding through her side.

She saw her mother being held, forced to watch. Sarah's eyes were wide with a terror that Ava knew would haunt her.

Her mother's Alzheimer's, still in its early stages, would surely worsen after this night.

These women, who had smiled at her, celebrated with her, were now instruments of her torture.

The betrayal piled up, layer upon layer, crushing her.

Chloe dragged Ava through the burning remnants of what was once her living room.

The heat was intense.

Chloe stopped in front of a shattered display cabinet.

Inside, miraculously untouched by the immediate flames but now exposed, were Ava's most cherished possessions.

Her grandmother' s porcelain music box.

Her childhood ballet trophies.

A collection of photographs – her family, her friends, her and Ethan in happier times.

"Such pretty things," Chloe said, her voice dripping with malice.

Then, with deliberate cruelty, she began to smash them.

The music box shattered, its delicate tune silenced forever.

Trophies were snapped.

Photographs were ripped, the smiling faces torn apart.

Each crash, each tear, was a fresh stab to Ava's heart.

These weren't just objects. They were memories. Pieces of her life.

"No! Please, stop!" Ava sobbed, reaching out.

Chloe laughed, a harsh, ugly sound.

She picked up a framed photo of Ava and Ethan, their arms around each other, love radiating from their faces.

Chloe looked at it, then at Ava.

"He never loved you, you know," Chloe said softly, her words designed to inflict maximum pain.

She then threw the photo into the flames.

Ava watched it burn, the image of their love turning to ash.

Something inside her broke.

A primal scream ripped from her throat, raw and full of anguish.

It was the sound of her world ending.

Just as Ava thought the nightmare couldn't get worse, Chloe stepped aside.

Ethan was there, but he wasn't looking at Ava.

He was looking at Chloe with a tenderness that Ava hadn't seen in his eyes for what felt like an eternity, but was only hours.

"Chloe," Ethan said, his voice softer now. "You've done well."

Chloe beamed, preening under his gaze.

She looped her arm through his.

"Ethan, darling, you look tired. Let's get out of this awful place."

Then, Chloe turned to Ava, her eyes glittering with triumph.

"By the way, Ava, I don't think we've been formally introduced in our new roles."

She leaned in, her voice a venomous whisper.

"I'm Chloe Vance. Ethan's fiancée. And the woman who saved him from his crippling grief, who gave him a reason to live again after your father destroyed his life."

Ava stared, her mind reeling.

Fiancée? Saved him?

The smoke, the pain, the betrayal – it was all a horrifying, swirling vortex.

Ethan didn't correct Chloe. He didn't even look at Ava.

He simply stood there, letting Chloe rewrite their history, cement his misdirected hatred.

The dramatic irony was a crushing weight.

Ava knew the truth about her own fragile heart, a truth that could expose Chloe's lie if Ethan ever cared to look.

But he wouldn't. He was blind, lost in his revenge and his new, deceitful savior.

The sirens were closer now.

Ethan, Chloe, and their thugs began to retreat, leaving Ava amidst the ruins of her life, with her injured father and terrified mother.

The last thing Ava saw was Ethan's back, as he walked away with Chloe, never once looking back.

The flames roared, consuming everything.