Introduction

The smell of gasoline and burning flesh clung to my last breath, a horrific perfume of my own end.

My wife, Olivia, and her grandmother, the woman I' d sacrificed everything to save, celebrated my agonizing death.

"You staged the kidnapping, you killed my lover and my son, how dare you still be alive!" Olivia shrieked, as flames licked at the cage they' d locked me in.

Her grandmother, my supposed savior, added, "You couldn' t give me a child, so you targeted my grandson, I' ll teach you a lesson you\'ll never forget!"

I died watching them smile, consumed by fire, bewildered by their monstrous accusations.

I had given my family' s entire fortune to rescue her grandmother, even taken multiple stab wounds in the process.

The media had hailed me as a hero, "the ultimate proof of our love," but it meant nothing to them.

Olivia' s lover, Ethan Hayes, jealous of the attention, had tragically drowned with their son, Lucas, and they blamed me.

They smiled as I burned alive, a fool who gave everything and received only contempt.

Then, a frantic, insistent ringing pierced the fiery memory.

My eyes snapped open.

I wasn't in a burning cage; I was in my bed, the one I shared with Olivia.

The calendar on my phone screamed a terrifying truth: it was the fifth anniversary of my marriage, the very day her grandmother was kidnapped.

I was back, forced to relive the nightmare.

But this time, I wouldn't be the fuel for their fire.

I silenced the phone, the urgent ringing of the kidnappers cut short.

This time, their fate was their own.