When Ashes Speak

Everyone believed I was Bradley Hunter's one and only love.

Appearing ascetic, he could make me climax seven times in one night. Because he worried that birth control pills might harm my body, he didn't hesitate to get a vasectomy.

Until I was trapped in a mansion engulfed by a massive fire.

Bradley immediately abandoned a ten-million-dollar deal to rush back, but when I hysterically cried for help amidst the flames, he grabbed the safe and bolted out the door without looking back.

As his skin sizzled from the burns, he seemed oblivious to the pain, rescuing his adopted daughter Selena's mementos from the inferno—her fallen baby teeth, panties stained red from her first period, and the red high heels she wore on her first date...

He growled in a frenzied whisper:

"Selena, since you left, Uncle's world has lost all color."

"I've stayed single for three years for you, at least leave me something to remember you by."

So in his eyes, I was merely the perfect cover for his forbidden love.

I closed my eyes in despair, letting the flames consume my body.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day of my engagement to Bradley.