The smell of gasoline was the first thing that pulled me back to consciousness—sharp, suffocating, invading my lungs until I felt like throwing up.
I tried to move my hands, but a burning pain shot through my wrists. Tied. Tight. The coarse rope scraped my skin every time I struggled. My legs wouldn't move either. My body was stiff against a cold, damp wooden chair.
The room was dark and silent. I had no idea where I was. My head throbbed violently. My memory came in fragments. The last thing I remembered was being in the car with Steven. We had just left the hospital after visiting Father. I could still recall how Steven insisted we stop to buy warm soup because he said my face looked pale.
Then…
A hard blow to the back of my head.
I let out a small sob, forcing myself to breathe slowly.
"Calm down, Raya… calm down…"
Footsteps echoed from a distance. Slow. Relaxed. As if the person approaching wasn't walking toward someone tied up and helpless, but toward something long planned.
The iron door creaked open.
Hope shot through me.
"Steven…?" My voice was hoarse.
But that hope shattered in a second.
It wasn't Steven.
The man standing there was my own husband.
Walker.
And behind him…
Berta. My closest friend.
My brows furrowed as a chill ran through my body. They walked in side by side—too close, too intimate.
"Walker…? Berta…? Please untie me. This isn't funny."
They didn't look panicked. Didn't look surprised that I was awake. They looked calm.
Too calm.
Walker walked toward me while putting on black gloves. His face was flat, empty of any expression I had ever known as my husband.
This was the man who once tied my shoelaces when I couldn't bend down. The man who used to hug me and promise to protect me for the rest of my life.
Now, his eyes were cold. Unfamiliar.
"Good. You're awake," he said lightly. "I don't want you to die unconscious."
My blood seemed to freeze.
"What do you mean?"
Berta let out a soft laugh. The sound that once comforted me now felt horrifying.
"You still don't get it, Raya?"
I fell silent, trying to process everything. My eyes slowly dropped to the floor.
Gasoline everywhere.
My husband and my best friend standing close together.
And me, tied to a chair.
My breathing grew frantic.
"You're going to kill me…?"
Walker gave a faint smile. "Not kill. Erase."
Tears streamed down my face.
"Why…?"
Walker crouched in front of me. His face was so close I could see how cold his eyes were.
"Because you trust too easily."
I shook my head weakly. "I don't understand…"
"We've been together for almost two years, Raya," Berta said casually from behind.
My world collapsed.
Two years.
Two years of betrayal, and I never knew. Two years of my best friend sleeping with my husband while I remained blind. My chest tightened so badly I could barely breathe.
"But… why go this far?" My voice trembled.
Walker stood up. "Because as long as you're alive, the Haoulten family inheritance will never fully be mine."
I stared at him in disbelief.
"Inheritance…?"
Berta smiled with satisfaction. "Your father is just waiting for time. You're the only obstacle left."
My heart felt like it stopped.
"My father doesn't have a heart condition…" I muttered.
Walker's gaze sharpened.
"He doesn't."
My body went cold.
"We made him sick."
Tears flowed uncontrollably.
"Poisoned slowly," Berta added casually. "No one will ever know."
I screamed. The chair creaked as I tried to break free.
"You monsters!"
Walker took a lighter out of his pocket. The small clicking sound made me tremble.
"Steven will look for me…" I said desperately.
Walker smirked.
"Your loyal bodyguard?"
I looked at him.
"He won't come."
"What do you mean?"
"He had an accident an hour ago. A truck with failed brakes crushed his car."
My world collapsed for the second time that night.
Steven.
The one person who always came whenever I was scared. The one who always saved me.
"No…"
"Even if he's alive, he won't make it here in time."
Tears fell endlessly. I was alone. Completely alone.
Walker lit the lighter.
"Do you know what's funny? The world will believe this is an accident. An old warehouse burned down. You were inside."
Berta smiled in satisfaction.
"Tomorrow, all Haoulten assets will officially be ours."
Walker threw the lighter to the gasoline-soaked floor.
The fire spread instantly.
So fast.
Heat touched my feet. I screamed as flames began licking my skin. The smell of my own flesh burning made me want to vomit. Thick smoke filled my lungs. I coughed violently, my eyes stinging, my breath breaking apart.
They walked out calmly.
The iron door slammed shut.
I cried. My breathing grew shorter. The fire crept closer. The rope around my wrists began to burn but hadn't snapped yet. Heat climbed to my thighs, my stomach, my chest. The pain was beyond words.
"Steven…" I sobbed.
I closed my eyes.
Maybe this was the end.
I would die here.
Betrayed.
Burned alive for an inheritance.
The flames crept closer. The heat devoured my skin. The rope burned against my wrists.
I screamed.
"Help! Please! Anyone… help me!"
Smoke filled my lungs. I coughed so hard it felt like my chest was tearing apart. Tears mixed with sweat and unbearable pain.
"God… please help me… is my life going to end this tragically…?" I whispered weakly as my eyelids grew heavy.
The wood around me cracked and collapsed in flames.
"I don't want to die… I don't want to die here…" My cries turned hysterical.
Then.
A loud crash hit the warehouse door.
Hurried footsteps came from outside, mixed with the roaring fire.
And a voice I knew very well screamed in panic through the flames.
"RAYA!"
The sound tore through the smoke, through the fire, through the last thread of my consciousness.
I didn't know if it was real… or just my dying mind trying to comfort me one last time.
But for the first time since the fire began, hope hurt more than the flames.