He Lost Me Forever

Seven years into their marriage, someone told Olivia Hall that Henry West was having an affair.

Olivia didn't believe it. After everything they survived together, she wasn't going to doubt him over a rumor.

Late one night, she heard that Fairmont Manor was on fire. Afraid Henry was trapped inside, she rushed up the mountain. She arrived just as he emerged from the flames, cradling an unconscious young woman in his arms.

Olivia recognized her immediately. It was Grace Meyer, the sister of Henry's late right-hand man, Tom Meyer.

Tom helped Henry build his organization from the ground up and risked his life beside him more times than anyone could count.

Just when their years of fighting were finally about to pay off, he died protecting Henry, leaving Grace behind.

Olivia stared at the flames engulfing Fairmont Manor.

Henry built the estate for her. They planned to make it their home once he left organized crime behind, somewhere they could finally live like a normal married couple.

Now, their home was burning to the ground. Henry was the one who had set it on fire, all to save Grace.

Olivia slowly approached the manor. In the firelight, she could see bodies scattered across the grounds, some of Henry's subordinates mixed in with men from a rival gang.

His men were outnumbered two to one. To make sure he won, Henry made the ruthless choice to burn down the entire estate.

He was willing to take everyone with him.

He was wounded in several places, but the woman in his arms didn't have so much as a smudge on her white dress.

Behind him, a bloodied man struggled to drag himself across the ground. Blood trickled from his mouth as he laughed.

"Henry! You really will do anything for your women. But do you have any idea what kind of trash you're holding?"

A gunshot cut him off. His body went rigid, then fell still.

Henry looked down at the woman in his arms, and Olivia recognized the expression on his face.

Years ago, his enemies threw her into a frozen lake. The cold sank deep into her bones, and she was barely conscious when Henry risked his life to break through the ice and pull her out.

He had looked at her that same way then.

Just moments earlier, Olivia looked at Henry with that same relief when he emerged from the burning manor, alive after she spent the night terrified of losing him.

Henry headed for his car with Grace in his arms. Through the smoke and flames, he finally spotted Olivia.

Their eyes met. Then he walked straight past her.

An engine roared to life behind her, and a car sped away. Olivia didn't turn around.

Coming here tonight was a mistake.

"Find out exactly what happened," she told her men.

She returned to her car and followed Henry.

He stopped outside an old house. Of all the places he could take Grace, he chose this one.

Olivia sat in her car and closed her eyes.

After seven years of marriage, Henry knew her well. She might go anywhere else in Harborwick, but she would never willingly set foot in that house.

It was where he imprisoned her after taking her all those years ago. Where he raped her, again and again.

Neither of them ever spoke about what happened there. They spent years trying to bury it, but Olivia still carried the scars.

Her phone lit up with a message from one of her men.

[The Lynches kidnapped Grace to provoke Mr. West.

[When he got there, their men had her surrounded. They were pulling her clothes off and humiliating her. He lost it and went after them.]

Olivia took a match from a box beside her and struck it. The flame hissed to life, casting a faint glow over her pale face.

She didn't use it to light anything. She just watched it flicker.

It was almost exactly what happened to her.

She remembered the aftermath of the fight, the air thick with gunpowder and dust. She sat in the rubble, wounded and unable to move.

A group of men slowly closed in, leering at her. Their eyes roamed over her body as they called out one obscene remark after another.

She tried to get away, but a slab of concrete pinned her legs. As the men crowded closer, their shadows fell over her, and she realized there was nothing she could do.

Henry fought his way through them and pulled her free.

"Come with me. I'll never let anyone hurt you again."

Now, he was making that same promise to another woman.

The match burned down to Olivia's fingertips. She flinched, and the sharp sting brought her back to the present.

The lights in the old house were out. Henry still hadn't come outside.

Olivia looked away, her face betraying nothing.

"Let's go."