Burned alive

“Fine. If you don’t want me to get married to him, I won’t.

All you have to do is untie me from this place and let’s go home so we can talk about it properly.”

“No! Sorry. When we get home, I will end everything.”

“Too bad. I can’t let you go home. The wedding is in just a few hours. I can’t let you go.”

“But you can’t just tie me up here in this warehouse either!”

“And who said I will just tie you up?” Lily said coldly. “You being alive will spoil my plans of getting married to him. And even if I succeed, you being alive will make it impossible for me to live happily with him.”

“So… so what?” Ivy asked, fear filling her eyes.

Lily looked at her, smiled faintly, then walked to one corner of the warehouse. She pulled out a big bottle of petrol and removed a lighter from her bag before walking back toward Ivy.

“Come on, Lily. You can’t possibly kill me—your sister—because of a man.”

“You should have thought about that when you accepted to marry him,” Lily replied.

“Fine… I agree I was wrong. I was selfish. Maybe because I loved him so much that I forgot I was hurting you, my elder sister, in the process. But we’ve talked, and I’m ready to make amends.

I promise I will end the relationship.”

“You should have thought about that a long time ago. But sorry… it’s already too late.”

“Maybe in your next life, you shouldn’t go after something that doesn’t belong to you,” Lily said as she opened the bottle of petrol and began pouring it on the walls and the floor of the warehouse.

Ivy kept crying and shouting. “I am sorry, Lily! Please don’t do this. I didn’t mean to… please, sis, don’t do this!”

“Because you are my sister, I won’t want you to die immediately, so I won’t pour this on the entire building. If you can save yourself, good and fine. But if you can’t, then we will meet again in our next life.”

“Lily, no! Please don’t do this. I am sorry. Please give me a second chance. I’m begging you!” Ivy kept pleading while struggling to free her hands tied behind her back.

But Lily ignored her. She continued pouring the petrol. When she was done, she gave Ivy one last smile before walking to the warehouse door.

“Greet your mom for me when you get to hell. Tell her you were about to make the same mistake she did when she was alive—but the daughter of the woman she destroyed destroyed you before you could succeed.”

With that, Lily lit the lighter, threw it onto the petrol-covered floor, and closed the warehouse door.

Immediately, the warehouse went up in flames.

Inside, Ivy screamed, cried, and shouted for help as the fire grew stronger.

She tried everything possible to remove the rope from her hands before the fire spread to where she was sitting.

With so much force—and with the help of her long nails—she managed to free her hands and release herself from the chair.

She couldn’t go to the door because it was on fire. She stood up, scanning the area desperately for another escape, but there was none. So she kept shouting for help.

Lily, sitting inside her car, smiled at the heavy flames rising from the warehouse.

“Let me see how you get married to my man,” she muttered to herself as she started her car and drove away.

Since it was a five-hour drive back to the city, it was already 10 p.m. when she arrived in town.

She stopped at an open mall to buy new clothes because the ones she was wearing smelled of petrol.

She changed into the new clothes inside her car before heading home.

When she got home, it was already 11 p.m.

As she entered the house, she was greeted by the angry face of her father.

“Good evening, Dad.”

“Lily, have you seen your sister?”

He didn’t even respond to my greeting, she thought.

“What did you say?” her father asked.

“I said I don’t know where she is. It’s not like I’m her mother to know where she goes.”

“You are not her mother, but you are her elder sister, and you are supposed to know where she goes and who she is with.”

“Well, Dad, I don’t know.”

“Tomorrow is her wedding. Where could she have gone?”

“I don’t know, Dad. Maybe you should call her. Wait, let me call her,” Lily said.

She took out her phone and dialed Ivy’s number. It started ringing inside the house.

“Dad, her phone is ringing, but she’s not picking up. Are you sure she’s not in her room?” Lily asked.

“She’s not there. I even asked the maid to check her room, but they said she’s not there.”

“Dad, let’s go check. Maybe she used the back door to enter the house,” Lily suggested.

They went to Ivy’s room.

When they got there, she wasn’t inside.

“I told you I sent the maids to check,” her father said angrily.

“Let me call her again,” Lily said.

She dialed Ivy’s number once more, and this time they clearly heard it ringing inside the room.

“It’s ringing in here,” Lily said as she began searching until she spotted the phone in her drawer.

“Dad, this is her phone,” she said, handing it to him.

“If her phone is here, then where could she have gone?” he asked anxiously.

“Dad, you worry too much. Maybe she just stepped out. Let me check her things—maybe I’ll find a clue.”

Lily walked to Ivy’s belongings and began searching. As she checked through her clothes, a piece of paper fell to the floor.

“Dad, I found this,” Lily said, picking it up and handing it to him.

She opened it and read:

“Dad, if you are reading this, it means I have already left the house. I am sorry, Dad, but I don’t want to get married to Jonathan. I want to focus on my acting career and not get married. I am still young. And by the way, Jonathan came to the house to marry Lily at first and not me.

Sorry I couldn’t gather the courage to tell you. I didn’t want to hurt you.

Love, Ivy.”

“This child will not kill me! Why didn’t she say something instead of leaving on the eve of the wedding?

What am I going to do? My reputation in this society?” Mr. Jones asked as he sat down on Ivy’s bed, frustrated.

“Dad, you don’t need to worry. Everything is going to be fine.”

“Did you just say I shouldn’t worry? Tomorrow morning is the wedding! What am I going to tell the Morel family and the entire world?”

“I will marry Jonathan Morel in place of Ivy, Dad,” Lily said, shocking her father.

“You will do that for me, sweetheart?” he asked, standing up and hugging her.

“Yes, Dad. I will.”

“Thank you so much, sweetheart, for not allowing our reputation to be ruined because of that foolish sister of yours.”

“It’s fine, Dad. I will do everything to make you happy.”

“I know it hurt you when he said he didn’t want to marry you anymore but wanted your sister.

But you accepting to marry him after everything… I am happy.”

“You know I love you, right? Even though you are stubborn.”

“Yes, Dad. And I love you too.” For that reason I will forget about the past and marry him.