The fire (chapter One)

"Fire! It's fire! Somebody help me!"

My screams tore through the night, but no one came. The wildfire had broken out suddenly at the resort, and I was trapped in the middle of the blazing inferno. Our fifth anniversary celebration was turning to ashes before my eyes.

Worse, my husband Leo wasn't anywhere around—the yacht keys I'd planned to surprise him with burned in my palm. I'd saved for months to buy them. But now, through the flames and smoke, I watched him sprint toward the next building where Lydia stood. Safe. Untouched. Smiling.

I shoved down the feelings clouding my mind and focused on finding an escape route. But my body was too weak. It had only been three days since the kidney transplant surgery—three days since I'd given him my kidney because I couldn't imagine my life without him.

And he hadn't even waited.

He left me in the raging fire just to run to Lydia. The woman he swore meant nothing.

I was ready to give up, prepared to let the flames take me, when someone suddenly scooped me up in a bridal carry.

"Thank you," I choked out, relief flooding through me. "Thank you for coming back..."

"Leo didn't come back."

The voice was deep. Unfamiliar. Male.

My eyes fluttered open for just a second before darkness swallowed me whole.

——————

One week after the fire, I lay unconscious in my hospital bed. The sterile smell of disinfectant filled my nostrils. I tried to move, but my body felt like lead. My eyelids were too heavy to open. But I could hear everything.

"I want you to find a way to kill my wife within five days." Leo's voice was cold. Clinical. "Make it look like a complication from the kidney transplant."

My heart stopped. No. This couldn't be real. I had to be hallucinating from the pain medication.

"Two hundred million dollars." Leo continued. "That's how much she's worth in insurance. You need to make her death look clean and convincing. No one can question it."

The doctor's response was too quiet to hear. Then Leo's voice completely transformed, becoming soft and tender. "I want you to provide the best care for her. There must be no complications from the kidney transplant she just did."

Who was he talking about? Me?

Footsteps moved away from my bed. I heard a door open and close.

Then a woman's laugh. Light and sweet.

"You really think this will work?" Lydia's voice.

"It has to," Leo said. "Just give me five days."

My world collapsed.

I had donated my kidney to my husband after he'd knelt before me, sobbing and pleading that only I could save him. Without my kidney, he'd die. But it was all a lie.

Every tear. Every moment of vulnerability. Every desperate plea. It had all been a performance to steal my organ for the woman he actually loved. The pain in my chest had nothing to do with surgery.

Darkness pulled me under again.

—————-

The next time I woke, the smell was the same, but something felt different. I managed to crack my eyes open. The fluorescent lights were too bright.

Leo sat beside my bed, his eyes red and swollen. The moment he saw me awake, his face lit up with pure joy.

"Thank God," he whispered, grabbing my hand. "I thought I'd lost you forever. I've been sitting here for hours, praying you'd wake up."

Fresh tears spilled down his cheeks as he brought my hand to his lips and kissed it softly.

I stared at him. At those warm, loving eyes that looked so genuinely relieved.

How long had he been pretending? Five years of marriage, and I'd never seen through the mask.

"I was so scared when I couldn't find you in that fire," he continued, his voice breaking. "I searched everywhere. I thought I'd failed you as a husband."

The lies rolled off his tongue so smoothly.

"I need to call the doctor," he said suddenly, wiping his tears. "They need to know you're awake."

He kissed my forehead tenderly and rushed out.

The moment the door closed, I forced myself to sit up. Every muscle screamed in protest, but I pushed through the pain. I shuffled to the small mirror above the sink.

My reflection stared back. Pale, hollow-eyed, broken.

I lifted the hospital gown with trembling hands and looked down at the surgical scar below my ribs. The angry red line where they'd cut me open to harvest my kidney.

For him.

For the woman he actually loved.

I'd abandoned my prestigious family five years ago for this man. I walked away from wealth, connections, and love. All because I thought Leo was my soulmate.

What a fool I'd been.

The door opened behind me.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Leo's voice was filled with gentle concern as he hurried over. "You're too weak to be on your feet."

His hands were careful as he guided me back to bed, tucking the blanket around me like I was made of glass.

"This recovery, what you've been through..." He paused, his voice thick with emotion. "I'm going to spend the rest of our lives making it up to you. I'm going to love you better than any woman has ever been loved."

His eyes were so sincere. So convincing.

If I didn't know better, I would have believed every word. My phone buzzed on the side table. An I*******m notification. I picked it up with shaking hands. The image loaded, and my world shattered all over again.

Lydia was wrapped in Leo's arms in what appeared to be a hospital room. Both of them are glowing with happiness.

Her caption read: "So grateful for this second chance at life with my true love. #NewKidney #Soulmates"

Comments flooded in. Congratulations. Heart emojis. People celebrating their love.

She had tagged me. Making sure I'd see it. Making sure I'd know that while I was dying in this hospital bed, they were celebrating their future together.

"Everything okay?" Leo asked, his voice carefully neutral.

I looked up at him. At the man I had given everything to.

"Everything is perfect," I whispered.

I turned away, facing the wall and pulling the blanket up to my chin. I heard him sigh softly behind me as he settled back into the chair.

I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood. Silent sobs wracked my body as I pressed my face into the pillow. But underneath the pain, something cold and hard was forming. Five days. He'd given the doctor five days to kill me for two hundred million dollars.

I'd be gone in four. But not the way they expected.