"burn Those Who Burned Me!" Novels & Stories

Instead, it was to honor my father's legacy. Before long, the Moretti family returned to its former glory. We became the strongest force in the underworld, and I was known as the coldest, most untouchable woman. The old me died in that fire, yet from its ashes, I rose anew. What the flames didn't consume was my heart. It still burned, but it would ache for no one ever again.

Pain tore through my chest like a blade. Overwhelmed by memories of the past, I stared at Catherine and said in a trembling voice, "Catherine, you know why I did everything for the company. It was because I loved you. I loved you! Have you forgotten what you said to me over and over? You swore you would never betray me."

"The game where everyone loses, the game where there are no winners, only survivors. The game where the only way out is to burn everything down and start over." I stood up, my hand on my stomach, my voice steady, my heart cold. "Then I'll burn it down, I'll burn it all down, and I'll build something new from the ashes."

His eyes shifted to Zain approaching… His life flashed before him—not because he was dying but because the fear of defeat felt like death. And then—Abby’s voice echoed in his memory,"Let your fire burn brightly! Let it roar. Let it rage. Let it burn so fiercely that even the heavens themselves are forced to recognize your existence. Let it burn until there is nothing left to refine—until you have forged yourself into something unbreakable. Let that fire become your strength, your path, your very identity!” The words looped in his mind, again and again—colliding, crashing, erupting. They collided, clashing inside him like sparks.

‎Not rage. ‎Something colder. ‎Something that whispered: ‎If I burn the world to keep her safe, ‎then let it burn. ‎Because I was done playing by anyone else’s rules. ‎Even my father’s. ‎Even God’s. ‎The war had started the moment they put hands on her. ‎And I intended to finish it. ‎One corpse at a time.

“Do you think he can bear your fire without burning?” Nora’s fire surged at the insult, searing my skin, but I caught it, redirected it, flung it back into the Sigil burning in my palm. “I don’t have to bear it,” I snarled, my own voice warped with flame. “I welcome it.”

“I was waiting for you.” Dominic pulled him close. “Never again.” --- But as they rose, a new explosion rocked the lower floors. The ceiling cracked. Dust rained down. Dominic shielded Matteo with his body. Above them, voices shouted. A final wave. “Can you walk?” Matteo nodded, barely. “Then run.” They moved through the fire. Together. ---

One bleeding. One broken. One burning. I closed my eyes. If I wasn’t allowed to exist— Then I’d burn down everything that said I couldn’t.

Sliding it open, I pulled out one sheet of paper. The handwriting was jagged, impatient, black ink bleeding into the fibers. No greeting, no signature. Just words, stark and chilling: “Walk away from her, or you’ll burn with her.” I read it twice. Three times. The words didn’t soften. They only sharpened, cutting deeper each time my eyes traced them. Burn. The word struck hardest, dragging me back to the fire Isabella had survived—the flames that had shaped her entire existence. Now the fire had been extended to me.

Her breath trembled as something inside her cracked—not with breaking, but with release. She closed her eyes, drawing the wildfire closer, not to crush it, not to run—but to face it. The whispers tore at her, but she pushed back with her own voice, raw and burning: “I am not your kindling. I am not your ruin. I am flame, and flame is mine to carry.” The wildfire shuddered, sparks bursting outward like a thousand tiny stars. The dark edges burned away, leaving only fierce, golden light that wrapped around her like a mantle.