A Reckoning in Flames

A Reckoning in Flames

Zhen Xiang

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My life was beautiful: a loving husband, Ethan, a precious baby on the way, and the serenity of our lake house getaway. Then, during a quiet afternoon, Ethan's ex, Olivia, found her daughter Daisy drowned in the lake, turning on me with a shaking finger, screaming, "You did this! You let her drown!" Ethan, my husband, the man who once adored me, instantly believed her monstrous lie, his eyes cold, his family's powerful influence ensuring my pleas were dismissed as weak, condemning me without trial. Weeks later, our newborn son, Noah, died from a preventable illness after Olivia's dubious "home remedy" was chosen over hospital care, and in my raw grief, Ethan demanded I carry a child for them-a cruel "penance" for "my crimes," threatening to destroy what little remained of me if I refused. Imprisoned in a forgotten wing of the mansion, physically and mentally reduced to an incubator, I was haunted by the unspeakable injustice, struggling between despair and a flicker of rage as Olivia gloated, revealing the chilling truth: she herself orchestrated Daisy's "accident" to reclaim Ethan and ruined my life for her own gain. My body became an empty shell, my mind retreated beyond their reach, but the shocking truth Olivia confessed was unknowingly witnessed, eventually setting a deadly chain of events in motion that would expose her monstrous heart and unleash a final, fiery reckoning for the Cole family's dark secrets.

Introduction

My life was beautiful: a loving husband, Ethan, a precious baby on the way, and the serenity of our lake house getaway.

Then, during a quiet afternoon, Ethan's ex, Olivia, found her daughter Daisy drowned in the lake, turning on me with a shaking finger, screaming, "You did this! You let her drown!"

Ethan, my husband, the man who once adored me, instantly believed her monstrous lie, his eyes cold, his family's powerful influence ensuring my pleas were dismissed as weak, condemning me without trial.

Weeks later, our newborn son, Noah, died from a preventable illness after Olivia's dubious "home remedy" was chosen over hospital care, and in my raw grief, Ethan demanded I carry a child for them-a cruel "penance" for "my crimes," threatening to destroy what little remained of me if I refused.

Imprisoned in a forgotten wing of the mansion, physically and mentally reduced to an incubator, I was haunted by the unspeakable injustice, struggling between despair and a flicker of rage as Olivia gloated, revealing the chilling truth: she herself orchestrated Daisy's "accident" to reclaim Ethan and ruined my life for her own gain.

My body became an empty shell, my mind retreated beyond their reach, but the shocking truth Olivia confessed was unknowingly witnessed, eventually setting a deadly chain of events in motion that would expose her monstrous heart and unleash a final, fiery reckoning for the Cole family's dark secrets.

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