Love Forged in Flames of Hate

Love Forged in Flames of Hate

Gavin

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The fire consumed everything. It wasn' t an accident. I lit it myself, watching the flames devour the apartment where I' d cried for so many nights, wiping away the misery. Across the room, Tiffany Chen, my former roommate and so-called friend, was tied to a chair, her eyes wide with terror, her expensive clothes torn and dirty. She was the one who lured me, a naive college kid struggling with tuition and rent, into her family' s predatory online loan scheme. She promised quick cash, easy approval, a solution to all my problems. Instead, the money never materialized, the interest rates ballooned to illegal levels, and the "online loan" turned into a hundred-thousand-dollar nightmare. When I couldn't pay, she forced me into her family' s "club" -a hellhole where rich men paid to do whatever they wanted, and I was just another girl forced to endure their hands. But that wasn't enough. She released photos and videos of me online, sending them to my university and my quiet hometown. The shame broke my parents; my father died of a heart attack, and my mother drowned herself a week later. With nothing left to lose, I found Tiffany, doused her apartment in gasoline, and watched her scream as the flames reached her. Then, a blinding light, a jolt, and I gasped awake, not in a burning apartment, but in my old dorm room. Tiffany Chen sat at her desk, putting on makeup, looking young, happy, and completely innocent. "Bad dream?" she asked, with the same smile that started my nightmare. The date on her digital clock confirmed it: I was back at the very beginning. This time, I was ready to play a different game.

Introduction

The fire consumed everything.

It wasn' t an accident. I lit it myself, watching the flames devour the apartment where I' d cried for so many nights, wiping away the misery.

Across the room, Tiffany Chen, my former roommate and so-called friend, was tied to a chair, her eyes wide with terror, her expensive clothes torn and dirty.

She was the one who lured me, a naive college kid struggling with tuition and rent, into her family' s predatory online loan scheme.

She promised quick cash, easy approval, a solution to all my problems.

Instead, the money never materialized, the interest rates ballooned to illegal levels, and the "online loan" turned into a hundred-thousand-dollar nightmare.

When I couldn't pay, she forced me into her family' s "club" -a hellhole where rich men paid to do whatever they wanted, and I was just another girl forced to endure their hands.

But that wasn't enough. She released photos and videos of me online, sending them to my university and my quiet hometown.

The shame broke my parents; my father died of a heart attack, and my mother drowned herself a week later.

With nothing left to lose, I found Tiffany, doused her apartment in gasoline, and watched her scream as the flames reached her.

Then, a blinding light, a jolt, and I gasped awake, not in a burning apartment, but in my old dorm room.

Tiffany Chen sat at her desk, putting on makeup, looking young, happy, and completely innocent.

"Bad dream?" she asked, with the same smile that started my nightmare.

The date on her digital clock confirmed it: I was back at the very beginning.

This time, I was ready to play a different game.

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My world revolved around Jax Harding, my older brother's captivating rockstar friend. From sixteen, I adored him; at eighteen, I clung to his casual promise: "When you're 22, maybe I'll settle down." That offhand comment became my life's beacon, guiding every choice, meticulously planning my twenty-second birthday as our destiny. But on that pivotal day in a Lower East Side bar, clutching my gift, my dream exploded. I overheard Jax' s cold voice: "Can't believe Savvy's showing up. She' s still hung up on that stupid thing I said." Then the crushing plot: "We' re gonna tell Savvy I' m engaged to Chloe, maybe even hint she' s pregnant. That should scare her off." My gift, my future, slipped from my numb fingers. I fled into the cold New York rain, devastated by betrayal. Later, Jax introduced Chloe as his "fiancée" while his bandmates mocked my "adorable crush"-he did nothing. As an art installation fell, he saved Chloe, abandoning me to severe injury. In the hospital, he came for "damage control," then shockingly shoved me into a fountain, leaving me to bleed, calling me a "jealous psycho." How could the man I loved, who once saved me, become this cruel and publicly humiliate me? Why was my devotion seen as an annoyance to be brutally extinguished with lies and assault? Was I just a problem, my loyalty met with hatred? I would not be his victim. Injured and betrayed, I made an unshakeable vow: I was done. I blocked his number and everyone connected to him, severing ties. This was not an escape; this was my rebirth. Florence awaited, a new life on my terms, unburdened by broken promises.

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