Leaving Ashes Finding Her Sky

I gave my husband, Chandler, one of my kidneys to save his life. In return, he married me. I was a girl from an orphanage; he was a New York tycoon. I foolishly believed his gratitude would one day turn into love.

Then his first love, Kristyn, came back. When she was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder, Chandler dragged me to the hospital and demanded I give her my bone marrow.

My doctors warned him that with my failing health, another major surgery would be a death sentence. He called me selfish and forced me onto the operating table.

As the doors swung shut, I saw Kristyn, who was supposed to be dying, sit up in her bed. A wicked, triumphant smile spread across her face.

Through the glass, she mouthed the words.

"I don't have a blood disorder, you idiot."

A nurse plunged a thick needle into my spine. They were draining my life away to appease a liar, all on my husband's orders. I died on that table, my last thought a prayer that I would never see him again.

But when I opened my eyes, I wasn't in heaven. I was in a private medical facility, and my long-lost childhood friend, Elijah, was standing over me.

He looked at me, his eyes burning with a protective fire.

"I faked your death, Ava," he said, his voice cold with rage. "Now, let's make them pay."

Chapter 1

Today is our third wedding anniversary. It is also the day Kristyn Palmer, my husband's first love, came back.

She stood on my doorstep, wearing a dress that cost more than my first car, and slid a blank check across the table.

"Name your price, Ava."

Her voice was smooth, confident.

"I want you to disappear from Chandler' s life."

I looked at the check, then at her. I felt nothing. The shock and pain had been burned out of me a long time ago.

She smiled, a sharp, cruel thing. "You have one week to sign the divorce papers and leave. Don't make this harder than it needs to be."

I just nodded.

"Good girl," she said, and left.

I sat there in the silence, the check a stark white rectangle on the cheap wood of my dining table. Why had I ever thought this marriage would be anything more than a transaction? A debt paid with my body and my life.

I already knew how this story ended. I' d known for three years.

The memory was always there, waiting in the quiet moments. It was the night of Chandler' s recovery party. He had survived, thanks to my kidney. The Roth family mansion was full of New York' s elite, champagne flowing like water.

I wasn' t part of the celebration. I was in the shadows of the hallway, my body still weak, listening. Listening to my new husband and his grandmother, Doretta Roth, in the library.

"You can' t be serious, Chandler," Doretta' s voice was like ice. "Kristyn left you when you were on your deathbed. She ran off to Europe with that polo player. Ava was the one who stayed. Ava gave you a literal piece of herself to save you."

"I know what Ava did," Chandler' s voice was strained. "I' m grateful."

"Grateful? You owe her your life!"

"But it' s not the same, Grandma. Kristyn… when she cries, I can' t… I still love her."

The words hit me harder than any physical blow. I leaned against the wall, my hand covering my mouth to keep the sound in.

"And Ava?" Doretta pressed, her voice sharp with disbelief. "What is she to you? Your wife?"

There was a long pause. I held my breath, praying for an answer that would not break me.

"What I feel for Ava," Chandler said, his voice quiet but clear, "is gratitude. It' s not love."