The Contracted Marriage Five-Years Lie

“My marriage to Isabella Vance was a carefully constructed lie, a five-year contract to secure my family's legacy. It looked perfect on the outside, a power couple united, but inside, it was a cold charade, a grim reminder of the love I'd lost. The terms were clear: at the contract's end, freedom. But Julian, Isabella' s obsessive adopted brother, saw my impending divorce as a threat to his stranglehold on her, escalating his petty torments into terrifying attempts on my life. He ambushed me, kidnapped me, then doused me in gasoline within a desolate desert shack, ready to watch me burn. Isabella, my wife, then walked in, and Julian forced her to publicly humiliate me and declare her sole devotion to him, all to prove how little I truly meant. As the flames ignited, a chilling realization hit me: was this my penance for a contract unfulfilled, or for daring to seek solace with a woman who resembled my beloved Clara? Every blow, every humiliation, felt like a perverse tribute to a past I thought I'd finally escaped. Just as despair threatened to consume me, a surprising act of selfless defiance, born from unexpected courage, shattered the nightmare. This desperate sacrifice changed everything, setting me on an unforeseen path toward profound healing and a true love I never dared dream of again.”