Left to Burn, Rose to Reign

he one who remembered his coffee order, the one who saw the potential in him when no one else did. He was brilliant but scattered, and I was the quiet force that or

woke up one morning in a cold sweat, the same knowledge downloaded into our minds. Our lives,

ine. I was the tragic side character,

d for a woman na

n the air between us,

shaking as he pulled me into his arms. "It'

events laid out with chilling clarity. The novel said he would marry me, build a b

pered into his chest, wanting t

fight. The only person I love is you.

ut distance between us, to escape the pre-written tragedy

id, my voice thin. "Let's not see each o

e gripped my shoulde

dering. We are not surrendering, Sarah. We're going to get married. Righ

rce strong enough to defy a written destiny. Against my better judgment, against the cold dre

rried a w

rlwind of success and what felt like genuine happiness. We were partners in every sense of the word, our days filled with shared ambitions and our nights with what I believed was real a

vis applied fo

ty that seemed to draw people in. Mark hired her personally, citing her "raw talent." I felt

, however, had

only a few of us were still there. I was in my office next door when the alarm blared. My first thought was t

nguisher, trying to fight back the blaze enough to pull the main drive. A burning ceiling tile crashed down, and a sharp, searing pain s

ke and pain, I saw Mark

out, my voice

horror on his face, the recognition of my injury. But then h

near the stairwell, much f

teps echoing in the roaring chaos. He scooped Emily

Are yo

destiny, the one I had tried so hard to forget, crashed down on me with the weight of the collapsing ceiling. The pain in my