The Ex-Wife's Fiery Reckoning

“The last thing I remembered was the searing heat, a pain so absolute it burned away thought. Mark' s face floated above me, twisted not with concern but with a cold, triumphant sneer. Chloe was beside him, her arm linked through his, her expression a perfect mirror of his contempt. "Thanks to you, I had the perfect seed money," Mark' s voice echoed, cold and venomous. "You' re useless now. Don' t stand in the way of my and Chloe' s empire!" Then came the push, and I fell, screaming, into the scalding, liquid fire. My world exploded into white-hot agony. When I woke, I was on the floor of my burning restaurant, The Gilded Spoon. The roaring flames, the choking smoke-it was all devastatingly familiar, a nightmare I' d already lived. But this time, I heard voices from the back storeroom. "Mark! Just make sure the accelerant cans are hidden properly! The firefighters will be here any second!" It was Chloe, panicked. "I know what I' m doing, Chloe!" Mark shot back. "The insurance report will show faulty wiring. Ava will devastatingly run right into my arms, and we' ll be on our way to New York with her life savings and that fat bank loan." Their words hit me like a physical blow. The casual cruelty, the meticulous planning-I wasn't just a casualty; I was a key ingredient in their recipe for success. The naive, trusting Ava had been boiled away in that vat of oil in a future I had already lived. Now, a singular purpose ignited within me, colder and sharper than any ice. They thought they were writing my tragedy. They had no idea I was about to rewrite theirs. I wouldn't just survive this time. I would make them burn in the very fire they had set for me.”