Burned By Him, Reborn A Star

mell. Acrid, chemical, choking. It was

ht against my face, the rubber seal digging into my cheekbones. My eyes flew open, but the

Can you

ng, with sweat beading on his forehead. He was checking my pupil

ve inhaled a lot of smoke. We'

my chest, but my throat was raw, stripped of its lining. All

vering over a clipboard. "We need

ide table where my phone lay. Ideally, it should have been melted, destroyed like everything else in the pen

up. "Is this you

ovement sent a spike

e. I counted the seconds in the rhythm of

ne away from his ear,

ng for Evelyn Vance," he said into the recorder,

nknown numbers, and he rarely checked voicema

the driver shout

mall monitor, tuned to the local news. The banner at the botto

the top of the building-my home, my prison-befor

rratically, a high-pitched warning tha

ds of miles away in Lo

woman from the paparazzi, his arm wrapped protectively around her sh

a Hol

lapels of Julian's jacket. The headline changed: Julian Van

ng vows, the hand that had signed our prenup with a flourish, was now stroking

ecting her

burning in

ye, cutting a clean track through the

said urgently. "Heart rate is one

p my veins, freezing the fire in my lungs. As the darkness crept in from the edges of

void. I gave you three years of silence. Three years o

e silence was loud

ffensive beige. Outside the window, the New York

the floor. Just the rhythmic

e open. There was a flicker of pity in her gaze-that specific, condescend

burns on your neck, arm, and leg. They're second-degree, bu

whisper, sounding like drag

back at me. "We... we haven't been able to reach him directly yet. It seems he's still deal

said he's

as matted with soot. There was a bandage on my neck. I look

e," I

est. The doctor said you should stay for o

. It was a tether. A leash. J

" I

and ripped the

oing?" The nurse rushed for

liding down my skin. I didn't feel it. I didn't feel anything physi

the side of the bed. My hospital gown was thin,

rotested. "You have smok

ding up. The room spun for a second, then ste

d my belongings-the few things that had survived

and the t-shirt that had a hole bu

A notification flash

Serena Holloway of Julian Vance. "He's

t was a dry,

ep within a folder labeled 'Recipes.' It require

ed. Bank of the

lder: The

$24,500

er, a gold-digger who should be grateful for the crumbs from their table. I had let Juli

The woman who had penned three Oscar-winning screenplays under a p

ed the

ver," the nurse pleaded, following me int

ator. I turned to her

I said. "Evelyn Van

of the morning. I didn't look for the black town car t

and and haile

the rearview mirror. I must have looked like a maniac-soot-

e to,

ats. Flawless clarity. Cold as ice. I double-tapped the sid

ice gaining strength. "S