Burned By Him, Reborn A Star

e smell. Acrid, chemical, choking. It wa

ght against her face, the rubber seal digging into her cheekbones. Her eyes flew open, but t

Can you

, with sweat beading on his forehead. He was checking Evelyn's pup

ve inhaled a lot of smoke. We'

in her chest, but her throat was raw, stripped of its lining.

vering over a clipboard. "We need

the side table where her phone lay. Ideally, it should have been melted, destroyed like everything else in the

up. "Is this you

e movement sent a spik

ace. She counted the seconds in the rhythm o

ne away from his ear,

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

wer unknown numbers, and he rarely checked voice

the driver shout

a small monitor, tuned to the local news. The banner at the bot

he top of the building-her home, her prison-befor

ed erratically, a high-pitched warning t

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

wedding vows, the hand that had signed their prenup with a flourish, was now stro

ecting her

was burning

ye, cutting a clean track through the

said urgently. "Heart rate is one

up her veins, freezing the fire in her lungs. As the darkness crept in from the edges of

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

the silence was lou

ffensive beige. Outside the window, the New York sk

the floor. Just the rhythmic

were open. There was a flicker of pity in her gaze-that specific, condesce

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

as a whisper, sounding like dr

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

said he's

r was matted with soot. There was a bandage on her neck. She lo

" Evely

ed rest. The doctor said you should stay for

and. It was a tether. A leash. J

Evelyn

and ripped the

oing?" The nurse rushed for

sliding down her skin. She didn't feel it. She didn't feel anything p

over the side of the bed. Her hospital gown was th

rotested. "You have smok

tanding up. The room spun for a second, then st

d her belongings-the few things that had survived o

ans and the t-shirt that had a hole b

e. A notification flas

Serena Holloway of Julian Vance. "He's

. It was a dry

deep within a folder labeled 'Recipes.' It requir

ed. Bank of the

lder: The

$24,500

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

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

ked the

ver," the nurse pleaded, following her in

evator. She turned to he

she said. "Evelyn Van

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

hand and hail

in the rearview mirror. She must have looked like a maniac-soo

e to,

carats. Flawless clarity. Cold as ice. She double-tapped the s

r voice gaining strength.