ching Aria's eyes fix on the lighter. "Still t

ey told us how a semi-truck just... veered into his lane on the overpass. He never even saw it coming." She paused, letting the

ments, ignited a firestorm in Aria's soul. A strength she didn't know she possessed surged through her ve

animal. Her nails, unmanicured and practical, raked across Serap

pure shock and pain. Ethan's fac

nd. The concrete was cold and rough against her cheek. Ethan strode over, w

You were adopted for one reason: to be the placeholder. The respectable face for the Pierce-Foster union, wh

she had, was a lie. And Julian, the only real thing, the only

l that remained was a burning, al

po lighter on the floor. With a small, desperate flick of her ankle, she sent it skittering across the

stop!" Seraphina wailed, c

ast ounce of her strength, she kicked out, not at the men ho

red everywhere. The noise was the perfect cover. A heavy wrench, dislo

ic

life. It touched the ed

y erupting into a wall of fire. The warehouse was plunged into a hellscap

o the main door, the only way out. Without

" Seraphina screamed

he ground, her face a mask of stunned disbelief as the man who had promised her ever

ips. She pushed herself up, crawling on her hands and knees across the floor, ignor

r. Before she could scramble away, Aria's hand sho

er," Aria rasped, her

that had been stolen from her. She just held on, her

m the ceiling splintered and fell, crashing down near them. Sera

absolute dark. But the void didn't last. Through the roar of the fir

mes, a towering figure operating on pure,

ss. This was the man who had spent years silently walking in her shadow, quietly clearing dangers from her path and watching over her from afar without ever demanding a single thing in return. While she had been

pure anguish that tore from his throat. The cold, unreadable "Wolf of Wa

urred by smoke and fading life. "Why ar

erate longing that burned brighter than the fire around them. "I have spent a lifetime ke

sive wooden beam snapped above them,

't let go. He pinned her beneath his own body, using his fles

it against his chest where his heart hammered frantically. "Aria, ple

truth shattered her heart; she had wasted her entire life blindly chasing a monster, com

ling whisper as the heat closed in. "N

ing heat. As her mind finally shattered into total darkness, the ima