Rising From Ashes: The CEO's Secret Twins

Despite being the high and mighty legitimate heiress of the Burch family, half a year ago, Hedy Burch was kidnapped by thugs to the countryside, where she was brutally stripped of her innocence. Later, dumped half-naked at the entrance of a luxury hotel owned by her family, she became the ultimate laughingstock of New York's elite overnight.

She thought her family would protect her, but the Burch family, which was supposed to be her shelter, deemed her a disgraceful stain, ruthlessly throwing her into a dark, freezing warehouse to rot.

Now, eight months pregnant, Hedy tightly gripped the rough, moldy burlap sack beneath her as a tearing contraction ripped through her excessively swollen belly.

Crimson blood mixed with amniotic fluid pooled on the freezing concrete beneath her trembling thighs. She hadn't had a drop of water in three days, and her vision was already turning black at the edges.

Driven by the sheer primal instinct to keep her babies alive, Hedy dragged her heavy, bleeding body across the floor and smashed her fists against the heavy iron door. "Someone! Let me out! I need a hospital!"

From the other side of the thick metal, Britney Burch's sweet, venomous giggle drifted in.

"Aw, big sister, if I were you, I'd just bite my tongue and die. You're carrying a stray dog's litter, and you still expect to give birth? Hasn't our family been humiliated enough by your scandalous little spectacle?"

"Britney, please..." Hedy gasped, clutching her stomach as another wave of agonizing pain hit. "I'm having the babies..."

"Help you?" Britney snorted, dropping her sweet facade. "Do you have any idea how much it cost me to hire those thugs to ruin you in the countryside? Or how long I planned that little hotel exhibition?"

Hedy's pupils shrank. She pressed her pale face against the cold iron. "You... you did this?!"

The sharp stench of gasoline seeped under the door gap, followed by the terrifying crackle of flames.

"Why shouldn't I?" Britney spat, pure hatred lacing her voice. "We share the same father! But just because you crawled out of the legal wife's belly, you get the family trust, while I'm treated like a dirty secret! I'm sick of your high-and-mighty, hypocritical face, Hedy."

The flames licked under the door, roasting the air inside. "Have a nice trip to hell. I'm taking everything that was supposed to be yours."

The fire rapidly crawled toward Hedy. Blistering heat scorched her skin. She couldn't die here. Her babies couldn't die here!

"Britney!" Hedy screamed, her voice tearing. "You want Mom's shares, right?! I'll give them to you!"

She desperately yanked the emerald pendant engraved with the letter 'H' off her neck. "The equity transfer documents are locked in a Swiss bank vault! This emerald pendant is the only key! Open the door, and it's yours!"

Silence. Then, a heavy clank. The iron door was yanked open.

Britney stood there, her amber eyes blazing with greed as she reached for the glowing green stone.

But in that split second, Hedy grabbed a heavy wooden plank she had hidden behind her back. With every last ounce of her remaining strength, she swung it directly at Britney's face!

"Bitch!" Britney shrieked as the plank connected with a sickening crack. She crashed backward into the flames, her designer dress catching fire.

While the bodyguards panicked to put out the screaming Britney, Hedy clutched her stomach and plunged into the stormy night.

Pitch-black mountain road. Freezing rain lashed against the asphalt.

Inside a sleek, speeding Rolls-Royce Phantom, the temperature was sub-zero.

"Still nothing?"

The man's deep, gravelly voice sent a violent shiver down his assistant Colin's spine.

"Boss... we've turned the city upside down for months, but there's still no sign of that emerald pendant with the letter 'H'..."

"Useless," Gordon Nieves sneered, his eyes as cold as an abyss.

The ruthless head of the Wall Street Nieves empire sat in the shadows, fighting a raging fire in his blood. He had been drugged with a potent neurotoxin at a private club tonight. The chemical burned through his veins, making his muscles twitch with the violent urge to snap someone's neck.

Screech-!

A dark figure stumbled out of the woods, forcing Colin to slam on the brakes.

Hedy collapsed onto the wet hood of the Phantom. She slid down to the asphalt, using her bloody fingers to slap the rain-streaked window. "Save me... hospital..."

Colin swallowed hard. "Boss, it's a pregnant woman... I'll get rid of her right now!"

Gordon's jaw clenched. He kicked the door open and stepped into the freezing downpour, intending to toss the filthy obstacle aside. He was a severe germaphobe, and the neurotoxin made him highly volatile.

Hedy grabbed the hem of his bespoke trousers with icy fingers. "Please..."

Gordon looked down in disgust. But as his dark eyes swept over her bloody, pale hand, his entire body froze.

Clutched tightly in her fingers was a vibrant green stone. An emerald pendant. Engraved with the letter 'H'.

Gordon's breath hitched. Ignoring the mud, the blood, and his crippling germaphobia, he bent down, hooked his strong arms under her knees, and lifted the dying woman against his burning chest.

"Boss?!" Colin gasped.

"Drive," Gordon barked, his pitch-black eyes locked on Hedy's pale face. "To the hospital. Now."

As the Phantom roared forward, three black SUVs belonging to the Burch family sped out of the woods, their headlights locking onto the Rolls-Royce's taillights.