Reborn From Ashes: The Obsessive CEO's Claim

Chapter 2

Word Count: 1210 | Released on: 27/05/2026

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

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

Chapter End

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Reborn From Ashes: The Obsessive CEO's Claim

Xiaoxiao Yunduoer Modern

“My fiancé took me to an abandoned warehouse for what he called a private surprise proposal. There was no ring. Only champagne laced with drugs, my adoptive sister stepping out of the shadows, and the sound of them laughing while I collapsed at their feet. Ethan told me I had never been his choice. I was only the obedient foster daughter the family needed for a merger. Seraphina was the woman he loved. The woman he had always loved. Then he told me my brother Julian was dead because of him. A staged truck accident. A convenient tragedy. One less person standing between them and everything they wanted. By the time the truth finally sank in, the warehouse was soaked in gasoline, my body was failing, and the family I had spent my life trying to please had already buried me in their minds. So I stopped begging. I struck a lighter. If they wanted a funeral, I would give them one. The flames took the warehouse, my sister, and me with it. Then I opened my eyes. I was back in my bedroom. Seven days before the betrayal. Seven days before Ethan would try to murder me. Seven days before everyone who had used me would learn that the girl they buried had come back wrong. My phone rang. Hayes Decker. The ruthless Wall Street billionaire. The man powerful families feared, banks obeyed, and enemies disappeared beneath. The man whose obsessive marriage proposal I had once laughed off because I thought Ethan was my future. This time, I answered. His voice was cold, possessive, and dangerously calm. "Marry me, Aria." In my last life, I called him insane. In this one, I smiled. "Yes," I said. "Come get me right now." I was not running to him for love. I was choosing the only monster in New York terrifying enough to help me destroy the ones who killed me. But Hayes Decker did not want a temporary alliance. He wanted me. Body, soul, name, future. And the most dangerous part? The longer he burned the world for me, the harder it became to remember that I had only meant to use him.”