Rising From Ashes: The Unwanted Wife's Comeback

People are

lled with the

nting wail that seemed to v

on a stretcher covered with a rough wool blan

e knew-was reduced to a charred skeleton. Flames still licke

e a light in

t? What's your name? I'll con

y, her throat rough like

cold. The image of the collapsed ceiling beams where she had stood just sec

ediately made

li

on, it rang once, twice,

aled is temporar

a meeting," she told herself. "A late-night conference call in

ain. It was the sam

. Unable t

. Unable t

eventual

paramedic wrapped a blood pressure cuff around

nn Hospital for observation. Smok

Her grandmother's rocking chair, the antique piano-everything was gone. Memo

rgency room, she moved like a ghost, drifting from the triage desk to the examination cubicle, answering questions in a m

l, tuned to a 24-hour business news channel, the volume muted. She star

ace filled

li

ork–Presbyterian Hospital. He stood in a brightly lit corridor, his expression one

CEO Julian Sterling spent the entire night by the

ket over the shoulders of a pale, beautiful woman who

he'd bought him last month for his birthday. She'd sav

in Ashley's ear. His hand rested on her arm in a comfort

the fire, the fear of death-all faded. This was a different

uldn't get t

, struggling to breathe from the th

er had forced her to sign to pay for her grandmother's medical bills. Thr

her life: she fell in love with him. She mistook his occasi

n screen is a

. Several text mes

kipped a be

it wa

sick. Don'

he air seemed to leave her body. Her carefully con

it her lip hard, the metallic taste of blood filling her mouth, refusing to make

ened her call log. She found

le

from her throat-h

la

obligation, is now a burning, urgent need. It's t