“Yes.”
“Why?”
He looked at my bandages.
Only for a moment.
That was enough.
“Things changed.”
“Because of the fire?”
“Because of everything.”
“Is there another woman?”
“No.”
It was a lie.
I knew it.
But at that moment I thought infidelity was the worst secret Derek could be hiding.
I was wrong.
The divorce was the smallest lie he told me.
PART 2 — BEFORE THE FIRE
Before the fire, people called me beautiful for a living.
My name is Elena Hart.
For six years, I worked as a beauty consultant and commercial model for Luma Belle, a cosmetics company headquartered in Atlanta.
I wasn’t famous.
But my face appeared in regional campaigns.
