“D*mn it!”

Having lost his only means of escape, Jack cursed under his breath. The police were patrolling every road, scrutinizing the faces of every passer-by with his wanted poster.

With no clear route available, he lifted Bella onto his shoulder and plunged into the forest.

Along the way, he came upon an abandoned house. After pushing aside the thick vines that had overtaken the building over the years, he stepped inside and lowered her to the floor.

She did not move.

Not even the faintest groan passed her lips.

Although she was still breathing, her face was drained of color, her breaths were shallow and fragile, and it seemed as though they might stop at any moment.

Jack clicked his tongue in irritation.

He had intended to use her as leverage in a worst-case scenario. Yet it seemed she might die before he ever got the chance.

There was no trace of sympathy in his eyes.

He had once considered marrying her.

She would be the perfect wife: quiet and obedient, just like a maid should be. She would bear him a son who would inherit his business and keep his household in order. Although he held no noble title, his enterprise rivalled those of many aristocrats. He was wealthy — more than enough.

A life free of envy.

For a mere maid, he believed this to be more than sufficient.

He saw no reason why she would refuse him. By any objective standard, he lacked nothing in terms of appearance, fortune or disposition. In his mind, marrying into an insignificant noble family was far preferable.

If there were incompatibilities, they could be resolved after the wedding. He would lock her inside the house, and she would learn to adjust. In time, she would bend to his will.

At first, she might cry. She might resist. But eventually, she would accept her fate and adapt to her new life.

Jack had seen countless women live exactly that way.

And yet—

That insignificant maid had rejected him.

Without hesitation.

She walked away with another man right before his eyes, and then cut off all contact.

It hadn’t just been a refusal.

It had been an insult.

Jack would not suffer for failing to marry a maid. He had nothing to lose and nothing to regret. And yet he had searched for her relentlessly, determined to find her again.

Then the Duke of Fraser appeared, once again standing in his way.

Title. Honor. Wealth.

A man who had had it all from birth had destroyed Jack and ruined his father’s life. He had crushed their business, dragged their name through the dirt, and sent Jack to prison.

Jack clenched his teeth as he remembered the duke confidently taking the woman away from him, his face bearing that infuriating expression of superiority. He acted noble while hiding the same base desires beneath a mask of nobility.

‘What great crime did I commit?’

Glancing down at the shabby clothes he was still wearing — the same ones he had walked out of prison in — he saw that his situation was clear to see.

Once, after finding success, he had worn tailored suits and dined at the finest restaurants. To have fallen this far…

— was all Fraser’s doing.

If he could not escape the tightening search, then the duke should not be allowed to keep that woman either.

Jack wanted the man who had always taken everything so effortlessly to experience even a fraction of his pain.

The duke should lose everything, just as he had. He should experience true suffering — the feeling of watching his world collapse.

“It’s not fair if I’m the only one who loses.”

Jack Hunter’s eyes glinted with murderous intent.

If a massive fire were to erupt in the forest near the checkpoint, it would certainly attract attention. He would set fire to the abandoned house, trapping the now-useless woman inside.

While the authorities were distracted by the spreading flames, he would slip through the checkpoint unnoticed.

With this plan in mind, he hauled out a barrel of oil that he had found in the shed next to the deserted house. The heavy metal drum scraped harshly across the floor, its grating sound echoing through the silence.

***

After confronting Amelia, Bella lost consciousness.

Unaware of her surroundings, she drifted in and out of consciousness inside the violently jolting wagon. Her limbs were numb from being bound for hours and her head was throbbing as though it might split open.

When she regained consciousness, she found herself lying on a cold, hard wooden floor.

Footsteps moved quickly across the planks. The low, heavy sound of liquid sloshing and splashing echoed through the room.

Through the narrow gap where the cloth covering her eyes had loosened, Bella strained to see.

Jack Hunter’s shoes moved back and forth in her blurred vision. He was pacing across the room and pouring something onto the floor.

Only then did she recognize the sharp, suffocating stench overwhelming her senses: Oil.

Her body jerked instinctively.

This slight movement drew Jack’s attention.

“You’re awake.”

He tossed the empty oil can aside and crouched down in front of her. He hooked a finger under the cloth covering her eyes and dragged it down. Light suddenly flooded her vision, causing her to squeeze her eyes shut.

“You should’ve just lain there like you were dead. It would’ve hurt less.”

Click. Click.

The metallic sound of a lighter being opened and closed echoed through the air.

Oil pooled thickly at his feet.

Bella understood at once what he intended to do.

She tried to twist her body to resist, but her arms and legs were bound and she could not move.

“You should’ve accepted when I offered nicely.”

Jack Hunter grinned down at her struggling form.

This was the end of the woman who had rejected him and clung instead to the duke.

“I’ve got nothing left to lose.”

If he could not have her, then no one would.

He recalled an article he had once read in the newspaper about the fire at the Fraser estate, said to be second only to the Imperial Palace in grandeur. The blaze claimed countless lives, including the head of the household, and left the heir seriously injured.

Flick.

Jack snapped the lighter open.

This would be his final gift to the duke.

“Let’s lose everything together.”

Jack struck the lighter and a flame flared to life in his hand.

In that instant, the fire leapt not only to the oil he had poured, but also to the oil that had seeped into his clothes. A blue blaze erupted and consumed his sleeve.

“Ah—ahh! Fire! Fire!”

Jack beat at the flames clinging to him, cursing wildly. But instead of dying down, the fire spread, racing across the fabric.

“D*mn it—hot!”

He threw the lighter away and stumbled outside, thrashing around wildly in an attempt to smother the flames engulfing him.

The lighter hit the oil-soaked floor.

In an instant, the fire raced along the slick trail of fuel.

With a violent whoosh, the flames erupted. A wave of blistering heat swept over Bella.

She tried to scramble away from the growing inferno.

Only then did she realize that she was still tied up.

Desperation seized her. She twisted and strained against the ropes, but the more she struggled, the deeper the rough fibres cut into her skin. Sharp, merciless pain tore through her as though her flesh were being flayed.

She could not stop.

The flames, fed by the spilled oil and ignited by the broken lighter, roared higher with every passing second. Thick, choking smoke surged upwards, engulfing the room in an instant.

“Cough—! Cough—!”

The smoke invaded her lungs. Bella convulsed with violent coughing. Her eyes burned and tears streamed down her face, blurring her vision.

‘I can’t die here.’

Bella dragged herself backwards inch by inch, away from the advancing flames. She clenched her teeth and pulled with all her remaining strength.

As if powered by desperation itself, the tightly bound rope began to loosen.

Blood seeped from where the coarse fibres had torn her skin, but, oddly, she no longer felt any pain. Instead, her senses seemed to fade as the seconds passed.

Snap.

At last, the knot binding her wrists gave way.

With shaking hands, she freed herself, quickly untying the ropes around her ankles before pulling the gag from her mouth.

Covering her nose and mouth with her hands, she searched desperately for an exit. But the room was already engulfed in thick, black smoke.

She could barely see. She could not even tell which direction led outside.

With each breath, her lungs felt as though they were burning from within. The smoke she had inhaled while struggling against the ropes left her thoughts blurred and her vision unsteady.

Trapped inside the inferno, Bella was surrounded by flames and suffocating darkness.