My Rise, His Ashes

Synopsis

After secretly loving Eric Flynn, the heir to Newton City's most powerful family, for years, I finally had the chance to save him from a blazing fire. He told me then—once the scars on my face faded—he would propose. Driven by that promise, I endured skin grafts despite severe rejection, pushing through fevers that spiked to 103°F, begging doctors to increase the medication until the scars faded nearly out of sight. The day they did, I put on careful makeup and slipped into his office, hoping to surprise him. Before I could reach his door, though, voices from the break room froze me in place. "Mr. Flynn is totally whipped by Vivian Todd. He even started that fire just to keep her—the fake heiress—in the Todd family, and Allison Wayne got her face wrecked for it." "The real heiress can't even show her face in public. If it weren't for the fake one holding down the fort, the whole family would be a joke. Honestly, it's brilliant." "You guys should've seen Allison when she heard she might actually marry Mr. Flynn—her scars nearly split open from grinning so hard. What a clown." "Seriously, even if she airbrushed her face until it was see-through, she still wouldn't be fit to touch Vivian's pinky!" I froze in place, just about to confront Eric and demand the truth, when I saw him walk in, his face thunderous with anger as he barked, "What nonsense are you spouting?" For a moment, my heart softened—I thought maybe I'd misunderstood him. But then he said coolly, "Allison isn't even worthy to be compared to Vivian. Next time, don't let me hear you mention them together. It's filthy."