Chapter 1

An emergency dispatch came in at midnight. An apartment building was on fire, with a couple trapped inside.

When I burst through the flames, I saw Samantha, my wife of seven years, lying naked and wrapping her arms around another man.

Both of them were semi-unconscious from the heavy smoke, but Samantha was still mumbling that man's name.

Later, I let go of the past and filed for divorce to start my new life.

But Samantha regretted it. She held onto me tightly, crying and claiming I was her only true love.

She thought I would soft-hearted again, but everyone around us just laughed at her:

"Is she crazy? His kid is already in school, and she's still here begging for a second chance!"

Thick smoke billowed through the hallway. I navigated through the darkness, breathing heavily through my oxygen mask.

Our station got the dispatch call in the middle of the night. It happened to be my shift.

A neighbor had called 911. The fire started in the kitchen of the adjacent apartment.

By the time the neighbor woke up coughing from the smoke and called for help, the fire had already spread. It was a messy situation.

"The caller said a young couple lives here. Once we’re inside, we split into two search-and-rescue teams," I ordered.

I took the lead and kicked the door open. But before I could give the signal to split up, I froze.

Right past the doorway, a naked woman lay slumped on the floor.

It looked like she had used every ounce of her strength to crawl to the exit, only to collapse at the very last second.

Not far from her lay a naked man. Their bodies were tangled together.

The woman’s face was one I knew better than my own—it was Samantha, my wife, whom I had loved for eight years.

And the man beside her was no stranger either. It was Julian, her childhood best friend.

Standing in the swirling black smoke, I felt like I had been hit by a bolt of lightning. My mind went completely blank.

Just before I left for my shift tonight, Samantha had wrapped her arms around my neck, kissing me passionately.

Because of the danger of my job, I went into every shift prepared for the worst.

Samantha always worried about me. Every time she saw me off, she would cling to me, refusing to let go.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I prayed the toxic smoke was making me hallucinate. Was I dying? Was this a nightmare?

Beside me was Mason, my best friend on the squad. He knew Samantha. He recognized her instantly, lying there completely naked.

I could feel him stiffen beside me, shocked into silence.

Through the haze, Samantha wasn't fully unconscious yet. Spotting the flashlights of the rescue crew, she found a burst of weak strength. She mumbled:

"Julian... Julian... don't be scared... they're here to save us... hold on..."

My body shook violently. My last shred of hope shattered into dust.

It was so disgusting. So painful. My head felt like it was going to explode.

Someone nudged me from behind. It was my teammates. I forced my body to move like a machine.

I didn't even remember how we carried out the rescue. I didn't remember how we dragged those two naked bodies out of the burning apartment.

I threw a blanket over them. Even as they were loaded into the ambulance, barely conscious, their hands remained tightly clasped together.

I collapsed onto the pavement. My teammates rushed over, checking on me in confusion. They had never seen me like this and thought I was physically hurt.

I was hurt. In my rush to get out, I had scraped my wrist against a sharp metal hook on the doorframe. A chunk of flesh was gone, and blood was dripping onto the concrete.

An EMT rushed over to bandage me. Surrounded by the flashing red and blue lights, I was pushed toward an ambulance. I didn’t know where I was going, and I didn’t care.

The pain was unbearable. But it wasn't my wrist. My entire body felt numb.

It was weird. The cut was deep, and there was so much blood. It should have stung. But I felt nothing.

All I knew was that tonight, Samantha, the woman I had cherished for eight years, had dealt me a fatal blow. It hurt a hundred times worse than dying in that fire.