Love That Burned Me Down novel Chapter 1

Zoey Silvain had attempted suicide 108 times in the three years she'd been married. When she came to, she found herself lying in a hospital bed, her mind a complete blank. 

A middle-aged couple sat at her bedside. They frowned as soon as she opened her eyes. "How long are you planning to keep up this nonsense? Yves has always had eyes for Wendy. He only married you because he was drunk and stumbled into the wrong room."

Her tone was sharp, and full of annoyance. "He doesn't love you, so it's only normal that he doesn't want to come home. However, you've been using suicide to guilt-trip him for years. Has he ever once shown up at the hospital to check on you?"

"If you weren't our biological daughter, we wouldn't even bother with you." The man sighed. "Honestly, you don't hold a candle to Wendy."

Zoey blankly stared at them. She didn't remember anything—not even who she was. All she could do was piece together her shattered life from the harsh words of the couple who claimed to be her parents.

Apparently, she was the heiress of the Silvain family. When she was little, she had been kidnapped and lost for years. By the time she was found and brought home, she realized her parents had adopted a young woman named Wendy Silvain. 

Her parents, who were supposed to love and spoil her, now only had eyes for their adopted daughter. Wendy had completely taken her place. 

Later on, Zoey fell in love with Yves Pearce, the CEO of Pearce Group. Yet, he only had room for Wendy in his heart. 

Then, everything changed at a banquet one night. 

Yves had gotten drunk, stumbled into the wrong room, and taken her virginity.

After that wild night, he had no choice but to marry her. However, he gave her nothing but coldness and contempt.

Her parents didn't love her, and neither did her husband. 

Zoey felt heartbroken and hopeless. With no one to turn to, her only way of screaming for attention was through desperate, repeated suicide attempts.

…

"Alright, we have to head home and cook for Wendy," Bryant Silvain, her father, said as he rose from his seat with Daphne Bowman, her mother. "You stay here and think about what you've done."

The moment the hospital room door clicked shut, a sharp pain pierced Zoey's chest. Even without her memories, the feeling of being abandoned by the entire world felt all too real.

She couldn't understand how any parent could love a foster daughter but not their own flesh and blood. Also, that man named Yves… He was the one who'd shuffled into the wrong room and mistook her for someone else.

If he'd already married her, why couldn't he treat her right? Why did he bury her in so much indifference and force her into a dead end?

Zoey didn't dare dwell on it for too long. Even just thinking about those fragments of her past made her chest ache, as though she was being sliced open with a blunt knife. 

What had her old self been like—living day after day in a loveless home, with parents who didn't care about her and a husband who ignored her? How much despair had she been drowning in?

Zoey slowly pulled herself upright and handled the discharge paperwork by herself. However, once she stepped out of the hospital, she realized she had no idea where to go.

She couldn't remember where her parents lived or where Yves lived. Worst of all, neither place welcomed her. 

Just then, a commotion erupted near the entrance. Zoey looked up and spotted a tall, slender man striding in her direction while carrying a fragile figure in his arms.

He wore a sleek black suit that hugged his broad shoulders perfectly, and he was incredibly good-looking too. Every step he took felt powerful.

He carefully held the woman in his embrace. Her pale face rested against his chest, and he looked down at her with overwhelming tenderness. His arms tightened possessively around her, and even his footsteps softened, as if he was afraid of jostling her. 

"Get out of my way," he calmly said. 

The crowd instinctively parted.

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