When She Rose From the Ashes

Chapter 398 A Heart Laid Bare

Beth fell silent, suddenly unsure what more to say.

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There were so many women who lost themselves to love. Natalie had once been the same- blinded by her devotion to Jensen, wasting five years of her life on foolish choices.

Beth had expected Natalie to mock her. Instead, she simply took the cigarette, tapped out the ash, and pressed it gently onto Beth’s bleeding arm.

That calm steadiness made Beth’s throat tighten.

“You don’t think I’m stupid?” she asked softly.

“Everyone’s stupid for love once,” Natalie replied. “I was. I paid a heavy price–nearly died in a fire because of it.”

Beth’s eyes

widened. She understood the weight behind those words.

“You’re… trying to comfort me?”

“No,” Natalie said evenly. “I’m just stating the truth.”

It surprised her, the steadiness in her own heart. She should have been terrified, waiting to be sold like an object. But the thought of Baron gave her an unexpected sense of warmth, of safety.

Beth studied her for a moment, then asked, “You sound like you’ve moved past foolish love. Have you found the real thing?”

me out of the fire. He spent everything he had to save me.

with a tenderness

chest tightened. That look in Natalie’s

Influence? Without that, you may never see him again. Women brought onto this ship… if they don’t leave as corpses, they’re sold overseas. Once you step onto that stage, you’ll never

until the end, until the auction stripped her of everything. But Natalie’s composure, her clarity, her quiet trust–it made

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A

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life as you knew it is

meet her

Natalie didn’t flinch.

had suspected all along. She wasn’t a child–Beth’s reassurances had never truly fooled her. But hearing the woman admit

Natalie

And you can still sit

last ashes, sprinkled them over Beth’s wound, then tore

she was finished, she sat back and met

me. But

“Who? Jensen?”

assumed it was him. After all, the

Natalie shook her head.

he won’t. But the man

cabin, as though