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?”

Natalie admitted. “But he pulled me out of the fire. He spent everything he had to save me. He gave me a second life. To

a tenderness she

look in Natalie’s eyes—it

that, you may never see him again. Women brought onto this ship… if they don’t leave as corpses, they’re

had planned to let Natalie cling to a false hope until the end, until the auction stripped her of everything.

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A Heart

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you’re put up for sale, your life as you knew

gripped Natalie’s shoulders, forcing her to meet her eyes. “Do you understand?

Natalie didn’t flinch.

never truly fooled her. But hearing the woman admit it aloud

Natalie

can still sit there

She shook out the last ashes, sprinkled them over Beth’s wound, then tore a strip from

back and met

know what awaits me. But I also know

“Who? Jensen?”

the desperate

Natalie shook her head.

won’t. But the man I’m waiting

toward the sealed walls of the cabin, as though she could see