Before We Burn

"I am bloody terrified of burning alive, Luisa. Because you are the only one who drives me completely insane." Luisa Vanderwood is the perfect heiress: icy, flawless, and utterly unapproachable. Lance Keller is the ruthless genius of a rival empire: statuesque, controlled, and infinitely dangerous. In the glass boardrooms of high society, they are partners. But behind closed doors, a silent war rages-a war where emotions are fatal liabilities and the power of their fathers is a monster ready to crush them both.A single night of untamed, raw passion pulverizes all their walls. But the next morning brings a brutal execution.Blackmailed by his own father to save Luisa's family from total ruin, Lance does the unforgivable: he flees. He seals their mutual destruction by entering a forced engagement with another woman. Before the cameras of the global press, he smiles and slides a diamond ring onto a stranger's finger.Forced to watch his betrayal live on television, Luisa collapses into a dark, psychological abyss.For two weeks, she vanishes from the face of the earth. When she finally returns to the corporate headquarters, her flawless armor is back in place. But the unyielding heiress hasn't returned out of pride. It is the artificial, eerie calm of a dangerous pill routine that freezes the very blood in her veins. The tablets have numbed her agonizing pain. She feels nothing anymore. No hatred. No love. Only ice-cold, merciless calculation.Lance has launched his own reckless vendetta to blow his father's empire sky-high from the inside out. He wants to save her. But when he confronts her in the foyer, he is hit by a wave of pure, psychological panic. His bitter betrayal didn't leave behind a weeping girl-but a feelingless, invincible machine ready to reduce everything to ash and rubble.The game of heirs is over. Now, hell takes the throne.What to expect:✨ Dark Romance / High Society Drama✨ Enemies to Lovers & Toxic Attraction✨ Forced Engagement & Forced Proximity