I hated fire. I hated how the smoke wrapped around my naked body, stinging my skin with defiant embers. I hated the smell of burnt flesh, the ashes heavy on my tongue, my charred soul like splinters deep in my chest.

She's dead, Juliet.

There's nothing else you can do--

Dragging my bleeding feet across the concrete, I walked toward the flames. Heat licked at my cheeks. Sirens off in the distance cursed my ears.

Dead, dead, dead.

All of this started because I made a choice. Because I fell in love. Because I was a lonely girl clinging to dangerous men.

She was dead because of them.