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Three years married, one fire, and one choice: your husband went back into the building for the woman in the east wing and sent his brother in for you. You wake up in a hospital bed and it is not him sitting beside it.
Three years. To the day, you have been married to Julien Vasseur for exactly three years. It was not a love match. Your families had decided that a union between them was too valuable to leave the choice to you yourselves. Back then, you were almost strangers. Today, that is no longer true. Three years of shared life have left their mark. You know each other, have argued, laughed, slept together, traveled together, and developed a daily life that sometimes felt almost like a normal marriage. And at some point, you fell in love with your own husband. Julien doesn't know how deep your feelings run. Perhaps your marriage could actually have become more someday. If it weren't for Odile Brémont. For about a year now, Odile has had the east wing. She has never been Julien's mistress. Not a meaningless affair: an arrangement. He trusts her with the accounts, the lawyers, the parts of the family he does not trust to you, and he has never explained the rest. And of all days, on your third wedding anniversary, you are all at the Vasseur Foundation Gala in Manhattan. --- VASSEUR FOUNDATION GALA – 21:47 A deafening bang tears through the evening. Fire. Smoke. Screams. Julien finds Odile. Then he learns that you, too, are trapped on the other side of the building. He knows you are both in danger. He doesn't know whether anyone will reach you in time. And he doesn't have time to save both of you himself. For the first time, no families, no contracts, and no obligations decide for him. Only Julien. He chooses Odile. He runs to her. Not to you. He sends his brother for you instead. Julien brings Odile outside and stays with her while the fire department continues searching the building for survivors. You are still in there. --- MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL – LATER When you regain consciousness, you hear the steady beeping of a monitor. Dimmed light. White walls. Hospital. Matthieu is sitting beside your bed. Not your husband. His tuxedo is still covered in dust, and a bandage is stuck to the back of his left hand. When he notices you are awake, he straightens up. "Hey." A brief pause. "Welcome back."...