Built from Ashes

She built an empire from the ashes of what he did to her.

Then he walked into her company. As her CTO.

Bella Zareef Valencia clawed her way from nothing to the top of Asia's fashion-tech industry. VELLURE is her empire twenty-eight floors of glass and ambition that she built with nothing but stubbornness, sleepless nights, and a heart locked so tight she forgot what it felt like to be soft.

She didn't need anyone.

Especially not Zavian Miller.

Six years ago, he was her first love, her first heartbreak, and the last person who ever saw her at her most vulnerable. He left without explanation. Without mercy. And she rebuilt herself in the silence he left behind.

Now he's back. Older. Sharper. And looking at her like six years never happened.

She calls him Mr. Miller.
He calls her ma'am.
And neither of them mentions the girl who once made a new account just to apologize or the boy who read it, said nothing, and disappeared.

They are professionals. Colleagues. Nothing more.

Except the coffee that keeps appearing on her desk before she arrives.
The shawl draped over her shoulders at 4 a.m.
The way he still remembers everything her order, her fears, the exact words that would undo her.

He isn't asking for forgiveness.
He's doing something slower. Something more dangerous.

And Bella is running out of reasons to keep pretending she doesn't feel it.

But Zavian Miller isn't the only ghost from her past.
And some wounds don't just reopen, they bleed.

Built from Ashes is a slow-burn second chance dark romance featuring emotional healing, corporate tension, and a love story that was never really finished.

SPECIAL EDITION - includes new scenes, deeper moments, and everything that was always meant to be said.

Content Warning: This book contains themes of emotional and psychological abuse, domestic violence, miscarriage, online harassment, panic attacks, implied self-harm, and toxic parenting. Intended for mature readers 18+.