I don’t wait for Teo’s instruction, I find Cassandra’s number and call that next.
Nothing.
“They’re not answering, are they?” Teo says, his voice tight and with barely controlled panic.
A sick feeling settles in my stomach, dread settling over me like a heavy fog. What if we’re already too late? The thought makes me feel faint, and I clutch at my seatbelt, barely able to breathe.
Finally, we turn onto the narrow Brooklyn street, the brownstone just a block away.
But even before we’re close, I see it—orange flames licking up the dark sky, the air thick with smoke. The smell of burning wood, rubber, everything mingles into a thick, acrid scent that fills my nose, my lungs, choking me.
“No,” I whisper, barely able to get the word out as Teo slams on the brakes, bringing the car to a screeching halt in the middle of the street.
He’s out in seconds, running toward the house, not even waiting to see if I’m behind him. My feet stumble as I follow, the ground unsteady beneath me, my heart racing.
Rocco’s brownstone is engulfed, flames curling around the windows, black smoke pouring out. The fire’s so intense it lights up the entire street in a flickering, hellish glow.
I can’t see inside, but I can hear it—the crackle of flames, the shattering of glass. And the terrifying thought that Rocco and Cas are somewhere in there, trapped.
“Rocco!” Teo shouts, voice hoarse as he fights his way toward the entrance. But a wall of fire blocks him, so intense that he has to step back, shielding his face from the heat.
His fists clench, his entire body straining helplessly as he stares at the inferno, chest heaving with ragged breaths.
I take a step toward him, reaching out, but I don’t know what to say. There’s nothing Icansay. The truth is there in front of us, in the destruction, the horror Leon has unleashed.
Teo’s voice breaks as he yells, “Rocco!” over and over, his voice barely carrying over the roar of the flames. He turns to me, eyes wild, pleading. “We have to get them out. Isabella, there has to be a way?—”
But the look on his face says he knows, deep down, that there’s nothing we can do.
I look up at the flames, feeling the guilt close in around me as if the fire is burning me from the inside out. This is my fault.Mybrother did this.
The thought sends me to my knees, and for a moment, everything blurs. All I can hear is the sound of my own heartbeat pounding in my ears.
“Isabella!”
A body barrels into mine, engulfing me in his large, familiar arms. Knocking what was left of my breath entirely out of me.
He pulls me to my knees, grabbing me by the shoulders so that he can examine me closer.
“Are you alright? FUCK ISSY. Are you okay?” Leon has soot in his dark blonde hair; his face is marked with the undeniable residue of fire and vengeance.
And I’ve never hated him more in my life.
“WHAT DID YOU DO?”
He takes a bewildered step back. “This was always the plan. What the hell is going on?”
“THERE’S A PREGNANT WOMAN IN THERE!” I scream, not caring that my anger is leaking out of my eyes as tears as I gesture toward the burning building.
Leon only frowns further. “No, there’s not, it’s just?—”
There’s a scream.
A wholly feminine, blood-curdling scream.
And it comes from inside the house.
“Rocco, NO!”
