Page 136 of Road to Redemption

Caleb leapt over the flaming pile of wood, holding his arm out to guide Spence over it.

Leo took it in one leap and I ran ahead. She would make sure she was the last person out of this house. I would ensure we made it out.

Another beam came crashing down, the house caving in on us as we made our escape. This one landed just behind us, locking us out of the rest of the house as embers flung toward our bodies.

“Don’t stop moving!” I hollered over the roar. Looking above us, there was one final beam, just above the front door that threatened to fall down on our heads — or worse, lock us inside the burning mansion.

At the busted down front door, I guided Caleb out first, then Spencer and Abi.

Leo came hurtling behind them into the cold night air.

Just as I threw myself and Lady over the threshold and onto the loose gravel, the beam came thundering down. A loud smack resounded out onto the rocks as the wood slammed into the stone floors.

On my hands and knees, I stared into the fire.

It was gone. Really gone.

Cool air chilled our boiling hot bodies, goosebumps rising off my skin.

But I turned around when I didn’t hear her voice.

“Kiera…” Looking around, panic set in. “Kiera!”

“Is she inside?” Before Spencer could even speak, Leo was moving back toward the house.

“No! She was right here!” I yelled.

But she wasn’t. Not anymore.

“What do you mean?” Leo growled, her chest heaving as a cough ripped through her chest.

My eyes stared into the dark woods, at the drag path in the loose gravel. I knew what happened. I didn’t need to see it to know.

I felt it. The same way I felt it the moment she stepped back into this house.

Kiera was gone. Someone had taken her from me.

75

LEO

“I’m going to find her,” I growled, turning back toward the blaze.

The image of Kiera trapped in the burning house, afraid or worse…. My chest tightened enough to burst my heart. I squared my shoulders and prepared to run back into the heat.

But Dom stumbled to her feet, gripping my shoulder to stop me. “She’s not in there, Leo. What are you not understanding?”

Anything.

I furrowed my brow as I tried to make sense of it. “If she’s not here, where the fuck else would she be?”

“No, she’s gone.” A laugh like glass ripped from Dom’s chest as she turned her eyes up to the sky. “They took her. Zeus, Isaac. They found us.”

Despite the blazing heat, a chill of fear ran down my spine. “No…”

But Spencer was already on the move. “They can’t have gotten far.”

We didn’t need to exchange words. Spencer stayed close to the glow, watching the kids and Lady while Dom and I moved toward the perimeter of the property.