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Making it halfway through the debris and getting closer to the door, I start calling out, hoping like fuck she’s actually in there. “CARA?” I yell over the sound of the roaring flames. “CARA, ARE YOU IN THERE?”
“Cross?” she says from the other side of the door. “Cross, is that you? Fuck. Get me out of here. I can’t—I can’t breathe.”
Fuck.
“I’m coming,” I call back. “Move away from the door.”
With that, I move faster, heaving planks of wood and charred bits of rubble out of the way before finally getting close enough to reach the door. “Hurry,” Cara says, choking on the smoke as I hear her falling against the wall. “I can’t—I don’t—”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
My hand curls around the handle, but it doesn’t budge, so I shove my shoulder into it, only getting a slight flex. Then as the struggle for oxygen becomes all too fucking real, I shove my shoulder into the door one more time, giving it everything I’ve got left and finally unjamming it.
The door swings open, and I storm into the room, finding Cara slumped against the wall, struggling to cling to consciousness, and I curse before scooping her right into my arms.
She clings to me, locking her arms around my neck as I double back, racing for the exit with my lungs screaming for mercy. I glance back toward where Sawyer and his mom were, relieved to find them gone, knowing without a doubt that Sawyer wouldn’t have left unless she was safe.
Then breaking out into the night, both Cara and I suck in a deep breath of clean air as I crumble to my knees, both of us falling onto the asphalt as others hurry in around us, checking we’re alright.
Sawyer barges through the crowd to get to his sister, and with that, I shakily get back to my feet. With Zade stepping back into my side, we head straight back in, determined to save as many of our people as possible.
Chapter 2
OAKLEY
Tears stream down my face as I run for my life, one foot slamming down on the asphalt after the other. I should be happy, I should be rejoicing that they’re dead, and yet, my heart is breaking.
Dalton. Sawyer. Easton . . . Even Zade.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve come to know them, some I’ve even come to love, but despite how I feel or how they felt, they were still going to use me in their twisted game and offer my heart as a sacrifice to Empire. They were going to kill me, even if it meant tearing out their own hearts in the process.
There was no loyalty there. Did my love mean nothing?
All I know is there’s no way they could have survived an explosion like that.
One minute I was running, my heels breaking as I fell from the window. Zade’s voice screaming my name was echoing down the street, the horror and rage in his tone making me want to double back and fall into his arms. With no regard for my own life, I wanted to submit to his evil will and give him everything he’s ever wanted . . . and then, BOOM!
I’ve never felt anything like it. The way the blast lifted me off the ground and threw me across the street, the debris shooting through the air, and the undeniable heat at my back. It was terrifying, yet to think the boys were in that . . . fuck.
There’s no way they survived a blast like that, nobody could have, right? But if they did, if some kind of angelic force field shone down on them and spared their lives, then shit. I don’t know what’s worse, being slaughtered by Zade’s hand or spending an eternity craving the man I have to run from.
Empire is crumbling, burning up in flames, and being reduced to nothing but ashes, but despite Zade and the boys being dead, I have to run. This could be my only chance at freedom, my only shot at saving myself. Once the flames have settled, what remains of Empire will regroup, and when they do, they’ll be coming for blood.
But one thing is for sure, I’ll be long gone when they do.
Only, there’s one thing I need to do first.
Heavy sobs tear from the back of my throat as the tears spring from my eyes, staining my cheeks and dropping to my destroyed gown. I should be relieved that they’re dead, yet every single part of me screams to run back to them, screams to save them.
God, it hurts so bad.
The idea of never seeing Dalton again, never hearing those filthy words falling from his mouth. Never getting to taste those lips or feel my heart race when he walks into the room. I can’t fathom a life without him. I know I didn’t know him long, but for the past few weeks, he was my salvation, he was my hope that I could make it out of this alive.
