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Harold didn’t turn around, even though the fire seemed to be spreading uncommonly fast. I couldn’t seem to grasp the fact that my restaurant was burning down. All I could do was stand there and stare at it.
“Fire,” I croaked, barely able to get the word out.
“I know. And it burns so beautifully.” Tilting his head to look at the flames, he grinned. “Take her.”
The two goons stepped forward, but I had nowhere left to run except for the direction of the back door. That was where I sprinted to, ignoring the yells. The door was hot when I ripped it open.
Three steps in, I lost all sense of direction, blindly inching my way forward. Hitting my shin on a counter, I at least knew I’d made it to the kitchen.
Coughs shook my body, my eyes watered, and I was getting light-headed. But I had to push on.
Closing my eyes, I prayed for a miracle.
Something crashed to the floor, and I opened one eye, then the other.
“Cyka blyat.”Vlad rushed up to me, bending down. “Are you hurt? Talk to me, damn it.”
“I think I’m okay.” My voice sounded disbelieving, my brain unable to handle the fact that I was still alive. For now, at least. “Where’s Harold? And his goon squad?”
Vlad put an arm around me, helping me up off the wet and cold concrete. “Ran off as soon as I saw him in the alley. But thesukawill get what’s coming to him for hurting someone under my protection.” He helped me walk, my body still not obeying my commands. “Now come on. We need to get out of here.”
“Amara,” I gasped, looking back at the flames.
Pulling me along with him, my feet barely touching the ground, Vlad made his way through the thick smoke within a few seconds. “She’s safe. I got her out as soon as I smelled the smoke.”
I sagged against him, my legs turning to rubber, all my energy diverted to taking breaths in and out.
With a curse, he lifted me into his arms and carried me the rest of the way out to the street. Sirens sounded, and then all hell broke loose. Fire trucks and police cruisers were everywhere.
Vlad set me down in an ambulance, and then Amara was there, tears streaming down her face. “Cara, are you okay?” Her question was followed by a stream of Italian.
“I’m fine,” I said before my body was overcome with shivers and a rasping cough. I was shaking so hard that I must have looked as if I were on a massage chair that had been set to level twenty.
“She’s going into shock,” one of the paramedics shouted.
The last thing I remembered were Amara’s pleas for me to hold on, and then blissful blackness engulfed me.
* * *
“Sir, you can’t be back here.”
“Fuck you,” Vlad’s voice growled.
“That kind of language is unacceptable. I’m calling security,” a high feminine voice replied.
A chair scraped across the floor. “The hell you will. I’m staying.”
I fought to open my eyes, knowing if I didn’t show Vlad I was okay, he’d be banned from the hospital. Or worse, get himself arrested.
The light was low, and I struggled to blink anything into focus.
“Stop pissing off the nurses.” My words were low and garbled, but Vlad heard me.
I wouldn’t have been surprised if the ground shook from the stomping that occurred when he rushed to my bedside. But I was still too out of it to see more than outlines. He took my hand in his with infinite care, as if it were precious and might shatter if he applied too much pressure.
“You’re going to be okay.”
“I’m sorry I passed out.”
