AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We’d like to finish this walkthrough another time,” Willow said. “Mr. Markovic is…indisposed for the rest of the year starting on Sunday, but we can come by Saturday morning. He has a few more questions regarding your plans for the club.”
Sloane and I were supposed to go ice-skating on Saturday, but I didn’t want to insult Vuk again by postponing. If I finished the walkthrough in the morning, that left the afternoon and night free for our date.
I smiled. “Saturday it is.”
* * *
Saturday morning dawned bright and clear.
Sloane had stayed over last night, and she was still in bed when I slipped out to meet Vuk. She rarely slept in, but I’d kept her busy all night so I didn’t wake her before leaving.
The city was already awake and busy when my cab dropped me off at the skyscraper housing the vault. A family of tourists in matching Christmas sweaters blocked the building entrance, and I had to endure their impromptu daytime caroling as I skirted around them.
At the same time, someone came around from the other side and bumped into me. A baseball cap shadowed half his face, but he looked vaguely familiar. Before I could investigate further, he disappeared around the corner, and my curiosity about his identity became an afterthought when I entered the vault to find Vuk and Willow waiting for me.
He wore the same black shirt and pants; she’d changed into a red dress that matched her hair.
“Add some green accessories and you’ll give the Rockefeller tree a run for its money,” I quipped.
Willow was not amused.
I’d paid the construction company a shit ton of money to work weekends; even then, they could only spare a skeleton crew this close to Christmas.
There were only three workers inside, which made this walkthrough much easier than the first one. Actually, it was more than easy.
It was smooth. Perfect.
Until it wasn’t.
I’d just finished answering Willow’s last question about the security measures when her head jerked to the left. Beside her, Vuk tensed, his nostrils flaring with the first iota of emotion I’d seen in him.
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
“Do you smell that?” Willow’s voice and body were drawn as tight as the strings of a violin.
I paused, my senses pushing aside the overwhelming construction-site scents of wood and metal to focus on the whiff of something harsher.
Smoke.
The realization hit right as the drills died and a panicked shout reverberated through the room.
“Fire!”
What occurred next happened so fast, my brain didn’t process it until the back wall burst into flames.
More shouts. Running. Movement.Heat.
So much fucking heat. It was the bad kind, the kind that hit you like a sudden power outage, plunging crucial corridors of your mind into darkness and short-circuiting the pathways between your brain and muscles.
Choking, paralyzing, life-stealing heat. Sweat enveloped my skin.
Xavier! ¿Dónde estás mi hijo?
She was trapped…couldn’t get past the front door… Died of smoke inhalation…
Lucky we recovered her body… It should’ve been you.
My mind seethed with visions better left buried. Reality wavered, switching from past to present and back again.
