Shattered Dreams (Boys of Bellerose, #3)(3)

Gritting my teeth against the screams of anguish welling up inside me, I crawled on all fours out of the burning office. It would only be a matter of minutes before the whole house caught alight. I couldn’t still be here when that happened.

Staying low, I scrambled along the hallway to the front door. The door I’d just seen my parents’ murderer leave through. And it was locked.

“What?” I exclaimed, tears choking me. “No!” Disbelief made me stupid, and I stood there for precious seconds, yanking on the handle like it was some kind of mistake.

A wave of dizziness washed through me, making me nauseous, and I dropped back to the ground. Fuck. I needed to get out. Now.

“Help!” My cry was a pathetic croak as I pressed my face to the floor. The fire was spreading fast; if I didn’t get out now…

Key. I needed a key! Dad had just changed the locks last week—now I knew why—and the front door automatically locked on exit. Where were my keys?

Staying low to the floor, I hunted for where I’d dropped my handbag earlier when I came home. I’d put my keys back in my bag, hadn’t I? Or… shit, maybe tossed them on the table? Fuck! Why couldn’t I remember?

Dizziness tilted the room sharply, and I crashed to the side, pain shooting through my belly. Had I just hit something? I couldn’t see, everything was so dark now. My lungs were tight. So damn tight.

Hacking coughs shook my body as I searched the ground for where I’d dropped my cloth. Finding nothing, I tried to pull my pajama shirt up over my nose and mouth, but it was like trying to smother a forest fire with a drink bottle. Utterly pointless.

My lungs burned, tightening more with every gasping breath I drew, and my vision went hazy. I couldn’t give up, though. I couldn’t just quit. Not when my little girl was depending on me… I needed to survive for her. My baby and Jace’s.

Drawing together all my strength, I crawled through the living room, determined to get to the window. If I could open it, I could get out. If I could get out, I could breathe. My baby could live.

Coughing, choking, dizzy as hell, I dragged myself up and yanked on the window sash.

It didn’t budge. Not even an inch.

Desperation made me scream, then I coughed so hard I blacked out, falling awkwardly to the floor. I refused to give up, though, and fought my way back into vague consciousness as I got back onto my hands and knees to find another exit. Any exit.

My belly radiated with pain, but I had to grit my teeth and continue on.

Sometimes, though, determination simply wasn’t enough. As I crawled out of the living room, heading for the stairs, a blast of intense heat exploded somewhere nearby, and my strength failed.

I failed.





two





JACE


PRESENT DAY


Fucking chaos reigned around us, and my ears rang to the point that I couldn’t hear anything. But I could feel the aftereffects. The heat and the scent of what I could only liken to sulfur and concrete dust surrounded me, as the building continued to tumble and burn behind us.

Billie hung loosely in my arms, her head flopping around despite my attempt to keep her safe. The fucking panic at not knowing if she was badly hurt or just knocked out rode me as hard as it had the night in the field. Everyone needed to stop trying to kill us, because it was eating away at the last threads of my sanity.

When I was a few feet from the entrance, I paused and turned back to the building, needing assurance everyone else had gotten out safely. Billie remained limp in my arms, so I shook her gently.

“Wake the fuck up. Please, Rose.”

I couldn’t even hear my own words through the ringing in my head, so chances were she wouldn’t either, but I had to try. I was just about to place her on the ground to check her for injuries when Angelo and Vee appeared through the doorway. Thank fuck. He was helping her to get free, but before they could get out, more of the building started to collapse around them. “Move it,” I shouted, hoping they were less hearing damaged.

Grayson, who was in the doorway helping Rhett, left him outside and headed back in. He’d clearly seen exactly what I had. This fucking glass monstrosity was coming down like a flimsy house of cards. A cold, lifeless building, decorated with the worst art, including that giant sculpture of what I had to assume was an oversized dick, since it had a shaft and balls…

As my eyes lifted toward the piece, just visible through the glass entrance, the fucking cable snapped. Just snapped, sending the giant piece crashing toward the ground. At the same time, Grayson was hauling Vee out, but Angelo was still inside.

My shout was lost in the collapse of half the building, the sculpture landing right where Angelo had been. Sprinting back to the doorway, I was thankful that Grayson was always aware of his surroundings. He managed to get Vee to the ground in time to catch Billie as I tossed her into his arms on my way past.

He bellowed some shit at me as I continued into the building, and my hearing had come back online enough that I definitely heard “Stupid fucking irresponsible…” He wasn’t wrong, but I also didn’t give a fuck. Not that he could even talk; he’d be right there with me if he wasn’t taking care of two injured women and Rhett.

In the background sirens blared, but they’d be too late to save Angelo.

Maybe I was already too late, but there were only a handful of people in the world I’d run into a burning building for. Angelo was one of them. Billie and Angelo were my oldest friends, my fucking family, and sure, we’d fought for near half our friendship, but that didn’t mean the love had ever died.