“I want proof Kai is safe,” I say.
“Of course,” Felix says, with a smug grin.
Alarm bells go off at his gesture.
He pulls his cell phone out. “But first, I thought you might want to see how your side faired.”
He hands me security footage of my house.
And the nightmare unfolds.
Langston getting shot and falling to the ground.
Liesel hitting her head with a deep gash as the car crashes into a tree.
And numerous shots of my men evaporating into nothing with each explosion.
There is a pit in my stomach. Langston and Liesel are dead. I know it as the security footage shows me my house is burning. Anyone still left lying on the ground, gasping for their last breaths, will perish. If the smoke inhalation doesn’t get them, the fire will.
“I’m going to kill you for what you did.”
Felix shakes his head. “That isn’t what you are going to kill me for.”
He swipes the phone.
And my heart is gone.
It’s an image of Kai, lying face down on the ground, blood spilling out of her head. She’s not breathing. Any rational person would say she’s dead.
She can’t be.
But I feel the emptiness.
My heart is gone—with her.
I jump out of the car. It’s not the smartest move I’ve made, but then I’ve made too many mistakes to count.
I should stay and kill Felix, but if Kai is truly gone, it doesn’t matter if I kill him today or tomorrow. I don’t have to protect her from him, so there is no rush.
I start running back toward my house. I run a mile before I realize how idiotic it is to run. I hijack a car, and then I fly. We drove at least an hour away from my house, but I arrive in under thirty minutes.
What remains of my house is still burning, but it’s mostly soot at this point. A few of my men are standing around staring, like they can’t believe what happened.
“Langston?” I ask the first man I see.
He shakes his head in despair.
He didn’t make it.
I run through the remains of the house. To the kitchen where the security footage showed Langston fall.
There is nothing left of my kitchen except the burned remains of my fridge and oven. No Langston.
I choke on my tears. He can’t be gone.
I run down the road. I see the Escalade. Well, what little is left of it. Mostly tires and frame. No Liesel.
She’s gone.