Chapter 48
My lungs burn. The air tastes like chemicals and hell. Smoke coils through my office in thick grey ribbons, writhing across the ceiling, curling down the walls, creeping closer by the second.
The heat presses against my skin in heavy waves, like someone’s opened an oven door and shoved my face into it. And I thought it was hot earlier. An irrational, crazed laugh bursts from my lips. The smoke is sending me delusional on top of everything else.
I twist against the cable ties biting into my wrists, but they don’t budge. Jack cinched them so tight my fingers are already going numb.
He paces in front of the blown-out window, and laughs—actually laughs as he takes in the chaos he caused on the street below like it’s some kind of fucked-up movie.
‘Look at them,’ he croons, tapping the glass with one bony knuckle. ‘Running around like ants. They’ve no idea what’s coming next p>
The wall shudders.
The fire is spreading.
‘Please,’ I choke out, my voice raw from the smoke. ‘Jack, let me go. The baby. She’s done nothing to you p>
He turns, eyes wild and glittering.
‘It’s not about the baby. It’s about pain. Reckoning. Revenge.’ He flicks his lighter open, shut, open again—that click-click-click burrowing straight under my skin. ‘Your brothers took everything from me. And your father before that. Now, I get to take everything from them p>
My stomach clenches so violently I gasp. I fold forward as much as the restraints allow, cradling my bump against the rising heat.
Jack saunters closer, crouches so his face is level with mine. His breath smells metallic, like the blood he’s desperate to spill. ‘Your family are probably down there. Right in the blast radius. Hopefully blown to bits.’ He glances at the flames licking up the corridor outside my office, grinning like the devil himself. ‘Not long now, Zara. What a way to go, right p>
Oh God.
I’m going to die here.
With this fucking maniac.
Tears blur my vision. I try to blink them away, but they just fall faster. I’ve never known fear like this. It’s so… final.
Cole.
God. Cole.
Was he caught in the blast?
Is he outside?
Is he hurt?
Are my brothers alive?
I can’t breathe—I’m not sure if it’s the smoke or the panic clawing at my throat. The ceiling above us cracks. A molten line of fire races across it like a serpent, hissing, dropping sparks onto the carpet that flare instantly into embers.
The room is turning into a furnace.
‘Looks like showtime,’ Jack hums, strolling back to the window to watch the fire engines slowing, the crowd gathering, the black smoke blooming up into the night sky.
I pull against the cable ties with everything I have. They dig deeper. My skin breaks. Warm blood slides down my wrist.
I don’t care.
I need out.
I need to save my daughter.
Frantically, I scan the smoke filled room. Willing Killian to put an end to this horror.
Suddenly, the office door shatters. Glass sprays everywhere as flames dance up the corridor. The heat slams against me like a wall.
I’m going to die here.
My little girl is going to die here.
And then—a silhouette barrels through the flames, coughing, staggering, armed.
A gunshot cracks through the inferno.
The sound rings sharp and final.
Jack’s head snaps forward. His body drops like a puppet with its strings cut, collapsing onto the scorched carpet at my feet.
I blink through the smoke.
But it’s not Killian standing in the doorway wielding a weapon. It’s Cole, chest heaving, face streaked with soot, eyes locked on me like I’m the only thing left in the world.
‘Sweetheart,’ he rasps, already crossing the smoke saturated room, ‘I’ve got you. I’ve got you. Let’s get the fuck out of here.’ Cole slices through the cable ties with a knife. My arms fall forward, limp and shaking. He catches my wrists gently, as if he’s afraid I’ll shatter.
‘Can you stand?’ His voice is hoarse, strained. Smoke-stained.
‘I–I don’t know.’ My legs tremble violently. My lungs claw for air.
A beam somewhere in the corridor collapses with a crack that vibrates through the floor.
Cole doesn’t hesitate. His arms sweep under my knees and around my back in one seamless movement, lifting me against his chest as if I’m weightless. I bury my face in his shoulder instinctively, breathing him in—smoke, sweat, and a hint of that faint crisp scent that’s just… him.
‘Cole—Tate. Nico. Felstead—’ Panic spikes through me. ‘We have to find them p>
‘Nico and Felstead are outside,’ he mutters, voice tight. ‘I’ll find Tate. But I’m getting you and the baby out first p>
The heat is blistering. Every step toward the doorway is like stepping closer to the sun. Flames lick the ceiling tiles, racing across them in frantic orange veins. Smoke curls down like a living thing, clawing at my throat.
Cole lowers his head and charges through it.
I cling to him, arms around his neck, hair singeing at the ends from the heat. He shields my bump with his body, turning so the flames catch his back instead of mine.
A roar shakes the building—a deeper explosion from somewhere below.
‘Shit.’ I gasp.
‘Hold on to me.’ He coughs, kicking debris out of the way with sharp, brutal movements. The corridor is a tunnel of smoke and flickering hellish light. My eyes sting so badly I can hardly keep them open.
‘Cole—your jacket—’ It’s smouldering at the shoulder.
‘Doesn’t matter,’ he growls, gripping me tighter.
We reach the stairwell. The railing is hot to the touch; the air is thick and violent. The entire building groans.
‘Cole—please—’ I can’t even form the sentence. I’m terrified the next breath will be my last.
He presses a kiss to the side of my head—quick, fierce, desperate.
‘I’m getting you out of here. I swear to God, Zara, you and Tierney p>
He descends the stairs two at a time, half-sliding, half-running, using his body to shield me from falling embers, coughing violently with every inhale. A section of ceiling collapses behind us with a thunderous crash.
‘Don’t look back,’ he orders.
I don’t. I can’t.
The ground floor is worse—windows blown out, flames tearing up the reception desk, smoke rolling in choking waves. For one terrifying second, I think we’re trapped.
Cole adjusts his grip on me.
‘Close your eyes p>
I do.
He lowers his shoulder and rams the warped front door. It gives after the second hit, and a rush of cold air slams into us.
I gasp.
Fresh air.
Real air.
He stumbles forward onto the pavement, still carrying me, still shielding my bump with his whole body. People scream. Sirens blare. Firefighters shout instructions. The world is a blur of flashing lights, smoke, chaos.
But we’re out.
We’re out.
I suck in a lungful of clean air and choke on a sob.
And then p>
Brakes screech.
Doors slam.
Voices roar my name.
A fleet of black SUVs swings to a halt just metres away. My brothers barrel out—James, Caelon, Killian, and Rian—all of them wide-eyed, horrified, frozen for one heartbeat as they take in the sight.
Cole Hartmann.
The man they love to hate.
Carrying their baby sister out of a burning building.
While the flames rage behind him.
James’s usually tanned face drains of colour.
Killian’s eyes are positively murderous.
Rian curses.
Caelon looks like he’s been stabbed—again. He steps forward first, his eyes roaming wildly over me from head to toe. ‘Zara?’ His voice shakes with emotion.
I cling to Cole’s shirt with trembling fingers, breath hitching, tears streaking my smoky cheeks.
‘I’m okay,’ I croak. ‘I—think I’m okay p>
But Cole isn’t letting me go. His arms lock even tighter around me, like he’s afraid I’ll disappear if he loosens his grip even an inch.
And in that single frozen moment—in Cole’s arms, with the building burning with light behind us, and my brothers staring like their entire world is collapsing, I realise one thing.
Everything in our lives just changed.
Forever.
The feud with my boyfriend and my brothers ends tonight.
Because the man they swore was their enemy is the only reason I’m alive—and the father of the child who will change everything.
Our daughter won’t inherit their war.
She’ll inherit the empire Becketts and Hartmann will build together from its ashes.