I close my eyes and take a deep breath before turning around to face him.
The sight of his face makes me gasp. Both of his eyes are swollen, his bottom lip has a huge split in it, and even in the dark of the night, I can see the purple and black bruises coloring his pale face.
My heart hurts at the sight of him, and I think back to what Dante said earlier.
The only reason I went easy on that bastard is because I didn’t want to walk away from there knowing you wouldn’t be able to forgive me.
Evan looks halfway dead, and it’s now that it really hits me how dangerous Dante is.
“Evan…” I trail off, at a loss for words.
He holds out his hand to me. “Let’s go inside and talk.”
PART II
THROUGH THE FLAMES
CHAPTER 23
DANTE
I’d only plannedon being at work for a few hours, but there was a call right as I was about to leave the station, and I couldn’t just leave my team hanging. We’d suited up quickly and left to respond to a massive fire downtown.
On our way, I keep calling Essence’s phone to let her know I’ll be home super late, but after ringing several times, it goes to voicemail.
My mind immediately goes to a dark place, but I shake those thoughts away.
I’m sure she’s fine. She’s probably walking Lunchbox or taking another bath. After what happened to Leo, it’s not surprising I’d be this paranoid; there could be a multitude of reasons for why she’s not answering her phone, but I can’t rid myself of the feeling deep in my gut that something is wrong.
I try calling and texting her a few more times, but we finally arrive at the sight of the fire, so I have to put my phone down and focus on my job.
My brothers and I make quick work of putting on our gloves, hoods, helmets, and breathing apparatuses.
A crowd has started to form on the opposite side of the street, all with their phones out and pointed right at the fire, so a few ofmy coworkers take the liberty of herding them as far away from the scene as they can.
Fire bursts through one of the downstairs windows, making me cover my face and back away a few steps. Shortly after, I hear screaming coming from inside the house. How anyone is still alive in there is beyond me, but now my mind is off Essence for a moment while I work with my team to figure out how to get those people out.
“Dante!” Nash, my Captain, shouts over the roar of the inferno in front of us. “Dispatch said there’s a family of three stuck in the second floor bathroom. I want you to get on the ladder and get to the roof now!”
“Yes, sir!”
My team and I work synchronously to get the ladder out and moving to the roof. The ones on the bottom have already started dousing the flames with water, but this fire’s way too big. I can hear cries for help coming from inside the house, but they’re quickly followed by screams of terror as part of the roof collapses.
“We’ve got to get the hell in there!” my coworker, Tommy, yells.
He and I get on the ladder and carefully ascend to the roof. Lucky for us, there’s a gaping hole right where we need to be, which will make getting in there much easier.
Tommy and I count to three, and he drops down into the bathroom first, then I quickly follow behind him.
“VBFD, is anyone in here?” I shout, looking around the small bathroom.
“Dante, they’re not here!” Tommy shouts from out in the hall.
“The roof collapsed earlier; they might be under the rubble.” I scan the floor of the bathroom hoping to find an arm or a leg,but I can’t see anything but the beautiful oranges and reds of the flames.
My cock hardens to the point of pain in my pants. Fuck, this can’t be happening right now. Normally, I’d relish the feel of the heat through my suit, but right now, my mind is focused on finding the people in this house.
Where the hell did they go?
