Adam was already turning back. “Next!”
The father staggered toward us inside, water at his chest. His lips were blue. His arms trembled as he tried to push up.
“Dad!” the woman cried.
I reached in, but he slipped under. My chest seized.
“Adam—”
“I’ve got him.”
Adam didn’t hesitate—he dove headfirst through the broken window, vanishing into the black water.
“Adam!” My scream tore out before I could stop it. I shoved halfway in, arm slicing through the current, but all I felt was cold and emptiness. Panic clawed at my ribs.
Then—movement.
Adam surged upward, dragging the older man with one arm locked across his chest. He broke the surface, coughing, muscles straining as he fought the current.
“Pull him!” Adam’s voice was raw, commanding.
I reached in, gripping the man’s arm. Adam shoved from below, and together we dragged him out. He collapsed onto the roof, sputtering, wheezing air back into his lungs. Alive.
Relief rushed through me so fast it made me dizzy.
Then the roof buckled.
Wood screamed as the house tilted farther into the river. Shingles ripped free. The whole structure shifted beneath us.
“Go!” Adam barked. He grabbed the daughter, slung her across his shoulder like she weighed nothing, and shoved me toward the ridge.
“I’ve got the father!” I snapped back, hooking my arm under the old man’s. His legs barely moved, but I dragged with everything in me, adrenaline burning hotter than fire.
The roof pitched again, sending us sliding. I dug in, boots scraping shingles, pulling with raw desperation.
And then Adam’s hand clamped on my harness, hauling me upright. Our eyes met—wild, furious, alive.
“Don’t let go,” he said.
The chopper’s cable dropped through the floodlights above. Russ’s voice crackled in my comm: “Stoker, Carter—now or never!”
Adam clipped the woman in first, shoving her into the harness. She went up screaming. Then the father, limp but breathing.
The roof split under us.
Adam grabbed my harness, shoving me toward the line. “Your turn.”
“No.” My throat was raw, but the word came anyway. “We go together.”
For a second, everything paused—the chaos, the flood, the roar of the helicopter. Just his eyes on mine.
Then his mouth tightened, and he yanked us both against the cable, arms locking around me. “Fine.”
The house gave one last shudder, then collapsed into the river.
We rose into the air, soaked, bruised, shaking. Adam’s grip never loosened. His chest pressed against my back, heartbeat hammering against mine.
And in that terrifying, suspended moment, one thought seared through me:
