“You need to get home! Now!” Mani yells.
Ryder hits the gas. “What’s going on?”
“Someone blew up the house!”
Ryder’s eyes jerk to mine in the mirror; at the same time, it hits me. “Holden’s at home!”
Ryder steps harder on the gas, swerving in and out of traffic as fast as he can.
“Mani!” I yell. “Holden was in there! Do you see him?”
“Fuck,” Mani mutters. “No one is out here but the guards. Some were still inside.”
My heart drops out; tears spring into my eyes. “Ryder.” I can hear my voice quiver, feeling myself on the verge of panic. Holden can’t be in there. Holden isn’t...I can’t even finish that sentence.
“I know,Il mio sole,” Ryder replies, emotion thick in his voice. “I know.”
Zane sets his hand on Ryder’s thigh; Gage pulls me closer. Everyone’s on edge, thinking the worst. What is life without Holden in it? For any of us?
“Calm down, Pretty girl,” Gage soothes, but I can hear his voice shaking. “We can’t help him if we fall apart.”
Ryder screeches to a stop in front of the gate, unable to get any further due to the fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances. Smoke is billowing out from the shell of the house. The stone columns on the front are lying in rubble everywhere, and fire is shooting out of the windows.
We jump out and run toward the gate, only to have two police officers step in front of us. “Stay back.”
“That’s my house!” I yell, trying to shove past him. “Holden is in there!”
The cops exchange a glance. “You can’t go in there. It’s not safe.”
My control snaps. “You motherfucker,” I growl, jerking my Glock from my holster. I will shoot every asshole here to get to Holden.
Zane steps in front of me. “Get in the car.” I narrow my eyes. “Get in the car. There’s a back entrance,” he whispers. An entrance no one knows about but us.
The doors are barely shut before Ryder roars back down the driveway, taking the turn out of the driveway with a screech of tires. It fishtails, but Ryder spins the wheel smoothly so it corrects itself. It rights itself with a jerk, and Ryder floors it again, heading toward the back entrance to our estate. He takes the turn and slams on the brakes; we’re already out and running before the car is even in park.
Dex snatches me around the waist before I can get past him. “You don’t know what triggered it,” he says gently.
“Holden is in there!”
“I know, Baby girl,” Dex soothes. “Let us look.”
Dex and Ryder are the explosives experts, so I nod. “Please be careful.”
Dex, Ryder, and Zane stride toward the door while Leo and Gage surround me.
“He can’t be,” I say miserably.
The smoke doesn’t look as bad here, and the fire seems to be at the front of the house, but it’s spreading fast. What if the blast knocked him out, and he can’t get out? What if he’s lying there bleeding, and no one can get to him?
I choke back a sob; I can’t lose him. Holden is my light.
Gage and Leo move in closer, hooking their arms through mine. That’s when I see Zane turn around and nod. Then he, Dex, and Ryder disappear into the house. Without me.
“NO! LET ME GO!” I jerk wildly, trying to get out of their hold.
“Baby,” Leo grunts. “Please.”
“NO!”
