Declan meets my gaze without flinching, his face stern. "I said no. You run the family. Fine. You want to be secretive with your intel. Fine." He takes a step toward me. "You running into a burning building, fucking committing suicide basically? No. I draw the line."
"You draw the line?" I step forward too, my rage channeling toward him because it has to go somewhere, has to find a target before it tears me apart.
"Yeah. I want the motherfucker dead too, and if you insist on running into hell, you're not going alone."
I open my mouth to remind him who's in charge, who makes the calls, but something stops me.
A scream tears through the air.
It rips from the building's broken windows, raw and agonized and unmistakably female.
The sound cuts through the scattered gunfire of our men making sure everyone's dead, through the roar of flames, through every thought in my head.
Zaria.
Declan's eyes widen. "Who the fuck was that?"
I don't answer. I look at Octavian, then turn toward the building and start running.
Zaria's in pain. Zaria's in trouble.
I burst through the main door, my shoulder slamming into the frame.
The lobby is chaos. Overturned furniture and shattered glass everywhere. The emergency lights flash red, painting everything in strobing crimson.
Four robed figures appear from a side corridor, weapons up.
I throw myself behind a doorframe as bullets hit the wall next to where I was standing. I return fire, and then I hear gunshots behind me. I turn and see Octavian and Declan following despite my orders, laying down suppressive fire.
"Cover me!" I shout.
I don't wait for confirmation. I break from cover and sprint, firing as I move. One shooter drops. Another stumbles. The third turns to track me and Declan's rifle fires once and his head snaps back.
I reach the stairwell door and slam through it.
Behind me, more gunfire and shouting, but I'm already taking the stairs two at a time, three, hauling myself up by the railing as smoke pours down from above.
"Callum!" Declan's voice echoes from below.
I glance down and see him through the smoke. "Outside! More cars, they're not ours!"
"Go handle it. I got this!" I yell down.
He curses, then turns and runs out.
I turn and keep going.
My lungs burn and sweat pours down my face. The temperature rises as I get closer to the top floor.
The smoke is growing thicker now, the air harder to breathe.
Zaria is up there.
She's in trouble.
I need to get to her.
I repeat it over and over as I reach the top floor.
