“Oh my god,” Beatrice cried, shielding her eyes. I coughed and wheezed as I stood, pulling her up gently. From a distance, I saw Caspian and the others running toward us. I put a careful arm around her shoulders and pulled her a little further away, the blaze so hot I couldn’t think clear enough where we were standing.
Beside me, I saw Beatrice’s chest rising and falling, her eyes fixed on the flames. I knew the signs that she was about to have a panic attack. I pulled her as far as I could, but her neck remained craned toward the building, her breathing ragged as she stayed fixated on the disaster.
Caspian and the others reached our side, pulling us away toward one of the waiting vans. I immediately sat on the ground and pulled Bea down with me, our backs resting against the tires. Time seemed to blur as people passed us water, covered us with blankets. I heard someone calling for medics, and in between all that chaos, I found ourselves alone.
“Bea?” I spoke softly, so as not to spook her. “You’re safe now, okay? You’re safe.”
She nodded as she dropped her shoulder to my head. I thought she was still frightened, in the middle of a panic attack, and I rubbed soft circles down her spine.
“That fire won’t hurt you,” I said to comfort her. “It willneverhurt you.” My heart was wrenching into itself, thinking of what she must have gone through in there.
She just nodded and took a deep breath, like she was trying to ground herself. I was so fucking angry at her for putting herself in danger like that, but at that moment, I needed nothing more than to make sure she was okay.
I pulled her closer to myself, and she nestled into my chest, her eyes still on the flames.
“It’s all far away now,” I whispered in her ear. “You’re okay. I’m here. You’re okay.”
“I know I am.” I heard her soft voice and thought I’d dreamt it, because she didn’t sound scared. She sounded almost…resigned. “It was just fire.”
I buried my face in her hair, holding back the tears of panic filling my own eyes. “Don’t ever do that again.”
She pulled away, her face lifting to search my eyes, then gently cupped my cheeks. “Hey…hey…I’m okay.”
“But what if you weren’t?” I couldn’t help but ask. I didn’t know it happened. I was supposed to be comforting her, but she seemed fine. I, on the other hand, was a complete mess.
“There are lots of what-ifs out there, Arko. But I’m here, and I’m safe. You know why I went in there? Because I knew you would have come if it had been me in there,” she said, smiling at me with such love that I felt my heart crack open. “It was better, for me, to go into those flames to make sure you were okay, than to stand outside and do nothing.”
I shook my head, as though to protest, but she leaned her forehead against mine, her breath warm against my face. “I’ve never seen you this scared before,” she murmured. “It’s kind of cute.”
I let out a choked laugh, and then she was laughing too. The truth was, I’d never felt fear like I’d felt tonight, knowing she was in there. Having her safe now, by my side, was the most peaceful moment I’d had all day.
“Thank you,” I said quietly. “For coming in there for me, and you know, not dying on me.”
“Like I said,” she replied, brushing her lips against mine, “I knew I wasn’t in danger with you around.”
Chapter 24 - Beatrice
Five days after the fire, I found myself back in my childhood home, with Arko by my side. My brothers sat across the long conference table, with armed men from both families standing outside the door.
Just how the hell did we even get here?
Six months ago, if you’d asked, the Pavlovs and Lebedevs couldn’t even breathe in the same room. Now, we were sitting together like one big, happy family. When Caspian called requesting this meeting, Arko hadn’t even put up a fight.
He simply told me that we had to go, and I was coming with him. I didn’t know what business I had being here, since there was no other woman present, but something in my heart told me that this could be it. The turning point for peace. After my brothers helped with Anton’s rescue, and ever since they watched Arko pull me out of the fire, things have been calm on the family feud front.
Thank god.
My mind was half-drifting to the events of the past week, thinking about how my lungs still hurt, when Caspian called the meeting to order.
“We need to discuss what happened at the distillery,” he said, his eyes locked on Arko’s.
“We do.” Arko gave him a singular nod. “Do we know who it was?”
“We couldn’t catch a single one of those bastards,” Caspian growled. “But my men have been scouring the city.”
“So have mine.” Arko frowned. “Turns out, we have plenty of enemies in common.”
“Whoever it was,” Caspian agreed, “wanted us to fight each other and not them.”
