A lump rises in my throat. My dad was a hardworking carpenter who was a custodian at night. He told us hard work outlasted wealth. He taught me to be a good man. One with principle.
He’d be so disappointed in me. A sledgehammer clocks my chest.
“How do you know my dad?”
Carlos shakes his head. “I’m r-ready to pay my penance.” He slumps in his chair, breaths slowing. “Elias Kent—you, of all people, should know there are no such things as coincidences in our world.”
His eyes roll back, and he goes limp.
No coincidences in my world.
I tap his cheek. “Not so easy. What are you saying?”
He doesn’t respond.
“Wake up!” I swat the other cheek. “My parents are hardworking, law-abiding people. They aren’t associated with these monsters. What the fuck are you implying?”
Images of that day swirl—my dad on the floor begging, gravel digging into my kneecaps as I kneel for him to spare my family.
Her note. It’s all because of her fucking note.
Footsteps pound down the stairwell.
Aleksei yanks me up. “Elias, no time. You can think later.”
No coincidences.The words slam into my brain like a battering ram.
“Come on, Elias—we gotta go.” Aleksei thrusts his laptop at me, lifts Carlos over his shoulder, and heads to the incinerator room.
I shove my turbulent emotions into a box. My feet follow him, but I’m not really here.
I’m drowning, trapped under a thick slab of ice. Everything happens in snippets.
The shriek of metal doors. The click of buttons. The hum of the incinerator when it turns on.
Aleksei and Ren toss the unconscious man inside and close the door. Something sparks. A flame erupts, engulfing everything inside. The sight is a gut punch, cutting off my air supply.
I’m thrown back to that day in hell.
Screams, fire, the melted chocolate in my pocket. Laughter. Smell of roses. Beatrice crying, reaching for me.
My knees aching.
The horrifying silence.
My gaze rivets on the roaring fire through the small window.
The memories continue their assault.
“Take care of the blood,” Aleksei says to Ren, his voice sounding far away. “I’ll get him out.”
My lungs strain. Shallow breaths. Dots in my vision.
“Come on, Elias. Don’t make me worry about you.” Aleksei pushes me out of the room.
I can’t look away from the blaze.
I can smell it. I can feel it—the heat melting everything around me. I’m trapped in that day when I was sixteen, when my life ended.
