“Where is he?” Her voice cracked apart completely.
Michael hesitated.
That hesitation nearly destroyed her.
“Michael.”
His jaw tightened hard before he answered carefully. “We lost contact after the collapse.”
The world narrowed violently around those words.
Johanna stared at him blankly.
Lost contact.The words echoed violently through her head while panic closed hard around her chest.
“We’re gonna find him.”
Behind Michael, firefighters rushed frantically around the structure while sections of the roof groaned dangerously beneath the pounding water.
“Ryan’s inside with the search,” Michael continued quickly. “They’re trying to reach where he went down.”
Johanna shook her head immediately. “No.”
Like refusing the words could somehow undo them.
Michael reached for her shoulders gently. “Jo—”
“No!”
The sound ripped out of her before she could stop it. Several nearby firefighters turned instantly toward her while panic surged violently through her body. Johanna covered her mouth with shaking hands as terror swallowed her whole.
Because this couldn’t happen now, not after days spent pushing Blaze away because she was terrified he might eventually leave her.
The last few days replayed mercilessly through her mind.
God.
What if those became the last moments they ever shared?
The thought hit so hard her knees nearly buckled beneath her. Michael caught her immediately before she collapsed.
“Hey,” he said softly. “Hey, don’t do that.”
But tears were already streaming uncontrollably down her face. Rain soaked her curls while smoke burned the back of her throat.
Somewhere inside that collapsing house was the man she loved.
The man she’d spent days pulling away from because fear convinced her protecting herself mattered more than trusting him.
And now she might lose him anyway.
A violent crash suddenly echoed from the structure.
Everyone turned instantly.
Firefighters shouted near the front entrance while sparks exploded through collapsing plaster and falling debris. Johanna grabbed Michael’s turnout coat in panic.
“What was that?!”
