Page 2 of Branded Betrayal

“Fuck later,” Nash screams, his voice echoing in the open space. “There’s been an accident. Everything . . . it’s all gone . . . they’re all—”

Nash’s voice cuts out. A click follows.

And then . . . silence. Deafening. Suffocating.

“What was that about?” I choke out, pulling on my sweatpants. “What accident?”

Blaze shakes his head. “I don’t know.”

“I have to get home,” I say, slipping my feet into my boots before jumping off the flatbed. I fumble in my pocket for my keys, my throat tight.

Blaze puts a hand on my wrist. “I’m driving. Come on.”

I’m in such a twist, I don’t even argue. Something happened. An accident. But where? Who was involved? And why would he call Blaze and not me?

Blaze speeds down the mountain and heads toward our ranch. I cradle my phone in my hand, desperate to speak to Nash, but every time I call, it goes straight to voicemail.

Panic claws up my spine. Blaze doesn’t say a word, but he wraps his fingers tight around the steering wheel, his jaw tense.

I grip the door handle, a choked cry knotting in my throat. We’re still about half a mile away from home when I see bright-orange flames dancing fifty feet in the air above our ranch. They plunge into the night sky, billowing plumes of smoke snuffing out the tiny twinkling stars that we just made love under.

Blaze pulls into the drive, screeching to a stop when Nash runs toward us, his face and clothes covered in soot. I push open the door and jump to the ground. The entire front of the house is engulfed in flames. Glass shatters, the front windows exploding from the intense heat. Horror consumes me as the porch collapses inward, the columns on either side of the front steps buckling and cracking under the heat.

My lungs burn with every breath, the noxious smell of sulfur making me gag.

“Mom . . . Dad . . .” I rasp as Nash staggers toward us.

Sirens scream in the distance. But they’re too far away to help.

“Where are Mom and Dad?” I yell, shaking my brother. Aunt Marg staggers down the drive away from the flames. Her clothes are in tatters, everything stained black. Tears streak the soot covering her face.

“What the fuck is happening?” I scream, fisting my hands. I push past them and run down the drive. Blaze runs after me, pulling me back just before another explosion vibrates the ground under my feet. The equipment room, the barn, the animals.

“Oh my God,” I cry out, wrestling out of Blaze’s grasp. “Mom! Dad!”

“Savannah,” Nash yells. “Stop.”

I twist around, cold spreading through my chest at the anguish pooling in his wet eyes.

He takes a few steps toward me. Aunt Marg is right behind him, clutching the sides of her shawl around her shoulders. Fear crystallizes in my gut.

“Mom, Dad, and Uncle Aaron were inside.” His voice is hollow. Broken. “They didn’t make it out.”

“What?” I whisper. I heard the words, but it’s like my brain refuses to register them.

“They’re gone, Savannah.” Nash’s face crumples. “They’re dead.”

My legs give out. Blaze catches me before I hit the ground.

“No.” I’m shaking my head. “No, that’s not—they can’t be—”

Nash’s eyes focus on Blaze as he holds me. Something dark flickers across his face.

“You were together?” he asks.

“Nash,” I say, choking on a sob. “Don’t—”

“You were together.” It’s not a question this time. “And our parents are dead.” His voice cracks as he glares at Blaze. “Everything went to shit tonight. Your father never showed up. And I couldn’t stop any of it. The propane tanks exploded. My parents and uncle were in the house. I couldn’t get them out before the whole thing went up. Now they’re dead, and you were—”