Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-Three
T he phone rang through the car’s speakers, and he smiled when Madison’s name flashed on the screen. He was only minutes away from the storage facility where she said she’d be. Alex knew she hadn’t been looking forward to going to her parents’ house, and he planned on going with her to pick up Jax. It was time to meet the in-laws.
“Alex—” The second the call connected, her voice came through the speaker followed by an awful wracking cough. “Alex… I’m trapped. There’s a fire. The storage unit… It’s filling with smoke. I—I can’t get out.”
Time stopped. His pulse hammered so hard he thought his ribs would break. “Angel, where are you exactly?”
“The back of the lot. Unit 47.” Madison made a gasping sound that made his own breath catch. “Alex, it’s filling with smoke?—”
“I’m coming, malyshka . Stay low and cover your nose and mouth with something and keep talking to me. Do not hang up.” Suffocating dread made it difficult to get the words out.
“Alex. I love you. I love you so much. Tell Jax?—”
“Don’t you fucking dare, Angel. You’re going to be fine.” He mashed the pedal to the floor. “I’ll be there in three minutes. Don’t you fucking dare leave me here alone. Stay with me.”
He heard her coughing, gasping for air. “Madison!”
She didn’t answer.
“Angel? Fuck!” he roared into the phone, his chest cracking open.
His knuckles turned white where they curled around the steering wheel as the tires screeched around the turn toward the storage facility.
Terror, raw and consuming, clawed at his chest, every second that passed, tightening the noose around his throat.
Why didn’t I tell her? I should have told her.
When he skidded into the storage facility’s parking lot, chaos greeted him—flashing lights from fire trucks, black smoke curling into the sky. Firefighters were already unrolling hoses, their movements quick and calm.
Alex wasn’t calm. He felt like a wild animal in the fight of its life.
Jumping from the car, he sprinted toward the burning units, ignoring the shouts from the firefighters trying to block him.
“You can’t be here!” A firefighter grabbed his arm.
“My wife is in there. 47. She’s trapped.” Alex snarled as he yanked free of the man and shoved him out of the way.
He could see another reaching for him, trying to intercept, but Alex didn’t stop. His feet pounded against the pavement, his eyes scanning the unit numbers blurring past him 44… 45… 46…
47
“Get this open!” he barked, barely recognizing his own voice. His hand burned where he grasped the metal padlock that held the door closed.
Two firefighters reached his side, one already pulling a crowbar, while the other attacked the deadbolt with bolt cutters.
“The fire started in a unit further down the row but it’s spreading fast. You need to get back.”
Alex didn’t bother to answer.
He wasn’t leaving without his wife.
The door rattled as someone cut the lock. Then the door rolled upward. Smoke poured out, stinging his eyes and burning his throat as he shoved a firefighter out of his way. His gaze dropped to the figure collapsed at his feet.
“Madison!”
Her body was limp, her face pale beneath smudges of soot. Snatching her up in his arms, he stumbled out, only to have the paramedics take her from him.
“Let us help her.”
Alex tugged at clumps of his hair as he hovered behind them, willing her to breathe.
A paramedic placed an oxygen mask over her face, obscuring his view, and he inched closer. Another paramedic adjusted the oxygen flow and checked her pulse again. One looked up at him over her shoulder and gave him a small smile. “She’s breathing but her pulse is thready. We need to transport her.”
“She’ll be okay.” It was a demand not a question, because no other alternative was acceptable.
“We won’t know until we get her checked out, but her oxygen saturation is already coming up.”
Alex blew out a shaky breath and nodded. Madison was going to be all right. She had to be.
When the gurney was loaded into the ambulance, he moved to climb in with her.
“I’m sorry, sir. You’ll have to meet us there.”
Alex turned his stare on the woman. “My wife is not leaving my sight.”
The paramedic gulped and moved aside. “Just try to stay out of the way.”
The beeping of the heart monitor was the only sound in the small exam cubicle. Madison lay on the bed, the oxygen mask exchanged for a nasal cannula. Her face was still pale and her eyes were bloodshot, but she was no longer so frighteningly still.
When her eyes had fluttered open in the ambulance, Alex had been thankful he was already seated, because if he’d been standing, his legs might have collapsed in sheer relief.
Now his elbows resting on his knees, her hand locked in his, Alex was unable to tear his eyes away.
“I’m okay,” Madison mumbled, her voice barely above a whisper.
Because her throat hurts from almost suffocating to death.
Alex shook his head feeling helpless at the horrifying thought and leaned over her. “You could have died,” he said finally, his voice breaking the heavy silence. “I could have lost you.”
Her body still trembled, but she lifted her hand and rested it on his cheek, her touch grounding him. “But I didn’t.”
Alex leaned into her palm and forced himself to take a long inhale before moving back.
“My labs should be back soon.” Madison picked at the sheet. “I want to go home.”
“We aren’t leaving until they’ve checked everything.”
She sighed. “I know. Is Jax home yet?”
“Liev picked him up from your parents about half an hour ago. They should be home soon.” Alex’s shoulders tensed at the memory of the phone call he’d made.
Her parents hadn’t even suggested they come to the hospital to see their daughter and had been more than willing to let a strange man pick up their grandson on another stranger’s word.
“Liev promised to call when he got there, and Angela is on her way over to be with him.”
Alex, however, couldn’t shake the anxiety thrumming through him. His knee bounced slightly, and his hands gripped the edge of the chair hard enough to make his knuckles pale. His mind kept replaying the scene at the storage unit—the fear in Madison’s voice, the smoke, the lock on the door.
Someone tried to kill her.
When I find them, there will be no mercy.
He swallowed hard, forcing the rage down so it wouldn’t spill out.
Not now. Not here.
He’d known Madison was special from the moment he met her. Knew he wanted her in his life—as his wife—but she was more than that.
She was everything.
Alex pressed a soft kiss on her forehead. It was time to end this. He’d give Mikhail the new company he wanted, and hope it was enough to blunt his brother’s ire after Alex did what needed to be done.