Chapter 88
eighty-eight
EZRA
“No!” I scream, bolting after Jo. I don’t know if I’m screaming at her or the situation.
We watched from the sidelines as the mansion collapsed in the middle like an under-baked cake.
Patrick ran out of the house right around the second explosion.
There’s been no sign of Maverick or any guards leaving us to believe that it’s just him and Patrick here.
Which was good right until thirty seconds ago.
“Jo, stop!” I yell, catching up to her and grabbing her around the waist.
“Let me go,” she screams, trying to wrestle out of my hold.
“Bambi, stop! We can’t get to him running in there like this!
” Jo’s whole body slumps against mine and she sobs.
“I’ve got you. We need to call Gavin and get someone out here to help us with the rubble.
” I want to break down and cry with her, but I refuse.
There’s so much dust I can barely see in front of me, which also means I can’t see how bad the house is.
Maybe it sounded worse than it was. Maybe Maverick climbed out of a window an hour ago, and we missed him.
I refuse to give up hope. The three of us will be together again and then we can live a long and happy life together.
Jo turns in my arms. She opens her mouth like she’s about to say something, but then her eyes widen. The next thing I know, she’s shoving me to the ground. Only years of training save me from a hard fall.
“You killed my husband!” Patrick is roaring at Jo, slashing wildly with a knife. She dodges easily, light on her feet and eyes never leaving the blade.
“What husband?” I ask. I want his attention and that knife aimed at me, not her.
“Maverick!” he screams, eyes flaring and his swings get too close to my face for comfort. “He was in the basement!”
Jo lets out a scream so heart-wrenching that I hope I never hear one like it again. I drop my hands. No. Absolutely not. That entire building is now in the basement. There’s no way he survived if he was down there.
“No, he’s not your husband, and he’s not dead,” I argue, but the odds of him being alive under all that are so small even I know I’m lying. Maverick can’t be gone. He’s everything good and bright in this world. He has to be alive, or the world would stop spinning.
“I locked him down there for his safety! You killed him!” Patrick yells, coming at me again with the knife, but this time I don’t stop him.
The burn when he slashes across my chest feels earned.
Like this is my penance for not getting here in time.
I don’t want to die. I don’t want to leave Jo, but I can’t make my body move.
I watch the anger on Patrick’s face and the way his arm pulls back to go in for the killing blow. Closing my eyes, I let it happen.