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“Oh, thank God, Lach—”
“—leave a message, and I’ll get back to you shortly.”
Her relief evaporated at the beep.
“Sophia.” Jared appeared next to her. “We need to stay out of the way.” He took her by the elbow and urged her forward.
She resisted, her gaze glued to the burning car.
The smoke billowing from the wreckage turned gray as two firefighters drowned the flames with their hoses. One of them gestured, and two more firefighters returned with a large blue tarp. They unfurled it in front of the car, blocking her view.
“I can’t get ahold of Lachlan.” She couldn’t get air into her lungs.
“Sophia.” Jared tugged again on her arm.
“The car was dark blue.”
“We should leave.”
The smoke disappeared, and water formed a lake on the asphalt. The firefighters draped the tarp over what remained of the vehicle.
“There was someone in there.”Please, God, no.
She pressed Lachlan’s number again with a shaky finger. It rolled to voicemail. She tried again and again. The tremors expanded until her body quaked along with her hands.
Jared’s hand closed over hers, trapping her frantic fingers. “Lachlan’s probably already at the airport with his phone off.”
Grief crashed into her in a violent wave before receding, leaving numbness in its wake. Jared’s arm anchored her to his body. “Let me take you home.”
She was too numb to argue.
He guided her from the surface lot and what remained of the car with its grim contents to his vehicle in the underground garage. The Lexus’s interior was spotless and had that just-cleaned smell of cleaner and fragrance spray. She turned her cheek to the leather seat and inhaled through her nose, trying to banish the odors of burning chemicals.
As they pulled into the street, the flashing lights, the smell, the charred, water-soaked wreckage of a life faded into the distance.
Strange.
The sun still shone in the western arc of the sky. People bustled down the tree-lined sidewalks, leaving work, maybe stopping to buy dinner at one of the restaurants on the busy street. The man in the car next to her was singing to his radio at the stoplight. Was this just another day for him?
She closed her eyes, picturing Lachlan as they made love, cheeks flushed, green eyes burning, his arms holding her tight. She wouldn’t cry. Not now. Not in front of Jared.
“I’m sorry.” Jared gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
She didn’t respond, directing her gaze back to the passing scenery. If she acknowledged his comment, it meant this nightmare was real.
When his car pulled up to the entrance of her building, it was all she could do not to leap out and race inside. Lachlan had turned off his phone. That was all. When he landed in Dubai to change flights, he’d turn it on, see all her desperate messages, and call.
“Do you want me to come up?”
“No, I’m fine.” There was only one person she wanted to see.
Jared’s fingers brushed wayward strands of hair behind her ear. “I’m going to tell everyone to take the day off tomorrow. Call me if you need anything.”
“Thank you for driving me home,” she managed to get out through numb lips.
She climbed from his car, her feet on autopilot taking her through the building lobby. The elevator hummed its way to the fifth floor while she stared at the closed doors, seeing only the burning car.
“Please be alive.”