Page 121 of Ashes

I had one goal and it was to get us out of here.

I ran so quickly, with all my might, but the journey to the outdoors itself felt like a blur. One minute, the scorching heat was licking my heels and the next, cool air washed over us.

Blaring sirens wailed closer as I fell to my knees, coughing incessantly. My lips crushed against her forehead and I waited to hear Sienna do the same, but when I finally glanced down at her face, she was still unconscious.

“Sienna,” I said, gently tapping the side of her face, hoping it would do the trick.

Nothing.

A strangled sound bubbled out of my throat as I shook her body, trying to wake her. “Sienna, baby, wake up.” I kept trying, but nothing was working. “Mon amour, please. You have to open those beautiful eyes for me, okay?”

Grief welled up inside me when I felt for her pulse and found nothing.

“No!” I roared, placing her on the floor. “Don’t you die on me, Sienna Aguerd. Don’t you fucking dare!”

I started doing CPR as shades of flashing blues and reds crowded me. My chest pounded and my breaths came in spurts as I cracked her chest with each descent.

“I love you, dammit. You can’t leave me before I get to tell you.”

I couldn’t breathe from the pain that was ripping me in two at seeing the love of my life not waking up.

Muffled shouts rang around me, but all I could focus on was how I could breathe life back into her body, how I could bring her back to me because I would be damned if I didn’t get a chance at a fucking future with her.

Suddenly, there was a presence at my back and a force tried to pull me away, yelling unintelligible words, but I tugged my shoulders forward, continuing my compressions.

“Do not touch me again,” I growled, the sound vibrating in my chest. “I have to save her.”

“Then,letus,” whoever was behind me said and it pierced through the fog that had taken my brain when I discovered Sienna had no pulse.

My chest compressions progressively slowed and I reluctantly let them pull me away.

Then they immediately got to work, but all of it was a blur.

“Come with me and we’ll get you checked out,” the person next to me said, brushing my arm to direct me somewhere else.

I shook my head, warmth trickling down my face. That’s when I realized I was crying. “You have to save her. She… she can’t die.”

“They’re doing everything they can,” the professional tried to reassure me, but it wasn’t working. I didn’t need them to do everything they could. I needed them to give me my wife back.

I felt frozen in time, every second feeling everlasting until someone shouted, “We got a pulse.”

A relief like I’d never felt before washed over every single atom of my being, the breath I’d been holding in finally releasing.

They transferred her onto a stretcher and rolled her toward the ambulance that was parked right next to my car.

I rushed over, but someone tried to stop me. “I’m her husband, so you better get your hands off me or I will break them,” I growled in warning, leaving no room for them to argue against.

I climbed in with one of the paramedics at the back of the ambulance while the other jumped into the driver’s seat.

As the paramedic closed the door, I finally looked back at the scene we’d just walked out of. I watched the walls collapse inward and the roof caved in as they rushed us to the hospital.

CHAPTER 33

JAMAL

I was slumpedagainst a wall in an empty hospital hallway, covered in soot, waiting for an update on my wife.

I’d paced every inch of the unit before I finally grew tired and settled in the spot I was currently in. The staff had asked me to move to the waiting room, but I threatened to sue if they didn’t let me stay closer to my wife.