Page 103 of Fighting Conviction

“Don’t touch me again.” His growl vibrated in his chest and for some reason, they listened and let him go.

The heat licked at his face and he kneeled down, following the cool air, hoping Ellie could feel it wherever she was.

His teammates yelled behind him, but he ignored them. The heat was a wall he had to fight against and he covered his eyes as he followed the inexplicably cool air leading him closer to the house.

I’ll find you, angel.

He said it over and over again, hoping she somehow heard him.

Something inside the house thundered so loudly it cracked his eardrums. The walls collapsed inward as the roof crashed in. Devil flattened himself to the ground to avoid the burst of hellfire.

No one could survive those flames. The house fell in on itself and every hope Devil had collapsed with it.

That was it.

It was done.

She was gone.

He fell to his knees. What was he going to do without her? She’d become everything to him in such a short time. If his words hadn’t been so mean. If he’d trained her differently. If he’d trusted her enough to tell her about the party. Would they be at BlackStone right now? In his apartment?

Fuck.

This one would break him. Every death he’d witnessed had taken a piece of his soul, but Ellie’s death would kill him.

Devil roared and slammed his fists down on the ground. He laid there, breathing in the dirt, not caring anymore that the world burned around him. What did that matter when everything he loved was already ash?

His chest pounded and his breaths came in spurts. It had to be his tie strangling him. Devil tore at the fabric until he was free, but it wasn’t enough. He shredded his dress shirt, hoping the pain would stop once he was free. It didn’t. He kept clawing at his chest until the thin fabric of his thin tank top ripped under his fingernails. But it was no use. Without Ellie, he knew the ache in his chest would never go away.

Something inside the house banged and rattled and he knew he needed to get up. The fire was consuming the house just feet in front of him, and he didn’t know what direction the walls would fall when they finally did.

But his muscles wouldn’t listen. The grass brushed his face. Tears stung his eyes just before they watered the ground. The chilly night breeze lifted his hair in a gust—

“In here! In here!”

Muffled shouts electrified his limp body. They were so faint, Devil wasn’t sure if what he heard was real or the hope of a desperate man. He lifted his head and swiveled around but couldn’t see where they came from.

Cool wind buffered him from the heat and cleared away smoke with the breeze. As he blinked back the sting from his eyes to see better, his gaze caught on something in front of him. He stared at the ground in confusion for a moment until it finally registered that he was witnessing a miracle.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Ellie didn’t need to look out the pantry doors to know the world was on fire. Heat from the flames seeped through the crack and Ellie fell back against the wall. There was no way out. The alcohol vapors wafted between the doors and a golden glow lit the small closet.

The light rested on Virginia’s deathly pale face. Her eyes were sunken in and her mouth was partly open. Blood outlined her shoulder as she laid down on the ground from the bullet wound still slowly seeping from her.

Tears streamed down Ellie’s cheeks and she coughed back emotion and fumes until a wail emptied from her lungs. She slid down the wall and silent cries wracked her body before she landed hard on the floor.

She’d thought she was going to break in half when Virginia had been shot and the investigator’s knee was on her spine back at the hotel. But as the air grew too hot to breathe, and the acrid smell of burning wood and linoleum filled her lungs, and her friend’s eyes fluttered open for maybe one final time…

Ellie broke.

Her best friend’s dark skin tone was nearly purple.

Her chocolate eyes glazed over. They closed.

Her body spasmed and went limp.

Ellie screamed silently against paralysis. There’s nothing I can do to save her. There’s nothing I can do to save her. There’s nothing I can do…