Page 108 of Her Darkest Possession

I shake him off. "Not without my wife."

The smoke is so thick and hot now that my lungs burn with each breath. My thoughts are getting sluggish, harder to form through the haze of smoke and adrenaline.

Wait.

I reach into my pocket with trembling fingers and pull out my phone. Through watering eyes, I dial the landline inside the panic room.

Indigo picks up on the first ring. "Anatoly?"

"I'm outside the door," I rasp, coughing violently. "Need you to put in the code from the inside. It's 9-7-3-4-5-2."

There's a momentary pause, then the door swings open.

And there she is. Her face is streaked with tears, but her eyes are fierce and alive. My racing heart skips several beats at the sight of her alive and unharmed. Behind her is Amara and Svetlana. They're all okay. They're all alive.

She throws herself into my arms, and clings onto me tightly, and I do the same to her.

"Pakhan!" one of my men calls out again, snapping me out of my reverie.

"Get them out! Now!" I turn to my men and point at all three of them.

My men rush forward immediately. One lifts Amara when she hesitates, and another scoops Svetlana onto his shoulders.

"This way!" I shout over the roar of the flames, leading them toward the main entrance. The route is narrowing by the second as more of the mansion collapses around us.

I press my earpiece. "Roma! I've got them. Pull back now!"

"Acknowledged. Disengaging."

As we navigate through the inferno, I spot Vassily's body lying where Lola left him.

I start veering toward him, determined to reach him and carry his body out. But just then, a tremendous crack splits the air above us. A massive burning beam crashes down between me and Vassily, sending up a shower of embers and blocking my path to my brother's body.

A blood-curdling scream rises up from behind the fallen beam. Through the flames, I can just make out Lola's writhing form pinned beneath the massive timber.

Her clothes and hair are on fire.

"Help me, Tolya!" She shrieks, her eyes finding mine through the wall of fire. "PLEASE! DON’T LET ME DIE LIKE THIS!"

I stare coldly at the woman who tried to take everything from me, then look once more at my brother's body that I can no longer reach. I make no motion to do as she says.

And it’s Indigo who breaks the silence.

"It turns out he does want me, Lola," Her fingers tighten around mine. "More than you ever thought he wanted you."

Then, she turns away from Lola’s screams. We rush outside with the others, not daring to stop running until the cold wintry air fills our lungs and the wail of fire trucks start growing louder in the distance.

30

INDIGO

The key turnsin my old apartment door, and when I push it open, it feels like stepping into another lifetime.

Everything's exactly as I left it. There are dishes still in the drying rack, my hairbrush sits on the coffee table, and Amara's textbooks stacked by the couch.

The only thing thathasn'tstayed the same is the fact that there isn't a single trace of two men Anatoly killed when he took me away from here. There's no bloodstains on the floor, no bullet holes in the walls.

Anatoly and Roma move through the apartment in silence, checking the windows, the locks, and corners to make sure that we're truly empty.