Chapter 49
Evan
When I heard the first report on the radio, my blood ran cold. A hospital fire. Downtown. Multiple injuries. Possible explosions and they said the name of the hospital. Alicia’s hospital.
I didn’t even think...I just slammed my foot on the accelerator and tore down the road like a madman. The city lights blurred past, my heart pounding so hard I could barely breathe.
“Come on,” I muttered, gripping the steering wheel so tight my knuckles went white. “Please be okay, Alie.”
I hadn’t seen my sister in months. Too many, maybe. We’d gone our separate ways after things fell apart after Dad died, after Mom couldn’t handle it, after I left because I thought distance would fix what was broken but distance doesn’t fix anything. It just makes the guilt louder.
And now, the one person who ever believed in me might be lying under a pile of rubble because of me.
When I reached the hospital, the place looked like a war zone. Fire trucks lined the street, hoses snaking across the ground, paramedics shouting orders over the roar of the flames. Smoke billowed into the night sky, thick and black. I jumped out before the car even stopped moving.
“Sir, you can’t go in there!” a firefighter yelled, blocking my path.
“My sister’s in there!” I shouted back. “Alicia Collins...she’s a nurse!”
He looked at me, then at the burning building, then shook his head. “They’re pulling people out as fast as they can. You’ll just get in the way.”
I wanted to shove him aside, to run in there myself, but I stopped. He was right. I’d only slow them down. So I waited every second dragging like a lifetime, watching the doors, praying she’d walk out and then, she did.
Covered in soot, her hair matted, eyes red from smoke but walking. Alive.
I almost collapsed from relief. But before I could go to her, I saw him. Damon.
He was right beside her, holding her like she was the only thing keeping him standing and when she looked at him...God, I’d never seen her look at anyone like that before.
I froze where I stood. So that was him. The famous player. The golden boy with the temper. The one I’d warned her about and now he was holding her like she belonged to him.
I clenched my fists and turned away before she could see me. I didn’t come here for a reunion in the middle of chaos. Not when I knew what this really was.
The explosion hadn’t been an accident. I’d been tracking this for weeks...someone was targeting that hospital or maybe just the people inside it and now, seeing her alive but shaken, I knew my worst fear had come true.
She was part of it. I took out my phone and scrolled to the message I’d sent her just before it happened. Get out. Now.
If I’d been thirty seconds later, she wouldn’t be breathing.
“Evan.”
The voice came from behind me. Deep. Controlled.
I turned slowly. Damon was standing there, staring at me like he’d been waiting all night for this moment.
“So it’s true."
His jaw tightened. “She told me you texted her before the explosion.”
“I did.”
“How did you know it was coming?”
“Because I’ve been tracking the people who planted it.”
He stepped closer, eyes dark. “You expect me to believe that?”
“I don’t care what you believe,” I said, shoving my hands in my jacket pocket. “All I care about is keeping my sister alive.”
He laughed, but there was no humor in it. “You’re a little late for that. You disappeared for months, and now you show up the same night a bomb goes off? Convenient timing.”
I stared at him, forcing my voice to stay calm. “I didn’t disappear man. I went underground. Because the people who came after me… were coming for her next.”
For a moment, he said nothing. The fire behind us hissed and popped.
Finally, he asked, “Why her?”
“Because she’s connected to me,” I said bitterly. “Because I made enemies who don’t care who gets caught in the crossfire.”
He looked at me like he was trying to read every lie I might be hiding. “What kind of enemies?”
“The kind that don’t miss twice.”
I saw the flicker in his eyes then...fear, realization, maybe even understanding.
He exhaled, running a hand over his face. “You should’ve told her.”
“I couldn’t,” I said. “The last time she saw me, she said she never wanted to live in my shadow again. She wanted peace. I couldn’t drag her back into this.”
“She’s already in it, Evan,” he said quietly. “And now we both have to deal with that.”
We stood there for a moment, the sirens wailing around us. The distance between us wasn’t much, but it felt like a canyon...filled with blame, resentment, and the ghost of all the things we both hadn’t said.
“Where is she now?” I asked.
“They took her to be checked out. She inhaled some smoke, but she’s stable.”
“Good.”
“I’m staying with her tonight.”
“I figured.” I looked at him carefully. “You care about her?”
He didn’t hesitate. “More than you’ll ever understand.”
I nodded slowly. “Then don’t let her out of your sight.”
He frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It means this wasn’t the end.” I pulled a small USB drive from my jacket pocket and handed it to him. “Everything I’ve got...names, recordings, security footage. If something happens to me, give this to Alicia and for the love of God stay away from Nathan.”
He looked at it but didn’t take it. “You’re not dying tonight, man.”
“Maybe not tonight,” I said, forcing a smile. “But soon enough. You don’t walk away from people like this, Damon. You just run out of time.”
He stared at me for a long moment before finally taking the drive.
“Who’s behind it?” he asked.
I hesitated, glancing toward the hospital as firefighters fought to control the blaze.
“Someone from the past,” I said finally. “Someone who thinks I owe him. And until he gets what he wants, Alicia won’t be safe.”
“What does he want?”
I looked him straight in the eye. “Me.”
Damon’s expression hardened. “Then we find him first.”
“You don’t even know who you’re dealing with.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “If he’s coming for her, he’ll have to go through me first.”
I almost smiled at that. “You sound like me ten years ago.”
“Then maybe that’s not such a bad thing.”
Before I could answer, an officer called out my name, asking me to give a statement. Damon gave me one last look before walking back toward the paramedics where Alicia sat on a stretcher, wrapped in a blanket.
I stayed back, hidden in the shadows, watching her laugh weakly at something he said. For a moment, she looked like the girl I remembered...bright, hopeful, unstoppable and then her eyes lifted, scanning the chaos, and for just a second, they met mine.
Her lips parted in shock. I raised a hand slightly, but before I could move closer, one of the paramedics turned her away, guiding her toward the ambulance.
Just like that, she was gone again.
I stood there as the night air grew colder, the smoke thinning into the stars.
Somewhere deep inside, I knew I’d have to face her soon...to explain everything, to tell her the truth I’d buried for too long but not tonight.
Tonight, I had one job left. To finish what I started and make sure no one ever touched my sister again.