Chapter 183

Chapter 183
Falling felt like dying.

Air ripped past Siena’s ears in a violent scream. Smoke and heat swallowed her, the world spinning in a blur of fire and darkness. Her fingers clawed the empty air where Damien’s wrist had been a heartbeat ago.

“DAMIAN!” she screamed, voice shredding.

She couldn’t see him.

The smoke was too thick, the drop too steep. Shadows and orange light smeared together as the collapsing building swallowed them whole.

Her stomach lurched as the floor vanished entirely beneath her. Gravity seized her lungs. Every instinct in her body begged her to brace for impact—

—but arms slammed around her instead.

Damien.

He’d managed to catch her mid-fall, body twisting so he shielded her beneath him.

His blood was hot against her skin. His grip was weak but desperate, fingers digging into her waist like he was holding onto the only thing keeping him alive.

They hit the lower platform hard.

The shock rattled through Siena’s bones. Pain crackled up her spine. Her vision blurred, colors spinning. She lay half-pinned beneath Damien as debris rained around them—chunks of flaming drywall, metal beams screaming as they tore from their anchors.

“Damien—Damien—” she gasped, pushing up onto shaking elbows. “Are you—are you breathing?”

He groaned, low and ragged. His eyes remained closed. His face was ashen, lips pale, sweat and soot dripping down his jawline. And the blood…

There was so much blood.

“Stay with me,” Siena whispered fiercely, brushing his cheek. “I’m right here. I’m not losing you.”

Another explosion boomed above them.

Damien’s eyelids fluttered. “S-Siena…”

“I’m here.”

His hand trembled as it slid weakly across her thigh, searching. She grabbed it, pressing it to her heart.

His breath hitched. “You… jumped after me.”

“Of course I did,” she whispered, voice breaking. “I’d jump a thousand times.”

Something softened behind his pain—something raw, tender, breaking open.

Then another section of ceiling collapsed. Fire roared through the exposed stairwell. Siena coughed violently, pulling Damien closer as heat washed over them.

“We have to move,” she said, panic tightening her throat.

“Can’t…” His voice cracked. “My leg—might be broken.”

Her heart dropped.

No. No, she refused to accept that. Not here. Not now.

She slipped an arm under his shoulders. “Then I’ll drag you.”

He coughed a laugh—weak, delirious. “Always… so fucking stubborn.”

“Get used to it,” she said, hoisting him up despite his hiss of pain. “Because we’re not dying in this building.”

But the fire wasn’t listening.

Flames surged down the hallway like a living creature, reaching for them with hungry, snapping teeth. Siena tightened her hold on Damien, trying to brace them before the next tremor hit.

A thick beam groaned overhead.

“No—” Siena grabbed Damien, rolling him beneath her just as the beam crashed down where his head had been.

Dust exploded around them.

Heat pressed against her back, scorching. Her lungs burned. Tears streamed from her eyes as she gasped through the thick smoke.

Damien coughed, wincing. “Siena… you need… to leave me.”

“Stop saying that,” she whispered angrily, brushing soot off his face. “You’re not dying. Not tonight. Not in my arms.”

A fresh wave of fire roared through an opening behind them. Flames licked up the walls, illuminating Damien’s blood-soaked shirt, the raw wound along his ribs—

—and Siena’s heart twisted.

She’d seen him bruised, exhausted, furious, broken.

But she had never seen him like this.

Never this close to the edge.

And it terrified her so completely she felt herself crumble inside.

“Stay awake,” she whispered, pressing her forehead to his. “Please.”

His breathing hitched, his lips brushing her cheek. “If this is the end…” he whispered, voice rough and trembling, “I want… I want to feel you. One more time.”

Her breath caught.

It wasn’t a request borne of lust.
It wasn’t erotic escape.
It was a plea—raw, human, desperate—to feel something other than pain.
To anchor himself to her. To life.

Siena swallowed hard, tears streaking through the soot on her cheeks.

She cupped his face. “We’re not dying,” she whispered, voice trembling. “But I’m right here. I’m with you. I’m yours.”

She kissed him.

He kissed back with a broken, hungry sound—blood, smoke, and the unmistakable heat of a man trying to cling to the world through her mouth.

His hand slid weakly up her thigh, fingertips trembling. She covered his hand with hers, guiding him to her hip, grounding him.

His breath shook. “I need… I need to feel you.”

“I’m here,” she whispered against his lips. “You’re not alone.”

Their mouths crashed again—slow, desperate, lingering. His teeth grazed her bottom lip. She tasted iron, tasted him. His hand cupped the curve of her waist, dragging her tighter against him despite his pain.

Heat rolled through her—not from the flames but from the sheer intensity of him, the way he kissed her like she was the only reason he was still breathing.

Her fingers slid into his hair, her body pressed against his chest, trying to give him every ounce of strength she had left.

“Damien,” she breathed, losing herself for a moment in the frantic, aching connection.

His forehead dropped to hers. “I love—”

A shot rang out.

Siena froze.

The bullet embedded in the concrete inches from her hand.

She twisted toward the shattered doorway.

Leona stood at the top of the tilted landing, silhouette glowing in the firelight, gun raised, hair wild, soot smeared across her beautiful, deranged face.

“Well,” Leona panted, voice hoarse. “Isn’t this touching.”

Siena’s heart slammed against her ribs.

Damien tensed painfully beneath her, forcing his eyes open. “Leona—”

“Shhh,” Leona smirked. “You shouldn’t be talking. You’re bleeding out, darling.”

She walked down the broken steps slowly, carefully, savoring every second.

Siena scrambled to shield Damien again. “Stop. Stay back.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Leona said, lowering the gun like she had all the time in the world, “I’m not here to kill him.”

Her eyes glittered with vicious triumph.

“I’m here to kill you.”

Siena’s pulse spiked violently. The heat. The smoke. The adrenaline. All of it surged together until her body trembled with the force of it.

“Get behind me,” Damien rasped, trying to sit up, pain twisting through him.

“No,” Siena whispered fiercely, bracing herself on her knees. “I won’t let her touch you.”

Leona tilted her head, amused. “You don’t get to decide that.”

She aimed.

Siena’s breath seized.

Damien’s hand fumbled for hers. “Siena—run—”

She squeezed his fingers. “Never.”

Leona’s smile widened. “That’s fine. Dying together is very romantic.”

Siena lunged for a fallen metal rod—anything, any weapon—but Leona was faster.

A second gunshot split the air.

Siena flinched—

—but she wasn’t hit.

Leona staggered backward, eyes wide.

Blood blossomed at her shoulder.

“What—?” she hissed, spinning.

A figure emerged through the smoke at the far end of the ruined hall.

Dark clothes.
Soot-covered.
Gun drawn.

Alec.

His expression was lethal. Cold. Focused entirely on Leona.

“You’re in my way,” he said.

Leona snarled, aiming her gun at him instead.

Alec didn’t blink.

Another explosion tore through the building—violent, deafening.

The floor beneath them cracked in a jagged line.

Siena screamed as she grabbed Damien’s arm—

The ground split open.

Fire surged up between them—

And the floor dropped out from under all three.

Leona disappeared into the smoke.
Alec vanished with her.
And Siena was left gripping Damien, sliding toward the widening chasm of flames.

“Hold on!” she cried, digging her nails into anything she could find.

Damien tried to help—but his strength was failing. His body slipped.

“No—NO—Damien!” she screamed, tightening her arms around him.

But the last piece of flooring beneath them broke—

And they both fell again—

Straight into the fire-lit abyss below.