Chapter 230

LUCAS

I woke to Noah crying, my head pounding. I was on a yacht's cabin floor. The air stank of gasoline and smoke.

"Stop crying," I told Noah, who sat beside me with a red, tear-streaked face. "Your parents will come soon."

I remembered fragments. Black Eagle called last night, wanting me to bring Noah here. I'd planned to trick them and gather evidence. Now we were trapped on a burning yacht.

I stood up and saw my right shoulder bleeding. Someone shot me. I couldn't remember when.

I picked up Noah with my good arm. "Let's get out of here, kid."

Smoke filled the cabin fast. Noah's cries turned to whimpers, which scared me more. The smoke would hurt his small lungs worse than mine.

"Hang on," I whispered, pressing his face to my shirt.

I headed for the stairs when a burning fixture crashed down. I twisted to shield Noah and felt fire sear my back and right leg.

"Damn," I hissed, nearly dropping him as my leg gave out.

Noah cried again. I tried to walk but my leg buckled.

"Lucas!"

Eve appeared through the smoke, eyes wild with fear.

"How did you find us?"

"I heard Noah crying. Oh God, you're hurt!"

"Take him," I said, handing Noah over. "My leg's burned. I can't walk. Get him out!"

Eve looked between me and the exit. "I can't leave you!"

"You have to!" I shouted as more ceiling collapsed. "Noah needs help! He's sick! Go now!"

She hesitated, holding Noah tight. "I'll come back with help."

I nodded. "Go!"

Eve disappeared with Noah into the smoke. I dragged myself to the wall. My burned leg throbbed. My shoulder kept bleeding.

Nobody was coming back. Why would they? Eve had what mattered - their son. She and Sean could be a family without me. The thought made me smile bitterly.

"Karma's a bitch," I muttered, coughing as smoke filled my lungs.

Part of me welcomed the end. Clean. Final. No more watching from the sidelines as the woman I'd grown to care for remained forever beyond my reach.

I pulled my phone from my pocket. The screen was cracked but working. I opened Rebecca's wedding invitation email. There she was, smiling in her white dress next to her new fiancé. She looked happier than she ever had with me.

"You're beautiful, Rebecca," I whispered, staring at her photo. "He better treat you right."

I opened the voice recorder, determined to leave her something.

"Rebecca," I began, voice rough from smoke. "Congratulations on your wedding. You look... you look beautiful in that dress." I paused, coughing violently. "I'm sorry for everything. For not being who you deserved. For not loving you the way you should've been loved."

I set it to send on her wedding day. A final goodbye from a man who never deserved her anyway.

The flames drew closer. I thought about Melissa, my reckless sister who'd always relied on me to clean up her messes. How many times had I covered for her? How many times had I sacrificed my own happiness to protect her?

"And this is what I get," I laughed bitterly, pain stabbing my chest. "Dying alone on a burning yacht. Real poetic ending, Lucas."

The heat became unbearable. I closed my eyes, consciousness slipping. So this was how Lucas would go out.

Heavy footsteps approached through the smoke. Great, now I was hallucinating.

A figure emerged through the smoke. Tall, broad-shouldered, with that determined scowl I'd recognize anywhere.

Sean Winters.

"You're not real," I muttered.

"Shut up," he growled, kicking debris aside. "Can you stand?"

I stared up at him. Even my hallucinations were accurate – that commanding tone, that impatient scowl. Memories flashed of us running across Princeton's campus, two inseparable friends with the world at our feet. Before I ruined everything.

"You're not real," I repeated.

Sean knelt beside me, examining the beam near my injured leg. "On three, I'm lifting this. Pull your leg out. One... two... THREE!"

The beam moved. Real weight, real pain as blood rushed back to my damaged leg.

"You actually came for me?" I gasped, reality crashing back.

Sean grabbed my good arm, hauling me upright. "What the hell were you thinking? Just waiting around to die?"

"Why are you here?" I demanded, wincing as he pulled my arm over his shoulders. "Why risk your life for me?"

"Move now, talk later," he ordered, half-dragging me through the inferno.

A support beam crashed behind us, sending sparks flying. Sean pulled me faster, navigating through the burning corridor.

"I get it," I said, struggling to keep up. "You need my bone marrow for Noah. Only reason you'd risk your life for me."

Sean shot me a withering look. "You think I'd let you die because you're an asshole? What kinda monster you think I am?"

"The kind who hates my guts," I shot back, "And should."

"Save your self-pity," Sean snapped. "Focus on getting out alive."

Another explosion rocked the yacht, throwing us against a wall. Sean steadied me, surveying the blocked path ahead.

"It's blocked," he muttered. "We need another way."

"Just go," I coughed. "I'm slowing you down. Save yourself."

"Shut up," he growled, changing direction. "We're both getting out."

We reached a dead end. Sean cursed, scanning our surroundings frantically.

"We're trapped," I stated, sliding down against the wall. "Find another way out. I'll wait here."

"And leave you to burn? Not happening."

"Why not?" Anger flared through my pain. "Why save me? Noah can find another bone marrow donor!"

Sean turned, fury blazing in his eyes. "You think this is about the damn bone marrow? You think I'd let you die over our past? Who do you think I am?"

Sean examined the ceiling. "There's a hatch. If we reach it, we might get out through the maintenance shaft."

"My arm's shot. Can't climb."

"Then I'll drag your sorry ass up there," he replied, pushing a crate beneath the hatch.

"Eve put you up to this," I said. "She made you promise to save me."

Sean paused. "Eve doesn't make me do anything. I make my own choices."

"She should've left me," I muttered. "Taken Noah and never looked back."

"Is that what you want? To die here? Was coming on this yacht some kinda suicide mission?"

I couldn't answer.

"You're an idiot, James," Sean said, pulling me up. "Always have been."

"Probably," I admitted as he helped me onto the crate.

Sean pushed against the hatch, fighting years of rust.

"It's stuck," he grunted.

"Just our friendship," I muttered.

Sean glared at me. "Now is not the time for your pity party."

With one final push, the hatch gave way. Fresh air rushed in.

"You first," Sean ordered, boosting me up.

"Why are you really saving me, Sean?" I asked. "After everything?"

"Because we were friends once," he answered. "And because no matter what happened, I wouldn't leave anyone to die. Not even you."

His words hit hard. I let him boost me through the hatch, collapsing onto the upper deck. Sean followed, scanning for a way out.

The yacht was engulfed in flames. The deck creaked under our feet, ready to collapse.

"We have to jump!" Sean shouted. "It's our only chance!"

I looked at the dark water below. "Can you even swim with those injuries?" Then I remembered - Sean had been terrified of deep water since the incident with Eve jumping into the sea.

Sean's face paled at the sight of the waves, but his jaw tightened. "No choice. The boat's about to blow."

He grabbed my good arm, pulling me to the railing. The yacht shuddered as explosions tore through the lower decks.

"On three!" he shouted, gripping the railing. Sweat covered his forehead.

"Sean, you don't have to-"

"One!"

"-do this! I know about your fear-"

"Two!"

"-of deep water!"

"THREE!"

He pulled me over the railing, his hand locked on mine as we fell. The last thing I saw was Sean's face - eyes shut tight, pure determination.

The cold water shocked me. As we sank, the yacht exploded above us, the blast wave hammering through the water.