Page 93 of Master of My Life

Chase grabbed the edges of the window and pulled himself into the freezing night as the fire

engulfed his bedroom. He sprinted down the steps of the fire escape. Sirens wailed from the front of

the building. He looked into each window he passed, praying the fire hadn’t spread before his

downstairs neighbors escaped.

The building was dark. The fire hadn’t spread.

An explosion rocked the building as he reached the end of the last platform. He stumbled to his

knees, grabbing hold of the railing with both hands and crouching down. Fiery debris rained down on

him and he ducked his head.

Almost safe. Almost to the ground. Another explosion shook the building again, and the landing

tore loose from the limestone blocks. He clung to the railing and cursed loudly as a large stone hit the

edge of the metal structure and sent both him and the platform tumbling down to the sidewalk below.

“Sabrina. Wait!”

Sabrina jumped down the steps of her building and hesitated a moment before taking off toward

Chase’s condo. There weren’t any cabs on their narrow street this time of night and she wasn’t going

to sit around and wait to call for one. Ethan caught up a moment later. In the distance, sirens echoed.

Once they reached the main road, Ethan grabbed her arm and waved his free hand at the passing

traffic. “We can’t run the whole way, Sabrina,” he said in a firm voice. “It’s over a mile and icy. Not

to mention freezing.”

Ethan held her arm in an iron grip and she shifted on her feet as they waited for a cab to notice

them. Once a yellow sedan pulled up, Sabrina threw herself in the backseat and Ethan gave the driver

Chase’s address. How could he be so calm? Her jaw trembled, and she clasped her hands together to

keep them from shaking. “Have you heard from Chase?”

“No.” The muscles in Ethan’s jaw tightened and his eyes were hard. He pulled her close. “He’s

okay, Sabrina. I’m sure of it. We’ve been in plenty of hellish scrapes before and been fine. Chase’ll

walk away from this one, too.”

Her stomach churned. Chase didn’t walk away when he got injured in Syria. Chase! Please be

okay!

The cab slowed after a few blocks. “There’s some sort of emergency over there,” the driver said.

“I can’t get any closer.”

“Get us as close as you can, please,” Sabrina begged.

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