Page 140 of His Enforcer

Jax wheezes and falls to the ground, his head bowed, some of his hair singed.

Rafe and Quincy move toward him, all talking at once, and I try like hell to say something, to fight the panic bubbling inside of me. Because I need to get to him. I need to go in there and find him.

“Where is Viktor?” I hear someone scream, someone that is most likely me, and Jax rasps, “I dunno. I didn’t see him. That place was…oh fuck, it was a maze of small rooms and junk everywhere.”

Oh god. He’s going to die. He’s going to burn alive, just like them.

Don’t leave me! Come back!

I gasp, my lungs contracting.

I inhale the flames. They’re scorching. No one survives that.

No one can, not even Vik. My Vik…

My mind reels, and suddenly I’m back in that small crawlspace, listening as my mom screams for her life, the scent of gasoline overpowering as the men sneer. The gunshots, the scent of blood mixing with all of it.

I peer through the small wooden slats and I see my momreaching for me, blood pooling at the corner of her mouth. Her lips move, and I see what she says.

“Get him, Luca. Go get him.”

I snap out of it, gasping and clawing at my hair, tears sliding down my cheeks as I push myself up on shaking legs and stumble forward. I feel hands grab at me, but I don’t stop. I need to get him. I need to find him.

“Get him, Luca. Go get him.”

My mom’s voice is clear, as if I never forgot it.

I will. I’ll get him.

As I draw closer and closer to the flames, my gaze widens, my eyes blurry, stinging.

I won’t let him die. I’ll fight.

This time, I’m going to fight.

I step forward, the fire licking at my skin, searing my clothes, setting me ablaze, but I don’t stop.

I keep going. I have to keep going.

I won’t stop. I won’t hide.

My feet carry me forward, my heartbeat thumping loudly in my ears. The oppressive smoke makes it hard to see, and I pull my shirt over my mouth and nose as I move through the crumbling building. It’s bigger than it looked from the outside, an entire addition on the back. Jax was right. It’s almost like a maze.

“Viktor!” I shout, my voice breaking. “Vik!”

But I hear nothing, just the crackling of embers, the rush of the flames, the sound of my frantic heartbeat.

“Vik!” I plead as I try desperately to catch sight of him, his elusive ghost.

Just one more glance. One more touch.

I just want to hold him in my arms once more.

I want to spend years learning the intricacies of him. I want to memorize the entirety of him.

As I continue to move around the confusing space, I stumble over a fallen beam, catching myself on something already aflame, my handsburning, but I don’t feel it. I feel nothing, just resolution, resolve.

I have to get to him.

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