Page 2 of Bound By Ruin

Never like this.

Chapter1

Celia

Blindingflames of blood orange flicker before my eyes, crackling as they threaten to devour not only the business that I’ve spent years nurturing, but the love I’m only now starting to believe exists. “Rebel!” I twist my wrists and contort my hands, hoping to break free from my handcuffs, but it’s no use. I could rub my skin raw, and I still won’t make it inside the burning building in time to save them—the scarred man terrified of fire, and the brother who charged into Hell to find him.

“Ruin!” I feel the sob in my chest threatening to break free, but I won’t let it. I won’t give in to the anguish burning inside my throat, because nothing is over yet. They’re both still alive. Theyhaveto be.

I can’t imagine a future without them.

“Celia,” Rage calls out, our phone call still running. “Stay with me. I’m on the way. Keep talking.”

“I don’t—” I tug at my wrist again, hissing as sharp pain radiates down my forearm. “What do you want me to say? They’re in there, burning to death!” Quickly, I rummage through the glove box a third time, hoping to find the missing handcuff key and coming up empty. With a frustrated cry, I slam my fist on the dashboard. “You’ve got to bekiddingme! I’m going to kill him!”

Rebel justhadto be heroic. Hehadto cuff me to the car and run after his brother alone. So fuckingstupidand selfless and—I choke on the emotions overflowing from my heart. Anger. Pain. Humiliation.

Fear.

I drown them all out with a scream. “This is such bullshit!” I tear at the handcuffs again, the chains rattling in mockery. “Tell me what to do, Rage! How can I break out of handcuffs? There’s got to be a trick or something!”

“You need to apply enough force to break the chain,” Thanatos chimes in, sounding miles away through the speakerphone. “Or slip your hand through. Is your hand small enough?”

I push my thumb as far into my palm as I can and try to squeeze my hand through the cuff, but it catches on bone and merely adds to the bruises already forming. “I could break it,” I mutter, looking around the car for something to use. “I saw that in a movie once. They broke their thumb and got free.” A chill rushes down my spine and I bite my trembling lip. Looking up at the growing flames, I consider the pain Rebel and Ruin are going through right now.

If I can do this, if I can actually break my hand and free myself, can I still make it in time to save them?

“You willnothurt yourself,” Rage growls. “Do you hear me? We’re almost there. We’ll get you out.”

I stare at the gun that Rebel left with me. “I have a gun. Maybe I can shoot the chain.” I also saw that in a movie, I think. Or was it an axe that Rose used in the movieTitanicto cut the handcuffs keeping Jack prisoner while the ship sank?

Would Rebel keep a hand axe in a Lamborghini?

“Just sit tight; we’re almost there.”

The minutes crawl by as black smoke rises into the night sky. A siren wails in the distance, no doubt heading this way, and all I can do is wait.

For Rage and Thanatos to arrive.

For Rebel or Ruin to reappear from within the flames.

Or for my heart to break when they don’t come back.

If Rebel and Ruin don’t make it out, what does that mean for me and Rage? Will he still want me if I’m the reason they died?

My thoughts spiral as I picture the long stretch of time ahead of me until my death, an empty void of nothing, nowhere, no one. I press my palm to my stomach and close my eyes, praying that if by some miracle I get pregnant, my baby will still have a loving father in their lives. Images of each brother flicker through my mind, one man after the other rocking a baby in their arms. Up until now, I’ve been picturing either Rage or Rebel as the father, but this time, Ruin joins the rotation. With a baby of his own and a family to care for, would he finally be comfortable enough not to hide behind a mask?

I picture Ruin standing by an open window with the baby, a soft white curtain billowing around him and obscuring his face. The man’s silhouette shifts, growing taller, broader, until the curtain falls to the side to reveal not Ruin—but his eldest half-brother Thanatos, a gentle smile curving across his scarred lips as he looks up to find me standing beside him. In his sharp eyes, I see a piece of them all—the deep obsession from Rage, the calm decisiveness from Ruin, the playful affection from Rebel, and something new from Thanatos himself.

Kindness.

When Rage and Thanatos finally arrive, skidding to a stop beside my car, I’m at a loss for words. I don’t want to let any of these men go before realizing whatever future lies ahead for us. The good, the bad, and all the in-betweens.

Thanatos is faster than Rage, jumping from the driver’s seat and lunging for me. While he snaps open the passenger door and grabs the handcuffs, I watch as Rage runs inside the burning building and disappears behind a wall of smoke. My heart leaps to my throat, but Thanatos is already shoving a lock inside the keyhole to my cuffs and twisting. The moment they snap off, he pulls me from the vehicle in one swift motion and swings me around until I’m seated on the hood of Rage’s SUV.

The metal is warm on my bare thighs, and I look up at Thanatos’s face, remnants of my daydream blurring with reality. Dazed, I whisper, “will you take care of the baby?” Tears well in the corners of my eyes, and I hastily brush them away. “I need to know if—if something happens, that I still have someone—that you could—” Huffing, I stop myself from continuing. It’s foolish to think that Thanatos will want anything to do with me if we don’t make it out of this incident unscathed.

His touch is gentle as he lifts my chin, the embers in the air reflecting in his dark eyes. “I promise, Princess, that no matter what happens, I will be there for you and your baby.” Rubbing his thumb across the bruises on my wrist, he lifts my hand to his lips and kisses the tender flesh, looking every bit as kind as he did in my daydream.

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