Page 30 of Crossed By the Stars
Even though it was already past the time I should have been in the shower, getting ready for my day atViolette, I picked up the gloves I’d dropped and lost myself to hitting the bag dangling from the gym ceiling. With every hit I landed, I wished I could forget, for just one day, who I really was. A Mori. TheOyabun’sdaughter.
I was covered in sweat by the time I stopped. The exhaustion in my soul echoed through every inch of my muscles. I grabbed the towel I’d brought, wiped my face, drank almost an entire bottle of water, and then headed for the exit.
Bobby spoke into his mic and opened the door, checking the hallway before letting me out. Same thing at the elevator, where he kept me off to the side until he could confirm the elevator was empty. In the lobby, we switched to the private lift leading to the four penthouse suites at the top of the building.
Nyra was at the door of the apartment, and as we approached, she said, “You’re running late. Rana wants to know if you still plan on going toForce de la Violettebefore your meeting at the women’s shelter.”
I nodded. “I think I can still swing it.”
Bobby went into the apartment to clear it, and I was two steps behind him. I waited in the living room while he searched the first floor even though it felt pointless when Nyra had been at the door the entire time we’d been gone. He jogged up the stairs to the bedroom, and I slowly followed. My foot had just hit the bottom step when the entire apartment rattled with an explosion that tore through the second level and threw me backward. I crashed through the coffee table as smoke and fire broke out above me.
My ears rang, and my body throbbed with pain. The fire sprinklers kicked in, tossing water from the ceilings and coating me in a thick mist. Alarms wailed, but they were muffled through the ringing in my ears. My heart slammed against my rib cage as I stared at the pile of rubble and flames that had been the second floor of my apartment. The walls were hanging at odd angles, and pieces of wood and Sheetrock and metal were scattered around me.
“Bobby!” I screamed.
There was no response.
My eyes stung with tears and smoke, and an anguished cry erupted from me as I tried to remove myself from the cracked wood and glass tearing into my skin. The front door burst open, Nyra’s face a mash of mixed emotions as she took in the mess of steel and concrete. Her eyes found me in the debris, and she sprinted to my side.
“Are you hurt?” she asked as she began pulling pieces of the coffee table from around me.
My entire being hurt. My chest ached from the harsh beat of my heart, and my stomach hurt from the thought of the man who’d gone upstairs to protect me. My legs and limbs were crying out from the force of my collision with a table, but I was alive.
“Bobby! Go get Bobby!” I demanded, struggling to get up. Nyra lifted me onto my feet, and my body cried out at the simple physical requirement of standing. My heart twisted. Tears hit my cheeks that had nothing to do with my injuries and everything to do with the life I’d cost. Another soul that fate would hold me accountable for.
Nyra ignored my command, pulling me instead toward the front door. I yanked my arm from her, the jostling all but making me black out as pain coursed through every part of me.
“God…Bobby…I…” My voice was echoing in my own head. I looked back at the nothingness that was my bedroom, flames and smoke growing. It would be a miracle if he lived. He had a family. A mother and a sister. I hadn’t asked about them in ages. Guilt ate at my insides, turning my stomach to a pit of acid and bile.
“My first priority is to get you out,” Nyra said. Her muffled voice was automatic, almost robotic, shock hitting us both.
We headed into the hallway and toward the stairs. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it down the twenty floors to the ground, but the elevators would be locked out. Nyra was on her mic, talking to Rana, but I couldn’t make out the words over the buzzing and underwater feeling in my head.
We’d barely gone down a flight when black dots started spreading their way across my vision. I fought against it. I wouldnotfaint. At the next landing, I leaned up against the cement stairwell, trying to catch my breath. Sharp pains stabbed through me, and my chest felt heavy and tight. Nyra was down another half a flight before she realized I wasn’t following. I struggled to breathe, struggled to keep myself upright, but I was already slipping to the ground before she started back up.
She hadn’t even reached me when the darkness won.
Dax
STAY WHERE YOU ARE
“I have been fighting all my demons away,
So that I could become the best thing you have.”
Performed by Yuna
Written by Yunalis Zara'ai
A knock on my bedroom doormademy heart leap. Cillian and his team rarely entered my apartment unless it was urgent. Cara was in my place on a regular basis, but she was at the boat show this morning, handling one last photoshoot for theConquista. If Dawson had been in town, I could have counted on him to interrupt my morning routine just to harass me about the time I spent on my appearance. It was easy for him to throw on whatever he wanted, because his clothing wasn’t scrutinized every time he walked out the door. He wasn’t Étienne Armaud’s son, the sole heir to theÉclairfashion empire.
The knock repeated, and I turned away from my bathroom mirror, hurrying through the immaculate bedroom to yank open the door. Cillian’s face greeted me. It held a strange range of emotions that I couldn’t read.
“There’s been an explosion,” he said quietly.
My heart sank.
Putain! Jada!
