Page 87 of Claiming Liberty

I don’t see her face behind my closed lids. I see Angel’s. And I know what I have to do.

With a pained groan, I climb to my feet, swiping the sweat from my forehead. I glance down at my reddened chest before rushing to the room the armoire is still partially in front of. I’m just able to squeeze my body through.

Liberty is holding Elsie’s wrists and is dragging her toward the door. “Someone, please!” she yells, a panicked cry escaping.

I slip back out into the hall and use my new rush of adrenaline to shove the armoire a few more excruciating inches.

“Thank you,” she calls when she must hear that I haven’t left. She bawls with relief, but when I step back into view, revealing myself, that relief drains from her face along with her color.

She gasps and jumps back, her shoulder colliding with the wall. I stride to Elsie and lift her into my arms before jutting my chin toward the door.

“Hurry up, let’s go.”

Liberty’s eyes lower to Elsie, uncertainty pooling in the pretty blue of her irises.

With a frustrated growl, I run around her, throwing a look over my shoulder. “We don’t have time to argue.”

I sprint into the hallway and to the stairs, thankful when I see Liberty on my heels. Elsie stirs in my arms, but I don’t look down at her. I clutch her to my chest, my heart galloping. I don’t see any of the others as we take the stairs down to the second floor, and I hope like hell that means they made it out.

Forty-three women. Forty-three women I enslaved in order to fill my pockets.

Forty-three women I can’t let die.

We make it halfway down the stairs to the second floor when a beam falls from the ceiling above us. I look up, my jaw slackening as I jump to move out of the way. Singeing pain tears at the skin on my back, and I yell out but catch myself before stumbling down the stairs, Elsie held firmly in my arms.

“Sawyer!”

I spin to face Liberty, my heart dropping into my shoes when I see her standing on the other side of the fiery beam. It’s propped up on the staircase, leaving no possibility of jumping over it.

“Just go!” Liberty screams, her eyes aimed at the girl in my arms. “Get Elsie out of here!”

I glance down at Elsie, then move back to Liberty.

If this was any other woman, I might listen. I might leave, maybe even take the girl with me to the tunnel if the kitchen isn’t fully in flames or to the safe room to wait the fire out.

But this isn’t any other woman. This is Liberty. This is the woman I promised my brother I would protect.

I can’t leave her.

“Hold on!” I yell before turning and flying down the staircase. I jump onto the second floor and rush around to stand below Liberty. She leans over the railing and peers down at me, her face a mask of fear.

“You need to go!” she screams.

I lay Elsie down several feet away, her eyes blinking open then going wide. I hurry back to stand below liberty, then hold my arms open for her. “Jump!”

“You can’t catch me!”

It’s a long staircase, so she’s maybe fifteen feet above me, and she’s right, I can’t catch her. I can only break her fall.

Adrenaline surges into my bloodstream when another beam falls, landing maybe ten feet behind me. I flinch and twist that way. The fire roars in my ears as it takes on the life of a starving animal, devouring furniture, the walls, the ceiling, and soon, us.

Frantically, I peer up at Liberty. “Now!”

She hesitates only a moment before climbing over the railing and letting herself fall. Her body hurls into me, and we slam to the ground, my head bouncing off tile.

Everything goes dark.

23

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