Page 7 of Deadly Obsession

I don’t listen. I jump out of the way to avoid being hit by a part of the ceiling falling at my feet in a fiery clump, warning me to stay back. An almighty crack from above hints that the entire floor is going to cave. The flames are spreading, creating a wall of heat.

Strong arms grab my shoulders and heave me backwards.

“Have you got a death wish?” my brother, Ralph, hisses in my ear as his fingers dig into my skin and haul me away. “Mum nearly had a heart attack.”

I shrug him off, but we get pushed along with another crowd and swept outside. Sirens grow closer, and three fire engines pull up. The men burst from its doors and hurry to get their hoses ready to fight the blaze.

Lord and Lady Collingsbrook are weeping. “Please God, save our home!”

Praying won’t help. The damage has already been done. A building this old will never recover.

“My girlfriend’s in there!” I scream desperately as one of them rushes past. He doesn’t listen.

At the bottom of the steps, the entire party has assembled in the garden. Women are crying, their previously pristine make-up streaks down their cheeks. Some men are even missing shoes. At the end of the drive, my cousin is being whisked back to Buckingham Palace.

“Sebastian!” Mum rushes forward. Her voice is more high-pitched than usual, but she’s not concerned. No, I can detect her overwhelming disappointment a mile away. “What on earth were you thinking?”

“I don’t have time for this,” I say, pushing past her.

“Sebastian!” A weeping Beatrice latches onto my arm as I try to get away. “Daddy, he’s… he’s…”

“It’s okay, dear.” Mum hurries over and puts a protective arm around her. She’s never shown me that kind of motherly love before. It’s all to keep up appearances. “Come over here and sit with me.”

“But… Seb…” Beatrice whimpers, but I have no time for her crocodile tears. No one liked her father, and I’m betting she didn’t either.

“You should stay with Beatrice, Sebastian,” Mum orders.

I draw myself up to full height. I’m not a toddler that she can boss around anymore.

“Didn’t you hear me the first time?” I hiss venomously, making her eyes boggle in outrage. “Rose is still inside!”

If she were here, I’d tell her that everything would be okay and hold onto her tightly. I feel like I’ve been pushed off a cliff, but half of my body has been behind. Is this how Freddie felt for the last five years?

Mum casts a worried glance over her shoulder and hisses, “Stop making a scene. Pull yourself together, Sebastian!”

How can I when Rose is missing? I half expect her to run and jump into my arms at any moment, but she doesn’t.

The panic is overwhelming as the fire crew makes their way inside, and I hear snippets of conversations.

“What happened?”

“Was it a bomb?”

“It could have been an assassination attempt on the prince!”

Spencer’s distinct voice drawls over the others, boasting about saving someone from being squashed by a falling animal head. The only thing he saved was his own arse.

I wipe my eyes with my dusty jacket sleeve. “Rose…”

The fire crew pulls bodies from the wreckage, ready to put them into the row of waiting ambulances. I race towards them, needing to know, needing to check that Rose isn’t among them.

“You need to stand back,” a paramedic says, but I ignore him and peer at the face of a heavily burned man who I recognise as someone my father played chess with.

Then there’s a woman on a stretcher heading in our direction…

I ignore their calls for me to stay back like an animal possessed. I need Rose. I need to see she’s okay to get rid of the dread trying to tear my chest open because I can’t live without her. Losing her would destroy me.

The injured woman is wearing a black dress, but I can’t see her properly. The police are putting up yellow tape to block off the scene, and I leap over it like a hurdle, but I don’t get far.

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