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“Fuck!”
My apartment was on fire. Not just a small little kitchen fire but blazing. The heat and smoke assaulted my senses right away, and I recoiled as I turned away from the living room, slowly catching on fire. Smoke and flames filled the hallway down to my bedroom and the kitchen. The only part of my apartment that wasn’t fully ablaze was the living room.
Ducking back into the bathroom, I grabbed the extra towel hanging on the back of the door and soaked it, along with the other one around my body, in the shower. Once it was dripping wet, I wrapped one around my chest and the other over my shoulders.
The heavy terry cloth felt suffocating, but it would save my life. Stepping back out into the hall, I shielded my face from the ferocious flames that had grown in the time I was wetting the towels, the glowing red beast feeding off all my shitty old furniture, consuming it and looking for more. I took one step toward the living room, the floor beneath me creaking with the weight. Panicked, I looked down. How long had the fire been burning? And what about the rest of the people in my building?
Looking up, I focused on where I wanted to be. I needed to get over to the living room window so I could get down the fire escape. Coughing, I drew the towel over my nose and began to run. I was halfway through the room when I tripped and fell, hitting my head on the edge of the coffee table. The smell of blood flooded my nose, warring with the smell of smoke. Around me, the air seemed to crackle, the bones of the building groaning around me as the flames consumed it. Racked with coughs, I got onto my hands and knees, clutching at the towel over my shoulders as I crawled toward the window, but no matter how much I moved, I hardly seemed to advance.
Collapsing onto the floor, I peered up at the window, almost tasting the fresh air. There was a slow groan and then a crack.
And then the darkness took me.
* * *
I woketo the sound of beeping—an incessant beeping that seems to be in time with my heart. The violent cough that forced its way out of my body took me by surprise. It led to a fit of coughs that made my already sore throat raw.
“Drink this,” a man said gently, shoving a straw near my mouth. I gulped down the cool water I was offered, my eyes finally focusing on the hand holding the bottle. Bane studied me with heart-crushing concern, the seriousness on his face making my already strained heart thump faster. When I finally had my fill of water, I let go of the straw and sat back in the bed—the hospital bed.
He placed the bottle back down onto a table, then dragged his seat even closer to the side of the bed.
“Bane.”
He stood, wrapping his arms around me. I clutched at his arm around my chest, the tears streaming down my face taking me by surprise.
“What happened?” I asked.
He pulled away, his eyes darkening with rage. “Someone set fire to your apartment.”
I remembered the flames. I remembered the smoke. Even now, I could still smell it. “Why?” I croaked.
His hands curled into fists. “I have no idea, but I will goddamn find out why,” he vowed.
A knock on the door drew my attention. “Ms. Montana, I’m glad to see you’re awake,” a woman with blonde hair pulled back into a severe bun said as she walked into my room. Her gaze darted to Bane for a moment before returning to my face. “My name’s Detective Cox. I’m investigating the fire at your apartment.”
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Bane snarled at the detective. I looked between the pair, seeing the antagonism simmering there.
“Bane, do you know her?”
He turned his eyes back to me, the anger bleeding out. “We’ve met before, yes, Little Bird. Although I have no idea why she’s here now,” he ground out.
“Like I said, I’m investigating the fire.” Detective Cox dragged the other chair that was against the wall over to the side of the bed and settled into it. “I have some questions for you, Ms. Montana.”
“Call me Wren,” I mumbled. “Do you think someone set that fire on purpose?”“I’m sure of it,” she replied, holding out her phone to me. She scrolled through about half a dozen pictures of the burnt remains of my place. “See how there are scorch marks here and here?” She pointed at something in the photograph, but I couldn’t see it. “This indicates an accelerant was used… most likely gasoline. That’s why it burned as fiercely as it did. That, plus that building wasn’t to code, so it had no fire protection or prevention methods in place.”
She switched off her phone and placed it back on her lap, looking at me like I was a naughty child who had to confess to something that had happened.
“Do you have any enemies, Ms. Montana?”
Enemies?I looked at Bane, but his eyes were firmly fixed on Cox. “No. No enemies.”
“Nobody at work who’s threatened you?”
“No. I’m self-employed.”
“Where do you work?”
“Bubbly Paws.”
