Page 187 of Love Me

So that was his escape route.

“Celine, one more minute. We have to go,” Kaden yells.

I look in the opposite direction, toward the massive family crest on a round golden frame.

“Nooo.” Felix explodes with fury. “I’ll kill you. You’ll never escape my wrath.”

Kaden stares him down, pinning him to the wall with such a force, he gasps.

“You have forty seconds. But even if you succeed in walking out, you will be caught,” I say.

Kaden and I lift the crest and run down the stairs and outside with it.

“How sure are you?”

“Ninety-nine percent?”

We throw it in the fountain and scurry away. An explosion ensues, throwing us onto our backs. Water gushes, splashing all around us, drenching our clothes.

One second I smile, looking at him, the next, another explosion follows. When I lift my eyes, the office’s windows are blown, shards flying in every direction and flames erupt.

What did I miss?

Kaden cups my face. “Look at me.”

I do and he says, “That was his diversion. You couldn’t have known there were two bombs.”

Felix can’t escape. I move to stand up, to convince myself he didn’t escape, only for Kaden to hold me back.

I watch as the right side of the building is engulfed in flames. “It’s ruined.”

“Not quite. This is what we do. We rebuild and make something new out of what has been shattered: stronger, better, and everlasting.”

An hour later, the fire is contained. We stare at the black lines marring the building.

“There is just one body. It belongs to the guard,” Hunter says,

Kaden balls his hands at his sides. “Felix couldn’t have gone too far.”

My father reaches us. “Maybe you should come with us tonight.”

Kaden’s body tightens, and I say, “No, I am staying with my friends tonight.”

I climb into Kaden’s car and rest my cheek on the window.

How much hate can a person harbor to want to kill his own son? Kaden’s grip tightens around the wheel as we speed away.

“He would have killed you. All of us. And for what? I don’t want to have to do anything with this.”

His phone rings, and he connects it to the speakers. “Did they catch him?”

“Not yet,” Thomas says. “The matriarch insists that we proceed with the dinner as always.”

He drags a hand down his face and hangs up.

I thread my fingers with his. “Felix is just one man while we have all the resources in the world. This is not ideal, but we are here, free, like we wanted. We worked hard to get here. Our sacrifices won’t be in vain.”

A reverent silence fills the house. We walk into the living room to find the group gathered around the table, a bottle of whiskey sitting prominently on it.

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