Page 113 of Marked

“I’m doing exactly what he’d want me to do—making sure you don’t do anything stupid and get yourself killed. Besides, if anyone could survive that bomb, it’s Cole.”

Sophia wrapped her arms around her waist. Sirens blared in the distance and Nash paced away from her. He spoke low through his earpiece. “Nothing?”

Several beats passed.

“Emergency crews are on the way. You’re going to need to get outta there.” Another stretch of silence. “Christ, I dunno. But if you’re still here when the cops arrive, you’re going to have issues.”

Devastation clung to every cell in Sophia’s body. She rocked back and forth on her heels, staring at the building and willing Cole to come out.

Where was he? He couldn’t be dead. There was no way. No way.

He promised he’d come back.

Tears ran down her cheeks. She covered her mouth with her hand as realization sank in. If he were conscious, he would have communicated through the earpiece—or phoned one of his brothers. The guys had been inside for several minutes now, all of them searching... to no avail.

Nash’s firm hand on her shoulder brought her back to reality. “We have to get you out of here.”

She didn’t need Nash to remind her of the severity of her situation. Of what it would look like for an off-duty cop to be found at an explosion.

With all the speculation already circling her, the last thing she needed was this. But dammit, she didn’t care. “The firefighters will arrive soon, and they’ll be able to get further into the building. Maybe they’ll find him. I don’t want to leave, just in case...”

Nash’s gaze turned sympathetic. “You need to think about you and your daughter right now. I’ll have one of the guys stay close by so they can see if any survivors are found.”

She nodded slowly, drawing her bottom lip between her teeth. Although every rational part of her brain told her he was right, she couldn’t make herself budge from her spot on the sidewalk.

Nash opened the passenger door and ushered her inside before getting into the driver’s seat and pulling away from the curb. Sophia stared in the sideview mirror at the demolished building.

If Cole had by some slim chance survived, he wouldn’t be in good shape. Nausea gripped her esophagus. She pulled her knees to her chest.

He was alone, probably taking his last breath, and she was running away to save herself. He’d been there every time she needed him and now, he’d die alone.

Just as he’d been his whole life.

Alone and scared.

***

Sophia sat numbly in the conference room at the police station as the new chief went over the details of the explosion and Kenneth’s death. Disgust saturated her mouth. Her old boss was being praised. He was a martyr—a man who’d been working undercover to take down a child-trafficking ring and had been blown up in the process.

Lies.

All freaking lies.

But she couldn’t say anything without incriminating herself or Cole. Couldn’t bring forth what she knew or explain that Kenneth had taken Bella, that he’d immobilized her and killed Markie, her informant, right in front of her eyes. She’d even anonymously sent the video Markie had supplied her to the station, and still they covered for him.

Which meant Kenneth likely wasn’t the only dirty cop inside. Someone bigger and higher up in the police force, perhaps even at government level, had to be involved for there to be this kind of hush-hush.

Not only was Kenneth getting off as a hero, but also, Cole was presumed dead. Her team had been elated to see the camera footage of Cole entering the building. Interestingly enough, she hadn’t been caught on video. Which didn’t make sense.

Unless... unless one of Cole’s brothers, Dare maybe, had erased the footage with her in it. Given everything she’d witnessed the Holmes boys do, she wouldn’t be surprised. But why not erase Cole, too?

The bodies they’d found were mostly too damaged to identify. Her heart ached all over again.

Had he died quickly?

Tears stung her eyes, which had been the norm over the last two weeks. Two weeks of hell. Two weeks of praying there’d been some mistake, that Cole had somehow lived.

Each day that passed told her that wasn’t the case. This was no trick. He was gone, and the brief couple of days she’d had with him were all that was meant for this lifetime.

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