Page 16 of Corrupted Lies

In the distance, sirens began to wail.

Help was coming, but it wasn't going to get there quickly enough.

Somehow, he found extra speed he hadn't known he possessed as he bolted toward them. Fully intending to dart through them and search for his best friend until he found her.

He would have done just that if he hadn't been tackled to the ground just as the heat of the fire began to scorch his skin.

“No, Jake. You can't,” Jax said from on top of him.

“Alannah is in there,” he roared, fighting to get out of his brother’s hold so he could run into those flames and find his best friend.

Trapped alone and terrified in a ring of fire with no way out, and it was all his fault. He should have insisted that she come and stay with him, and if she’d continued to refuse then tell her he’d stay with her at her apartment. If he’d been with her, he never would have let her go out running when she was recovering from smoke inhalation. If she hadn't been outrunning, she would have been safe from the people targeting him and his family.

“If she’s in there, it’s probably already too late. I'm sorry,” Jax said softly.

Staring at the fire raging before him, Jake knew that his little brother was right. There was no way Alannah could survive. If she’d dropped the phone, it had to be because the flames had gotten close enough to catch her.

That scream …

It was still echoing inside his head.

Pure, unadulterated terror.

The last thing he’d ever hear from her, and it would stay with him for a lifetime.

As it should.

“Alannah, I'm sorry, sunshine,” he yelled into the flames. No doubt Jax was right and she was already gone, but he couldn’t stop himself.

Jake didn't cry. Hadn't since he was six years old and realized that no matter how many tears he shed it wasn't going to bring his mom back to life. He hadn't even cried when his dad and stepmom had been killed because, as the second oldest, he’d wanted to be strong for the younger kids. Wanted to be big and tough and stoic like his older stepbrother.

But now … knowing how horrifying Alannah’s final moments would have been, tears blurred his vision.

“I’m so sorry, man,” Cole said from beside him.

Jax’s weight eased off him, and together, Jax and Cole helped pull him to his feet. He couldn’t take his eyes off the fire, knowing that Alannah was somewhere inside the rapidly growing flames had his stomach twisting to the point where he thought he might be sick.

“Come on, Jake, we have to move back, away from the fire,” Jax said gently, guiding him further away from the inferno that had stolen his best friend from him.

Those men were going to pay.

When he got the name of the final man involved in the rape and conspiracy, he was personally going to tear him apart limb by limb.

No amount of suffering would be enough to make up for Alannah’s final moments, but his rage needed an outlet.

“I’ll make sure you get justice, sunshine,” he whispered with a determination that sunk down deep into his bones.

He needed something to focus on other than his grief, and revenge was the perfect replacement.

“Jake!”

Head darting up, he whipped around in the direction the voice had come from, and he saw her.

His sunshine.

Dirty, hair a mess, tears streaking her face, but alive and running toward him.

The next thing he knew, she launched herself into his arms.

---