Page 67 of Bought to Bear Bratva Heir

Because I was weak. Because I hadn't figured out how to handle things between Daisy and me.

"Fuck."

Dropping my head into my hands, I groaned. "Okay, is that the bad news or the worst news?"

I didn’t want to speak to Marguerite about what had happened that night. I wanted to bury myself in misery.

"The bad." My man didn’t even miss a beat. "It might be nothing, but—"

My head snapped up. "What is it?" Suddenly my heart was thundering in my chest with bruising intensity.

"Mica was listening to the scanner. There’s a fire—"

"And?" There were always fires in the city. I didn’t understand why that would be news for me unless it was one of my warehouses that was up in flames.

"It’s in Daisy's dad's neighborhood."

The air left my lungs in a whoosh. "Her house is," I didn’t even finish the sentence before he spoke again.

"We don’t know, but we are trying to find out. Hey, where are you going?"

"Daisy," I rasped as I sprinted towards the elevator, my chest heaving. "Stay with Alec. Do not leave his side, is that understood?"

Not waiting for an answer, I was already hurtling downwards towards the parking garage.

Daisy had grown up across town, and the drive over there took what seemed like forever. It didn’t matter how fast and sporty my car was because it seemed like I was stuck in traffic for eternity.

I came over the ridge, and that’s when I saw it. Not the fire, the smoke. Black and thick as it stained the dawn sky.

"Daisy."

I didn’t know this area well. But I knew this was where Daisy had grown up, and deep down I knew—I knew where that smoke was coming from, and the fear that ripped through me almost made me freeze into place.

The sound of another fire truck blaring onto the scene was the thing that jolted me out of it.

Leaving the engine running, I took off at a run, pushing past the mass of people who were standing there screaming but doing nothing.

"There’s someone inside!" I screamed as I ran.

No one seemed to move; the firemen aimed their hoses, but not one of them was battling the flames to get inside to her.

"There’s someone—"

"The house is empty." One of them caught me around the waist in a tackle as I ducked under the cordon and tried to sprint into the house. "The owner died. You can’t go in there."

"His daughter, Daisy." Rage filled me like the smoke was filling up all the windows I could see. Fuck, I didn’t have time for this. Pulling back my arm, I punched him straight in the face, knocking him on his ass.

Not bothering to check if he was okay, I barreled forward. Pulling my shirt over my mouth and nose, I choked on the smoke that threatened to suffocate me.

Darkness engulfed me, lit only by the flicker of orange-red flames. Most of the fire down on the ground floor was out, but the smoke was so thick I couldn’t see a foot in front of my nose.

My lungs burned with it.

"Daisy!" I screamed her name, turning in a circle; I tried to figure out where she would be at this time of the day. It was morning, so she might be in the kitchen, but if that was the case, then she would have escaped out the back door, and that meant—

I turned my stinging eyes up the stairs. The steps and banister still smoldering. She was up there. I knew it. I could feel it.

"Daisy!" I shouted again, my voice raspy from the smoke. "Daisy, it’s me, Ilya. Talk to me, baby, just make a noise."