Wife's Bitter Revenge Against Neglectful CEO Husband-Chapter 125: Destruction, Fire and Soul

Liquid sloshed from what sounded like a tin can, based on the hollow sound of metal against the wood floors. The odor of gasoline seeped through the door moments before fluid flowed into the room from beneath the door.

I flashed back to Min’s story of how his parents died, and he was left to burn. The pyromaniac he accused was Daniel.

Terrific. Daniel practiced on Min. Now, he was set to do a better job on me than he had Min.

"Bea, Bea. You have to wake up. Now. We have to go."

I jerked down the dust-laden curtains and sopped up the gas as I mopped it back toward the door. At least I could keep the accelerant on the other side of the door.

We didn’t have a choice now. Daniel meant to burn us alive. I’d have to lower Bea out of the window as far as I could and pray she survived the fall.

"Bea, come on, help me." I shook her again, and I must have been rougher than I expected. She flopped onto her back.

That’s when my world ended. My best friend, the light of my life since we were kids, had blue lips, and a white crust coated the side of her mouth and jaw.

Worst of all, her eyes were empty. That spark of freedom was gone. Bea was gone. I’d come to rescue a husk. Now, the two of us would die together because I wouldn’t leave what was left of her alone.

I wailed in sorrow. I was too late. I didn’t deserve a friend like Bea, and now she was taken from me.

Anya was right. Lettie wasn’t done with me. Lettie had played me all along.

I cradled her body in my arms, hoping some of my body heat would absorb into her cool flesh and revive her. But I knew it was a fruitless endeavor. I knew from the moment I first touched her shoulder, but I could not accept what my brain was telling me until now.

Fire gushed to life. Smoke wisps snaked around the door. I’d die soon. At least I would have Bea at my side.

My eyes watered. I coughed against the fetid aid. I watched as the smoke escaped through the open window. It occurred to me that I should take Bea with me. I couldn’t save her life, but I could save her body from the fire.

I struggled to drag Bea from the bed to the window as fire licked at the gasoline-drenched curtains at the door. Sirens came closer, but to my untrained ears, they sounded too far away to help me.

Dead weight is called dead weight for a reason. I propped Bea up beneath the window as I worked out the logistics of getting Bea out the window. It wouldn’t be pretty, but I thought I could do it. I strained to drape the upper half of Bea’s body over the window ledge when something crashed in the next room. I jumped as chaos melded with the roar of the fire and the groan of timbers as they raged against consumption.

"Teela!"

I froze, for sure what I heard was nothing more than wishful thinking. But then I heard it again. This time, I identified the voice.

The door separating me from Jake was a solid wall of flame. I opened my mouth to call out and choked. It took me two more attempts before I succeeded in calling out, but I doubted he could hear me.

There wasn’t much in the room to help me, but I threw the glass at the door, then I picked up the chair and slung it with all my might, growling out Jake’s name through parched lips. The chair thunked against the door and crashed to the floor. It was less fragile than my friend. The chair survived. My lungs felt like they would collapse from the effort.

My focus was so targeted on the door that I didn’t see Alec climb through the window until he jerked me into his arms. I fought against him until I spotted the tattoo visible at his collar. My struggle to escape turned into a desperate attempt to hold him so close that we became one person.

"Teela, baby, we have to go."

"I can’t leave Bea."

Flame and heat curled the wallpaper. The bed smoldered.

Alec took in Bea’s condition. "Teela, you go first. Just like at the cliff. I’ll bring down Bea."

Something crashed into the door. Water dampened the floor as the flames at the door fought to stay alive, but it was a good sign. Someone was coming to rescue me. Jake was coming. An axe blade burst through the weakened wood door with a mighty crash. Again and again, the blade sliced through the door.

"Stand back!" Jake called out before the door crashed in under the weight of his booted foot.

Jake stepped through with a fire extinguisher, spraying down every flame that licked through the room. At his back, Sampson and Roscoe tossed water from a bucket. Farther back, other men had a bucket brigade set up from the water source to the room where I was imprisoned.

Quickly, Jake assessed the situation as Alec and I coughed, eyes watering against the smoke and the chemicals in the extinguisher. I saw the second Jake’s eyes landed on Bea’s body. My heart broke all over again as I saw the pain I felt reflected back from his eyes. We’d failed, and we would never forgive ourselves.

"Take Teela out the window. I’ll take care of Bea," Jake said.

With a nod, Alec picked me up and sat me on the window ledge with my legs dangling out the window. Before I could think, Alec had me walking down the building’s façade with him at my back, mirroring my movements, ready to save me if I faltered, but I didn’t. I didn’t have time to. Before we ever reached the top of the picket fence, someone below us grabbed the rope and angled our climb to the side of the fenced-off refuge area so we landed safely.

A blanket was draped over my shoulders in seconds, and an oxygen mask cupped over my mouth and nose. I pushed them away as I headed to the front of the building. I had to see Jake exit the building with Bea. I’d already let her down. This was one of the last things I could do for Bea.

Alec tried to hold me back to make sure I got the emergency medical care I needed to breathe clearly. Still, when he recognized my determination, he refocused his efforts on clearing a path through the lookie-loos and emergency personnel.

I arrived at the front door at the same time as Stiff. His attention was entirely on the door. I followed his gaze to the door and the sight of Jake coming out with Bea in his arms. Someone had draped a man’s jacket over her. It was big enough to cover all but the lower legs and the one arm that fell to her side.

Stiff darted to Jake and uncovered Bea’s face. The moment he did, the blood drained from his face. In an instance, the life left Stiff as well. He became a walking corpse, no longer caring about the people trying to relieve Jake of his burden, no longer caring about the fire eating at the dilapidated building or the firemen rushing to keep the fire from spreading.

I tried to go to him to share in the grief all of us were feeling, but Stiff stopped me with one cold glare that warned me my presence was unwelcome. I stopped and dropped to my knees. Hot tears streamed down my face as I watched Stiff turn and walk away.

I’d lost both Stiff and Bea in one fell swoop. Lettie destroyed me in the most painful way possible. She took away the pillars of my support system. Sure, I had other people around me who cared about me, but Stiff and Bea had been with me the longest. They knew me to my very core and always, always backed my play. And that loyalty had cost Bea her life.

I couldn’t blame Stiff for walking away. I might do the same in his shoes.

Alec gathered me in his arms and carried me to a nearby ambulance. This time, I didn’t protest against the oxygen and the blanket. I didn’t care enough to protest. Not against the medical care or anything at all.

The EMT offered me a wipe for my face. When I didn’t take it, Alec did. He gently wiped the soot and the chemicals from the fire extinguisher that stung my skin from my face. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Alec said, "I’m sorry about Bea, but right now, we need to take care of the living. You are still among the living, Teela. Let’s go to the hospital and get you checked out. Jake will take care of Bea and the police."

"Bea," I whispered as a fresh wall of tears blurred my vision.