Jamal POVThe planet wanted to swallow us whole.It snarled beneath my feet trembling like some beast roused from centuries of sleep. Dazzling dust, spitting flames and air torn asunder by the sound of marble snapping along its center. I clutched Melissa tight and her small hands burrowing into my shirt like she might find purchase there. Her hold had never been so intense, furious, frantic and still, she was slipping."Don't let go!" she panted, voice a rasp of terror.My chest constricted "I won't. I swear it to you...i won't."But once more, the floor gave way under us, concrete tearing like rotten bread as we were standing on borrowed land and it was eating away bit by bit. I could feel the finish pressing down on us, seconds from now.I hugged her to me tighter, spinning my body around to shield her from a second waterfall of debris but a roof-sized piece of it fell an inch from my back and my bones resonated with shock. My teeth were chattering and my arms were shaking but i did
MelissaFalling is a lot like drowning.The world doesn't rush past you—it closes in around you. Air is ripped from your lungs, pressure crushes the ribs from your chest, and your head reaches out for something solid, something that will never come.That's what it felt like when the ground vanished beneath us, the manor collapsing into a sinkhole of flames and smoke. One minute I was clinging to Jamal, my cheek pressed against the heat of his chest, the next I was airborne, the earth gone, plummeting into a black abyss with only terror keeping me whole."Don't let go!" I screamed, my voice raspy, my throat burning.His arms wrapped around me at once. I felt the tension in his muscles, the strain of his breathing, the way he pressed me to him as if he'd be destroyed before he'd release me."I've got you!" he shouted back, his voice a lifeline in the chaos.But no matter how tight his hold, reality teased me—he couldn't stop the fall.Shards of debris rained down, metal and stone crashi
JamalTime didn’t stop.It stretched and it clawed at me twisting seconds into endless jagged shards of eternity and the smoke thickened, guns barked and men shouted but all i could see burned into my vision like fire was the barrel of her father’s gun pointed at Melissa not at Rashid and not at the men circling us at her.For the briefest heartbeat, i thought I’d lost my mind and that the chaos had twisted my perception but no, the intent in his eyes was clear, cold and merciless then something inside me snapped.I lunged, twisting my body until i covered her completely. My chest pressed to hers and her fingers clutching the fabric of my shirt like she could hold me in place and could tether me from being ripped away.If he pulled that trigger, the bullet would go through me first.“Over my dead body” I growled voice rough and primal.Melissa’s breath hitched beneath me with hot tears sliding against my throat as she whispered my name like a prayer and a curse all at once.I didn’t l
MelissaThe universe fell into the space of that shot and i couldn't breathe for a second as Rashid's pistol was still pressed against Jamal's skull, his eyeballs protruding and his body rigid as though he'd been struck by lightning and then it all broke, he rolled forward and the gun slipped from his grasp.What tore from me was half gasp, half cry.Blood flowered on Rashid's shoulder, his jacket darkening rapidly as he spun around growling and eyes flashing to the doorway. A second shot splintered the wood a mere inch from his temple. He crouched, screaming orders in Arabic and chaos erupted.The man holding me shoved me hard into the wall so i slammed into it and his grip unrelenting on my arm "Run!" he shouted trying to drag me toward the door but Jamal, he was still bound, wrists behind him and blood streaming down his temple but even then, he was staring at me and his body twisted like daring Rashid to try again.Something inside me snapped as i bit down hard on the hand pulling
JamalIt hadn't rained since i left the dock and it came down in fine, cold sheets slicking the asphalt and coating everything in a silver sheen with he cannery looming ahead abandoned for years at least to anyone who didn’t know better. I’d spent enough time in this city’s underbelly to recognize the signs: faint tire tracks cutting into the gravel and a light that flickered on the second floor when everything else was dark.They had her in there.Every muscle in my body was tense and my mind already mapping out the quickest routes in. I had my Glock, a combat knife under my jacket and not a lot else. No backup, no Plan B just the realization that if i waited another hour, Rashid would do something that i couldn't undo.I crept low as i headed for the side entrance. Suicide doors were front too open and probably covered. The side loading dock had a single rusted door with the kind that stuck if you didn't know just the right place to kick it and i did.The lock creaked with a tiny cl
MelissaThe room smelled of rust and old rain and it wasn't just the moisture creeping through the cracked walls of the cannery, it was the kind of smell that came from things that had been left to rot as i kept pacing, my bare feet adhering slightly to the warped floorboards and the pound of my own pulse sounding louder than my feet.The light overhead buzzed flickered then steadied again casting everything in this washed-out yellow. Rashid sat in the corner watching me like a cat watching a mouse that had nowhere to run with his jacket hung open and his shirt sleeves rolled revealing forearms corded with muscle and veins.“Keep pacing like that” he said with a lazy voice “and you’ll wear a trench into my floor”"I wouldn't be pacing if you'd release me" My voice was sharper than i meant it to be but i didn't bother to fix it. My chest felt tight with every breath in like sandpaper.He leaned back in his chair, arms crossed "You're here for your own good, Melissa and Jamal's. Do you