Page 48 of Nothing Left
I can’t do this. I can’t be weak. I need to be strong. I need to tear this house apart piece by piece until I find her. Because ifshe isn’t here anymore, if she’s gone, I am going to wither away into dust. I will cease to exist.
I force myself up, tripping twice as I sprint toward the fire.“Maya!” I scream.“Maya!”
I roar her name even louder, lunging straight for the burning foyer, but three of my guards tackle me to the ground. I fight against them until one of them yells,“Sir! I think we found her!”
“Is she okay? Is she breathing?” I choke out, feeling a strange wetness streaming down my cheeks.
The guards keep their heads down, their eyes completely averted to the right. There, on the grass, is what appears to be a charred, grey skeleton.
The fire has been raging for thirty minutes.
“It… it may not be her, sir,” one of the men stammers.“The firefighters are on the way. It’s just that the estate is so secluded—”
An animalistic scream tears out of my chest. I drop to my hands and knees, crawling across the grass toward the body. I can’t recognize a single feature. I can’t see her face. The only thing left untouched by the heat is a patch of singed brown hair clinging to the scalp. That is the only thing I can find. Nearby, the gardener is lying unconscious on the ground with a horrific burn on his right leg, but he won’t wake up. He won’t wake up so I can ask him if he saw my Maya run.
“Ahhhh!” I scream louder.
The guards look down at the dirt, terrified to face me. One of them kneels next to me.
“Sir… it could be Sasha. It could be one of the house staff.”
“But she has brown hair!” I stutter.
The guard gulps.“A lot of the staff have brown hair, sir.”
I can’t hear him over the roaring in my ears. The world is ending. I crawl closer, reaching out a hand to pull her into mychest, but the moment my fingers touch her arm, a part of the charred bone crumbles and breaks away.
I am dying. My soul is ripping out of my chest. Is this what a broken heart feels like?
“No, no, no,” I sob as I gently caress the hair, burying my face against the charred ear.“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, baby. I didn’t mean to leave you. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Another guard desperately tries to drag me away from the remains. I pull the Glock from my waistband and fire a bullet into his leg. He drops with a scream, and from that moment onward, not a single soul dares to come near me.
I cradle what’s left of the body in my arms, crying my fucking eyes out.
“I love you, Maya,” I weep against the bone.“I love you so much. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’m going to find Valeria and skin her alive.”
I reach into my pocket, pulling out the diamond ring I’ve been carrying for days.“Look… I got this ring for you. You were going to be my wife, Maya. Youaregoing to be my wife.”
Maybe I’ll propose to her right here, and then I’ll put the gun to my own temple and pull the trigger. That way, we can cross over into the dark together. She won’t be alone.
I slide the platinum band onto the only finger that isn’t completely curled up from the heat.
“I love you, too.”
The whisper is barely audible. My mind is playing tricks on me. My love is answering me even in death. She is comforting me from the grave.
“Graham… please turn around.”
I slowly let go of the brittle frame in my arms, my head snapping back toward the tree line.
Maya is standing there.
She is alive. Seemingly safe, her body completely covered in black soot and smears of blood. She’s limping on one ankle, leaning against a tree for support.
The ground beneath me isn’t solid anymore.
Maya. My Maya.
