Page 108 of Obsessed by My Ex's Mafia Uncle

The D’Angelo estate building is there... But not the way it should be.

Flames crawl up the side, feeding on the structure. The windows burst one after the other in violent pops that echo so loud it’s deafening.

“No…” I scream, but the word doesn’t make it all the way out.

I keep running, but somehow, I’m not fast enough. I can hear people shouting my name. Then I feel someone grab at me, but I tear free, my focus locked on one thing.

That bedroom. The one I know she’ll be in with our son because she never sleeps in our bedroom when I’m not home.

“Get back, sir!” Someone yells.

I don’t. I can’t.

Because she’s in there.

Because he’s in there.

Because I’m late… I’m fucking late.

The heat hits me like a wall, forcing me back a step I don’t remember taking, the air impossible to breathe, my lungs fighting for something that isn’t there anymore.

“Let me through!” My voice is raw, but useless against the flames surging. “Let me…”

An explosion rips through everything, throwing me back, the force of it knocking the breath out of me.

My body hit the ground hard enough to rattle bones and thought and everything in between.

For a second there’s nothing.

Then the ringing starts.

I try to move, but I can’t. I try to breathe, but it doesn’t come.

And all I can see is fire swallowing everything that mattered.

“Robert…” Something pulls at me again. “Robert…” The familiar pitchy voice cuts through it.

I jerk.

Air slams into my lungs like I’ve been underwater too long, my chest rising too fast, too hard, my grip clenching instinctively around… nothing.

The glass is gone.

The room is… Different. Morning light spilling through the window.

I’m still on the sofa, but I’m not the same.

“Robert.” Atelia bends forward, one hand on my arm, the other hovering like she’s not sure whether to shake me again or not.

Her eyes scan my face, taking in everything.

“What the hell?” She waves a hand in my face.

“What?” I croak, dragging a hand down my face, my skin damp and my breath still jagged.

It takes a second for the room to fully come back into place.

Another for the fire to fade.