Julian's POV
"DRIVE FASTER!" Emma screamed.
I was already doing eighty through city streets, running red lights, not caring. The Bronx address Marcus sent was fifteen minutes away.
We didn't have fifteen minutes.
The video call had ended with Sophie holding that lighter near Lily. Near gas pipes in an old building. One spark and—
"Call her back!" Emma grabbed my phone from the cup holder. "Call her and keep her talking! If she's talking, she's not—"
She couldn't finish. Neither could I.
Emma dialed. It rang. And rang. And rang.
No answer.
"NO!" Emma threw my phone. "She's doing it right now! She's going to—Julian, our baby—"
"We're going to get her." I took a hard turn, tires squealing. "We're going to get there in time."
"You don't know that!"
"I HAVE TO BELIEVE IT!" I was crying and driving and shaking all at once. "I have to believe we'll save her because if we don't—if we're too late—"
My phone rang. Sophie calling back.
Emma grabbed it immediately. "Sophie! Don't hurt her! Please! I'll give you anything!"
"Anything?" Sophie's voice was thoughtful. "Will you give me Julian?"
Emma and I looked at each other.
"Yes," Emma said without hesitating. "Yes. You can have him. Just let Lily go."
Something cracked in my chest hearing her trade me so easily. But of course she would. I'd never given her a reason not to.
"Interesting," Sophie said. "You'd just... give him up? After five years of marriage?"
"I don't want him," Emma said flatly. "I never did. I only married him because I got pregnant. You can have him, Sophie. I don't care."
She was lying. She had to be lying to save Lily. But her voice was so cold, so convincing.
Had she really never wanted me?
"You're lying," Sophie said. "You love him. I've watched you for five years, Emma. The way you looked at him, the way you tried so hard to make him notice you. It was pathetic."
"Then I was pathetic. I'm over it now." Emma's voice was steel. "Take him. Just give me my daughter."
"No," Sophie said simply. "See, I don't want him anymore either."
The car swerved. I almost crashed. "What?"
"I spent ten years wanting you, Julian. Waiting for you. And you know what I realized today?" Sophie laughed. "You're not worth it. You're weak. You let a woman control your entire life and never even noticed. You're pathetic too."
"Then what do you want?" I was begging now. "If you don't want me, if you don't want Emma to suffer, what DO you want?"
"I want to erase the mistake that ruined everything." Sophie's voice went flat. Dead. "Lily shouldn't exist. That night you and Emma conceived her? I PLANNED that. I got you drunk on purpose. I pushed you two together because I thought you'd sleep with her, regret it, and I could comfort you. But she got PREGNANT. And you MARRIED her. And everything I planned fell apart."
Ice flooded my veins. "You... you set us up?"
"Of course I did! I've been controlling everything for five years! The phone calls at midnight—I timed those for when Emma would be there. The gifts—I bought them myself with your credit cards. The 'business dinners'—I suggested every single one and made sure Emma knew about them." Sophie was proud. Bragging. "I destroyed your marriage piece by piece. It was ART."
Emma made a choking sound.
"But Lily," Sophie continued, "Lily was the mistake that ruined my art. So I'm erasing her. And you two get to live with it. That's real pain. That's what you both deserve."
"Sophie, please—" I started.
"Goodbye, Julian. Emma. Enjoy the rest of your miserable lives knowing you were too late."
She hung up.
"NO!" Emma screamed. "NO, NO, NO!"
I could see the building now. Old brick, broken windows. Exactly like the photo.
Smoke was coming from one of the upper windows.
"SHE'S ALREADY DONE IT!" Emma was already opening her door before I stopped the car. "LILY!"
We ran. The front door was locked. I kicked it. Once. Twice. It burst open.
Smoke poured out.
"LILY!" Emma ran inside. I ran after her.
The heat hit us like a wall. Flames were crawling up the walls on the second floor. Smoke made it hard to see, hard to breathe.
"LILY! BABY, WHERE ARE YOU?" Emma was coughing, stumbling forward.
I heard it. Faint. Crying. "Mommy?"
"SECOND FLOOR!" I grabbed Emma's hand and we ran for the stairs.
The steps were already burning. I pulled off my jacket and wrapped it around Emma's shoulders. "Cover your face!"
We climbed through fire and smoke. The heat was unbearable. Every breath burned.
At the top of the stairs, I saw her.
Lily. Tied to a chair in the middle of a room. Flames were all around her, getting closer.
"DADDY!" She was screaming, terrified. "HELP ME!"
Emma ran. Didn't care about the fire between her and our daughter. Just ran straight through.
I followed.
Emma reached Lily first, frantically untying the ropes. I used my jacket to beat back the flames getting too close.
"I've got her!" Emma lifted Lily. Our daughter wrapped her arms around Emma's neck, crying.
"We have to go NOW!" The ceiling was cracking above us. The whole building was coming down.
We ran for the stairs. They were completely engulfed now.
No way down.
"The window!" I pointed to a broken window on the far wall. "Fire escape!"
We ran. The room was so full of smoke I couldn't see. Emma was coughing so hard she could barely stand. I took Lily from her arms and pushed them both toward the window.
Emma climbed through first. Then I handed Lily to her.
"Go! Down the fire escape! I'm right behind you!"
Emma hesitated, looking at me.
"GO!" I screamed.
She went.
I was climbing through the window when I heard it.
Footsteps. Behind me. In the smoke.
"Julian."
Sophie's voice.
I turned. She was there, barely visible through the smoke. Her hair was singed. Her eyes were wild.
"You were supposed to die with her," Sophie said calmly. "That was the point. You, Emma, and that brat. All gone. Then I could finally move on."
"You're insane," I whispered.
"I'm FREE!" She lunged at me.
I tried to dodge. She grabbed my arm. We both fell.
Away from the window.
Into the burning room.
The last thing I heard before the ceiling collapsed was Emma screaming my name.