The crackling of flames roared through the production site, drowning out the chaos of shouted orders and wailing sirens. The air was thick with acrid smoke, making it hard to breathe. Louis and Ezekiel stood inches apart, their faces set in grim determination, both oblivious to the inferno raging around them.
“You call this protecting her?” Louis spat, his voice sharp with accusation. His fists were clenched at his sides, the veins on his neck taut with fury.
“I was the one who pulled her out!” Ezekiel retorted, his grip on Daisy’s arm tightening momentarily. His eyes were like steel, unyielding. “Where were you?”
“She wouldn’t be in danger if it weren’t for you lurking in the shadows,” Louis snapped, stepping closer, their tension boiling over into an almost physical confrontation.
“Funny, coming from the man who left her vulnerable in the first place,” Ezekiel growled back.
Between them, Daisy tugged weakly against Ezekiel’s hold. Her head was spinning, the suffocating smoke bringing flashes of a memory she had tried so hard to suppress.
Flames. Screams. The overwhelming heat.
She saw herself again in her past life, surrounded by fire, her lungs burning with every breath. Her legs wobbled beneath her, and her voice came out as a strangled whisper.
“Stop… please…”
Ezekiel glanced at her, his iron grip loosening as concern flickered in his eyes.
That moment of distraction was all it took. Daisy’s knees buckled, and she slipped from his grasp.
“Daisy!” both men shouted in unison, their rivalry forgotten in the instant she disappeared into the smoke.
Daisy staggered through the wreckage, her vision blurred and her body trembling. The fire engulfed everything around her, and her trauma fully took over. She was back in her past life, back in the moment when betrayal and flames consumed her.
“Help me!” her mind screamed, but her body gave out before her voice could. She collapsed to the floor, unconscious as the fire raged on.
The acrid smell of smoke filled the air, a choking reminder of the chaos unfolding at the production site. Flames licked the night sky, their glow casting haunting shadows over the desperate faces gathered outside. Shouts from firefighters, the wail of sirens, and the roar of fire blended into a cacophony of terror.
Louis stood at the edge of the barricade, his heart hammering in his chest. The inferno reflected in his eyes as he gripped the barricade so tightly that his knuckles turned white. His breaths came in sharp, uneven bursts, each one a painful reminder that Daisy was still inside.
“She’s in there!” His voice broke as he yelled at the firefighters. “Get her out! Do you hear me? Get her out!”
“Sir, the fire’s too strong. We’re doing everything we can,” one of the crew tried to explain, but his words fell on deaf ears.
Louis turned on him, his face a mask of desperation and rage. “That’s not good enough! She’s in there! I can’t lose her-do you understand that? I can’t lose her!”
He tried to push past them, to rush into the flames himself, but several hands held him back. He struggled violently, his voice breaking with every shout.
“Let me go! She needs me!”
Nearby, Ezekiel stood still, his usual composure shattered. His hand trembled as he stared into the blaze, his mind replaying the moment Daisy slipped from his grasp.
“Daisy…” he whispered, his voice barely audible over the noise.
For the first time in his life, Ezekiel Chen-the man who controlled empires, who wielded power like a weapon-felt helpless. His men had failed. He had failed.
“I should have held on tighter,” he muttered to himself, his voice breaking. He clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
But the sight of Louis’s anguish was worse. It was a mirror of his own torment, yet it burned even hotter because Louis had something Ezekiel never could: Daisy’s trust, her love.
Minutes stretched into what felt like hours before a firefighter emerged from the wreckage, his face grim. Behind him, several stretchers were wheeled out, covered in white sheets.
Louis’s body stiffened as the firefighter approached. The man looked hesitant, almost afraid to speak.
“We’ve recovered four bodies,” he began, his voice steady but heavy. “Three crew members and one…” He hesitated, glancing at the stretcher being wheeled past them. “One female.”
Louis’s eyes followed the stretcher as if in slow motion. His heart stopped when he saw it-a small, blackened ring still clinging to one of the body’s fingers.
“No.”
The word fell from his lips like a plea, quiet and broken. He staggered forward, his knees threatening to give out.
“No,” he said again, louder this time, shaking his head as if denying the reality would change it.
The promise ring. The same ring he had slipped onto Daisy’s finger, vowing to protect her always. Now it was charred, a cruel mockery of his promise.
The memory hit him like a tidal wave.
It had been her birthday, a quiet moment just between the two of them. He had taken her hand, his touch soft and reverent.
“This is more than just a ring,” he’d told her, his voice full of emotion. “It’s my promise to you, Daisy. My promise to protect you, always.”
She had smiled, her eyes sparkling with trust as she looked at him. “Always?” she had teased, but her voice had wavered, betraying how much his words meant to her.
“Always,” he had whispered back, sealing his vow with a kiss on her forehead.
And now, that promise lay in ashes.
Louis fell to his knees, his hands clutching his head as a guttural scream tore from his throat. It was the kind of sound that silenced even the chaos around him, raw and primal, filled with the kind of pain that broke a soul.
“DAISY!” he screamed her name into the night, his voice cracking as tears streamed down his face.
Ezekiel turned away from the sight of the stretcher, his chest heaving. He couldn’t look at it, couldn’t believe it. His mind raced, refusing to accept what was in front of him.
“She’s not gone,” he muttered, his voice shaking. “She can’t be.”
But even as he said the words, doubt crept in. The guilt was suffocating. He had orchestrated so many plans, set so many precautions, and yet, she had slipped through his fingers.
He punched the side of the ambulance, the sharp pain grounding him for a moment.
“I won’t accept this,” he said, his voice low and dangerous. “I won’t stop until I know the truth.”
The flames eventually died down, leaving behind a skeletal frame of what was once the production site. The air was heavy with smoke and grief.
Louis hadn’t moved from where he knelt, staring blankly at the ground. His hands were trembling, his mind replaying every moment he had spent with Daisy.
Her laughter. Her smile. The way she always teased him when he got too serious.
And now, nothing. Just silence.
Ezekiel finally turned to Louis, his face pale but resolute. “This isn’t over,” he said quietly. “I’ll find out what really happened.”
But Louis didn’t respond. His entire being was consumed by one thought: I failed her.