My Ex Husband The Alpha His Brother The Rogue novel Chapter 89

The words ring through my head over and over again. Harsher…louder, and with each repetition, the dagger that had lodged itself in my heart the moment I got the call, twists even deeper into my chest.

I’m standing by the shoreline, siren lights blinking all around me. The rescue teams hurry in and out of what’s left of the lake house.

Or what used to be the lake house. Now all that can be seen is just a pile of wood, ash and smoke.

I’d rushed in the moment I arrived. That single act had resulted in a secondary collapse, leaving a few firefighters injured.

Staying put…it was necessary, but devastating.

The and smell of something burning stings my nose. Somewhere in the distance. I hear the low hum of engines and voices shouting. They echo around me, but I can’t focus on it…on anything.

Everything’s a blur.

They say the fire started around midnight. They say it spread too fast. They say it was an accident.

Accident… Accident?!!!!

The word makes me want to laugh and rip something apart at the same time.

Because Laila was careful. She was meticulous. She never left candles burning, never forgot to switch off the fireplace, never…..

And Marie. I’d picked her out myself. In Laila’s eyes, she was Liam’s nanny. But Blake and I know, she had been trained for three years to protect the boy.

My jaw clenches. My hand tightening around the phone in my grasp.

If it was an accident…why did it burn so cleanly? In barely an hour, there’s nothing left.

The lake house wasn’t a fortified Blackwood estate, but measures had been taken to prevent unlikely events.

Accidents it never happened to Blackwoods.

“Mr. Blackwood” A voice cuts through the haze.

I turn slightly, barely registering the uniform of the man.

It’s one of the investigators, maybe.

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Chapter 89

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“We’ve recovered a few…personal items. But it’s still too early to confirm anything. The structure’s not stable enough to…

“Did you find her? My voice is hoarse, but chilling,

He hesitates.

And that’s all the answer I need.

“Or the boy?” I add. My voice breaks on the last word. I clench my teeth to keep it steady.

“We’re doing everything we can, sir.”

He means well, probably. But the pity in his voice makes me want to tear his throat out.

I nod once, curtly, because I can’t trust myself to speak anymore.

The cold air stings my face. Smoke rises from the ruins, curling into the sky.

No survivors.

My feet move before I realize it. A firefighter yells something about restricted access, but I don’t hear him.

The heat seeps through the soles of my shoes as I walk, but I don’t stop.

I walk until the smell of smoke hits the back of my throat and bile rises.

The walls, or what’s left of them, still crumble with every gust of wind.

The wood is blackened, and unrecognizable.

And all I can see is her face.

Laila.

The way she looked at me the last time we spoke… with fury and fear and something I can’t name.

I close my eyes and the scene plays in my head again, like punishment.

The way her lips trembled. The defiance in her voice.

“You used me, Kael. Again.”

I told myself it didn’t matter. That she’d calm down. She always did.

But she didn’t.

And now she’s gone.

Somewhere in the distance, voices speak over each other.

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Chapter 89

Ivan’t hear any of it properly. The world’s gone more Like I’m stuck underwater.

My throat feels right. I don’t know how long I stay like that, kneeling in the ashes.

“Mr Blackwood, you shouldn’t be here.”

d 55 vouchers

1 look up again. Another officer, younger this time. His eyes are wide and uncertain. “It’s not safe. The east section could collapse any…”

I wave him off without a word. He hesitates, then walks away.

Safe

What a joke.

The safest place I ever had was with her. The way she looks at me when I lose control…not afraid, not angry, just there.

I used to think that meant I’d won her. That she’d learned to accept me in her own quiet way.

Now I know better.

She was surviving me.

And still, she stayed.

God, she stayed.

I run a hand through my hair, exhaling a sound that isn’t quite a breath… it’s a strangled thing. Half growl, half

sob.

I should’ve protected her.

All the power I have, all the money, all the men who’d kill for me, and I couldn’t even keep her safe in our own home.

No survivors.

They keep saying that. I want to believe they’re wrong. That she got out somehow. That maybe she’s hiding. That someone took her.

Anything Anything but this

The air rushes out of my lungs. My knees nearly give. I grab the nearest thing to keep myself steady, a broken post, rough under my palm

My eyes stay fixed on the lake. F’m not sure for how long

When I finally turn away from the wreckage, it’s already dawn.

The light makes everything look worse. Realer.

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Chapter 89

Someone offers me a blanket. I ignore it.

:

55 vouchers

Blake hovers nearby, unsure if he should speak. He’d been the one to call… right after he’d arrived to watch Laila and Liam for me.

He’d called and told of the fire. I’d driven here like hell was behind me, but someone else had gotten here

first.

“Kael.”

The voice is grating. That familiar, controlled tone.

I turn.

Cameron stands behind the police tape. His face is pale, ash dusted on his coat. His jaw is tight, his on the ruins like he’s the one who lost everything.

He shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t have gotten here first.

My chest tightens with something I can’t name…rage, grief, disbelief, all of it twisted up together.

I can’t stand the look in his eyes. That quiet devastation…. like he has a right to mourn her.

He doesn’t.

He doesn’t get to stand here and act like he ever loved her.

He’s the reason she ran from the summit. The reason she looked at me with fear instead of trust.

The reason everything happened this way.

But somewhere deep down, I know the true enemy…is me.

“Kael,” Cameron says again, “She…They…didn’t make it.”

I already know that.

But hearing it from him makes me want to put a bullet through his skull.

“Don’t,” I mutter. “Don’t you dare say her name.”

His eyes flicker. He opens his mouth like he’s going to argue, then stops.

Smart.

Because the last thing holding me together right now is the fact that I haven’t touched him yet.

If I do, I won’t stop.

eyes

fixed

Behind him, Grandad stands rigid, his expression as stiff as stone. He’s surrounded by Blackwood enforcers, his cane pinned in the mud.

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Chapter 89

The old man hasn’t spoken, but his eyes say enough.

Disappointment… fury, maybe even grief.

A family in ruins again.

He’d warned us both.

:.

He’d said our rivalry would destroy everything we touched.

He was right.