Chapter 3 The Burning House
1983 Words
The SUV tore down the dark road.
Kyle sat in the back seat with the unconscious woman in his arms.
His jacket was covered in soot. His shirt was torn near the shoulder, and the smell of smoke clung to his skin.
But he barely noticed.
His attention remained on her.
“She’s losing blood,” Marcus said from the passenger seat.
“How far to the nearest hospital?”
“At least forty minutes.”
“Too long.”
Kyle looked at the woman.
Her breathing was shallow.
A thin line of blood ran from her temple toward her cheek.
“Call the doctor.”
Marcus immediately pulled out his phone.
“Which one?”
“Dr. Jessica.”
“She’s in New York.”
“I know.”
Marcus hesitated.
“Sir, that’s a six-hour difference.”
“I don’t care.”
He dialed.
Kyle carefully adjusted the woman’s position against his chest.
“Come on,” he whispered.
Her eyelids didn’t move.
“Stay with me.”
He didn’t know why he was talking to her.
Maybe because the silence frightened him.
Maybe because he had spent years training himself to stay calm in dangerous situations, yet somehow this unconscious stranger was making his heart beat faster than any battlefield ever had.
He looked at her face again.
Even covered in soot, she was beautiful.
Not the kind of beauty he usually noticed.
She wasn’t dressed for a party.
She wasn’t wearing expensive jewelry.
She didn’t have perfect makeup.
She simply looked… real.
Vulnerable.
And somehow that bothered him more.
Kyle looked away.
This was ridiculous.
He didn’t know her.
She was a stranger.
His only concern was keeping her alive.
Nothing else.
Absolutely nothing else.
“Dr. Jessica is answering.”
Marcus handed him the phone.
Kyle put it on speaker.
“Jessica.”
A woman’s sleepy voice answered.
“Kyle? It’s almost three in the morning here.”
“Emergency.”
That woke her immediately.
“What happened?”
“I found an injured woman.”
“How bad?”
“Head injury. Possible blood loss. She’s unconscious.”
“Is she breathing normally?”
“Shallow.”
“Check her pulse.”
Kyle placed two fingers against the woman’s neck.
“Weak, but steady.”
“Any burns?”
“Minor. Mostly smoke exposure and cuts.”
“Then keep her airway clear. Don’t let her lie flat if she’s struggling to breathe. Get oxygen if you have it.”
“I don’t.”
“Then get her to a hospital as quickly as possible.”
“I’m doing that.”
Jessica paused.
“Who is she?”
Kyle looked down at the woman.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
“And where did you find her?”
“In a burning house.”
Jessica went silent.
“Call me when you arrive.”
“I will.”
The call ended.
Kyle stared at the phone.
Marcus looked back at him.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“Do you realize you haven’t stopped looking at her?”
Kyle’s expression hardened.
“I’m making sure she’s alive.”
Marcus smirked.
“Of course.”
Kyle gave him a warning look.
Marcus immediately turned around.
The woman moved.
Barely.
Kyle felt it.
He looked down.
Her fingers had curled weakly around the front of his shirt.
Kyle froze.
“Hey.”
Her lips moved.
He leaned closer.
“What?”
A whisper escaped her.
“Patrick…”
Kyle frowned.
“What did you say?”
Her eyes remained closed.
“Patrick…”
Kyle exchanged a glance with Marcus.
“Who is Patrick?”
The woman didn’t answer.
Her grip loosened.
Kyle’s jaw tightened.
“Find out who Patrick is.”
Marcus nodded.
“Already working on it.”
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at a private medical facility.
The doors opened before the SUV completely stopped.
Medical staff rushed toward them.
Kyle stepped out carrying the woman.
“Female. Unconscious. Head injury. Smoke inhalation. Possible blood loss.”
The doctors transferred her onto a stretcher.
For the first time since leaving the burning house, Kyle released her.
He immediately felt the absence of her weight.
He stared as the medical team rushed her inside.
“Sir.”
Kyle turned.
Daniel approached him.
“We found something.”
“What?”
Daniel held out a small plastic evidence bag.
Inside was a piece of black fabric.
“There were several bodies outside the house.”
Kyle’s expression changed.
“How many?”
“Four.”
“Armed?”
“Yes.”
Kyle looked toward the hospital doors.
“Dead?”
Daniel nodded.
“All of them.”
“Cause?”
“Gunshots.”
Kyle’s jaw tightened.
“Any identification?”
“Not yet.”
“What about the man who brought us there?”
“We’re searching.”
“Find him.”
“Yes, sir.”
Daniel hesitated.
“There is something else.”
Kyle looked at him.
“The fire started in multiple locations.”
Kyle went still.
“Meaning?”
“It wasn’t an accident.”
Kyle looked back toward the emergency room.
Someone had deliberately set the house on fire.
Someone had killed four armed men.
And someone had left a woman inside to die.
“Anything else?”
Daniel handed him another evidence bag.
Inside was a broken phone.
Kyle stared at it.
“Found near the back entrance.”
“Can you recover anything?”
“We’re trying.”
Kyle nodded.
Then he noticed something.
A small metal object was attached to the phone’s broken case.
A tiny engraved letter.
J.
Kyle’s eyes narrowed.
“What’s that?”
“We don’t know.”
Kyle took a closer look.
Something about it felt familiar.
Then he remembered the woman whispering the name.
Patrick.
This wasn’t random.
Hours passed.
Kyle sat in the hospital corridor.
He had changed clothes, but the smell of smoke still seemed to linger.
His three guards remained nearby.
Daniel was working on the evidence.
Marcus was contacting local authorities.
Ethan was searching security footage.
Kyle himself sat completely still.
He hated hospitals.
Too much waiting.
Too much uncertainty.
At three in the morning, he could handle a crisis.
At four, he could handle an armed attack.
But sitting outside a room while a stranger fought for her life?
That was different.
The door opened.
A nurse stepped out.
Kyle immediately stood.
“How is she?”
“She’s stable.”
He released a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.
“Can I see her?”
“She’s still unconscious.”
“I understand.”
The nurse nodded.
“You can stay for a few minutes.”
Kyle entered.
The room was quiet.
Machines beeped softly.
The woman lay beneath the white sheets.
Without the smoke and blood, she looked younger.
Kyle stood beside the bed.
He studied her face.
Who were you?
Why did someone want you dead?
And who was Patrick?
He noticed something around her neck.
A necklace.
Kyle leaned closer.
A small pendant rested against her skin.
It carried an intricate symbol.
He didn’t recognize it.
But he knew someone who might.
He took out his phone.
“Run the symbol through our database.”
Marcus answered immediately.
“Yes, sir.”
Kyle sent the photograph.
A few seconds later, his phone vibrated.
Searching…
He looked back at the woman.
“Who are you?”
Her eyelids suddenly fluttered.
Kyle froze.
Her lips parted.
He stepped closer.
“Can you hear me?”
Her eyes opened.
For a second, she stared at him without understanding.
Then fear appeared.
She suddenly reached toward the bedside table.
Kyle reacted instinctively.
She grabbed the letter opener lying there.
In one quick movement, she pointed it directly at his chest.
Kyle stopped.
The woman was breathing heavily.
Her hand trembled.
But her eyes were sharp.
“Don’t come closer.”
Kyle raised both hands.
“Okay.”
“Who are you?”
“You were unconscious.”
“I asked who you are!”
“Kyle.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Kyle what?”
“Kyle Torrez.”
The moment she heard his surname, something flickered across her face.
Fear?
Recognition?
Kyle couldn’t tell.
“And you?”
She hesitated.
“I don’t know you.”
“That’s fair.”
“You brought me here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your house was burning.”
She stared at him.
“My house?”
“You were inside.”
Her expression changed.
She looked around the room.
“Where am I?”
“A private hospital.”
“Where is Patrick?”
Kyle’s eyes narrowed.
“You’ve asked about him before.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
She lowered the letter opener slightly.
“Did you see him?”
“I saw a man outside the property.”
“Was it Patrick?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he look like?”
Kyle thought about the man.
“Dirty clothes. Injured. He was the one who told us you were inside.”
The woman’s face went pale.
“He was there?”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
Kyle noticed her breathing becoming faster.
“What happened?”
She didn’t answer.
“Who attacked you?”
Silence.
“Who were the men outside?”
Nothing.
Kyle stepped back.
“Fine.”
Her eyes opened.
“You don’t have to tell me anything.”
She stared at him suspiciously.
“But until I know what happened, you’re staying here.”
“I need to leave.”
“No.”
“I said I need to leave.”
“You almost died.”
“I can’t stay.”
“Why?”
She looked away.
Because for the first time since waking up, Kyle saw something beneath her fear.
She wasn’t afraid of him.
She was afraid of someone else.
“Who are you running from?” he asked quietly.
Her fingers tightened around the letter opener.
Nobody answered.
Not even the machines.
Then Kyle’s phone vibrated.
He glanced at the screen.
The database search had finished.
His eyes moved across the result.
Then stopped.
The pendant’s symbol belonged to one family.
A family Kyle knew very well.
The Javiers.
Kyle slowly looked back at the woman in the hospital bed.
She was watching him.
He said nothing.
He simply stared at her.
Because suddenly, this wasn’t just a rescue.
This woman wasn’t a random stranger.
She was connected to one of the most powerful families in the country.
And if Kyle was right about what the symbol meant…
the woman lying helplessly in front of him was someone his family had spent years fighting.
Kyle slipped his phone into his pocket.
He decided not to tell her what he’d discovered.
Not yet.
“Get some rest,” he said.
Her eyes remained fixed on him.
“Why are you helping me?”
Kyle paused at the door.
He didn’t have a good answer.
So he gave the simplest one.
“Because you needed help.”
He walked out.
The door closed behind him.
Inside the room, Michelle stared at the ceiling.
She had survived the fire.
She had survived the men who came for her.
But she knew the danger wasn’t over.
Because Patrick was still out there.
And now there was another problem.
Kyle Torrez.
The man whose family was connected to hers.
The man who had saved her life.
The man she had no reason to trust.
Outside the room, Kyle looked at the photograph on his phone one more time.
Michelle Javier.
His expression darkened.
He had just rescued the daughter of his family’s greatest business rival.
And she had no idea that he already knew exactly who she was.
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