“If you love me…”
“…save the children first.”
The words shattered Lucien.
He looked at Sienna.
Then at little Ben, trembling in her arms.
Then at the collapsing ceiling.
Every instinct screamed at him to stay.
But another promise echoed in his mind.
“This time… I’m taking everyone.”
⸻
“No.”
His voice was firm.
“I’m not choosing.”
Damien grabbed Lucien’s shoulder.
“The building has less than a minute!”
Lucien pulled free.
“Then we move faster.”
He turned to Adrian.
“Help me.”
Without hesitation, Adrian dropped beside him.
The brothers wedged a broken steel pipe beneath the fallen beam.
“On three.”
“One…”
“Two…”
“Three!”
They pushed with everything they had.
Nothing.
The beam barely moved.
⸻
Another explosion ripped through Blackridge.
The corridor tilted.
Conc
