***

I wake to a smell of something burning. I cough as I place my hand over my mouth. I open my eyes, but they sting and all I see is a cloud-like substance. “Case,” I say, coughing again.

I open my eyes again, and this time as I look around, I see that it was not clouds I was seeing, it was smoke. And the thing that is on fire is Case’s house.

“Case!” I scream out as I turn and start hitting his body. I can’t see much, but I can feel him. “Case, wake up!” I scream out.

His body moves under my hand, and then I no longer feel him. “Taylor!” he responds, his voice filled with panic.

“The house is on fire,” I say trying to look around, but all I see is smoke. I place my hand over my mouth and cough into it.

“Get down on the floor,” he orders in a rush.

I roll off the bed and lie flat on my stomach. I try to take calming breaths, but my chest is tight and my body shakes nervously. “Case?” I call out frantically.

When he doesn’t answer, I start to crawl on my hands and knees toward the end of the bed. I close my eyes and fall flat down onto my stomach when the smoke enters my lungs. It burns. The smoke takes my breath away and my chest tightens. I close my eyes as tears run down my cheeks.

I hear glass shatter in the distance, and I figure it’s the fire breaking things in the house. My chest heaves as I try to take in another breath. But seconds later, my arm is grabbed and I’m dragged to my feet. I try to speak, but all that comes out is coughing. I’m lifted into the air and then the next thing I know, my side hurts as I hit the ground.

I roll around as my lungs inhale fresh air sharply. “Case?” I call out as I position myself up on my knees. “Case?” I yell as my vision starts to clear, and I see that he had broken his bedroom window and threw me out of it. Moments later, he jumps through it, carrying his sheets from his bed. “Wrap this around you,” he rasps.

I look at him confused and still sucking in fresh air. When I don’t do as he says, he wraps it around me himself. And I finally realize that I’m naked. I had been sleeping naked last night. I thought that I was gonna be able to get over my mother and have sex. Now, I wish I would have worn clothes to bed.

“I have to go back in.” He places his hand over his mouth and coughs.

I shake my head frantically and let the sheet fall to the grass as I grab a hold of him. “No!” I shout, panic gripping me.

“I don’t have time to argue with you,” he growls. “Blane and Savannah are in there.”

“Oh, my God.” I inhale sharply and a pain shoots up my chest.

He doesn’t bother saying anything else. He lets go of me, spins around, and jumps back into his window. I reach down, grab the sheet, and cry out placing a hand over my mouth. He lives out in the middle of nowhere. He doesn’t have any neighbors. I need to call 9-1-1, but my phone is inside the house.

“Case?” I call out as I go over to the window. I place my hand up and step back as the fire burns my skin. The room is now up in flames.

I turn and run to the front of the house on shaky legs and heart hammering in my chest. Just as I come around the front of the house, the front door is kicked out. “Oh, thank God.” I breathe as I see Case dragging Blane behind him as he holds onto Savannah. I run to them, and she falls into my arms. I wrap the sheet around her, shielding us both as much as I can. She has panties on, but no top.

Blane falls to his knees as he coughs. “Blane,” she cries out, and he lifts one hand to signal he’s okay.

I go to speak to Case, but he turns and runs back into the house. I go to run after him, but Savannah stops me. “You can’t go back in there.”

“Case is in there,” I declare.

I can hear sirens in the distance. And my heart beats wildly in my chest as I hear them coming to help us. Why did he go back in there? “He’ll be okay,” she says roughly as she rubs my back.

My eyes dart back and forth between the front door and the front windows. Smoke pours out of the house and I can feel the heat from here. I know we should move away from the house, but I find myself moving closer and closer one small step at a time.

“Case?” A strangled cry comes out. “Where is he?” I cry. What could he have needed so bad to go back in and get?

I’m just about to throw the sheet and Savannah to the ground and run in when I see him come out of the house. I drop the sheet and run to him as tears run down my face. I wrap my arms around him, and he grips me tightly. His body burns mine from how hot he is from inside the house. His legs give out on him and he falls to the grass. I fall down with him. He sucks in breath after breath and he leans over coughing out loud. I rub his back as I look at the house now completely engulfed in flames.

I look away, not able to watch his memories go up in smoke. As I look down at the grass, I see the reason for his last trip in his left hand. And I feel the tears start to sting my eyes again for a different reason. It’s the picture from his mantel. The one of him and his family.

I let out a sob as I place my head on his shoulder thankful we all made it out alive. “I’m so sorry, Case,” I whisper.

He repositions himself, wraps his arms around me, and pulls me into his lap. I feel his heart pound against my chest, and he hugs me tightly. He buries his head in my hair, and I can hear his ragged breathing in my ear. “I’m so sorry,” I repeat because I don’t know what else to say.

He coughs, and it causes his entire body to shake mine as well. “We’re gonna be okay,” he rasps, gripping me tighter to the point of pain. “You’re okay.”

I wiggle myself loose and look up at him. “What about you? Are you okay?” I reach up and place my hand on his face, and my heart stops. It’s the first good look I get at him since he ran back into the house. His face is covered in black ash and sweat drips from his body. His eyes are sad, but his jaw is tight.

“I’m fine.” He pulls me back into him. “I have you. I’ll be fine.” I don’t point out the obvious. That he ran back into a burning house in order to get a picture. But I know how important that picture is to him. It’s all he had left of a family who left him.

***

“Who could have done it?” Brecken asks as he sits up in his hospital bed.

He’s been in the hospital for nine days now and is gonna be released soon. We’re all hoping tomorrow. The doctors say he has made a remarkable recovery.

Case shrugs as he stares out the window that looks over Chicago. “No one knows where I live,” he replies flatly. My heart hurts so much for him. He lost everything he had in the fire yesterday other than that one picture he was willing to risk his life in order to save.

“I don’t understand why this is all of a sudden happening,” Miller wonders. “We’ve been doing undercover cases for over four years now, and we’ve never been this close to death this many times on one case before.” He chuckles at his own words, and my chest tightens for them; Case hasn’t gone into detail about his job, but is this what he goes through on a day-to-day basis? I didn’t know being an undercover cop was so hazardous to their health.

Case sighs heavily. “I don’t know. It all started that night those guys attacked Taylor in the alleyway. The guy said he had gotten a call earlier that evening about Taylor but didn’t know who it was from.”

“How did you get him to tell you that?” Miller asks.

He continues to keep his back to us. “I just started breaking bones,” he replies with no emotion, and I cringe. “I broke one for every question he didn’t answer. A broken nose. Broken arm and some broken ribs …” He shrugs. “He started talking. And then I broke them just because.”

Miller looks at me. “Did they say anything to you? Like what they wanted or who had sent them?”

I shake my head but then remember. “Uh, yeah … one of them said that they wanted to know if I was worth the risk.”