Deep down, I knew the only way to hold on to my sanity while keeping Levi in Star Harbor would be to move forward with acquiring the farmland. Weeks ago, before things had gotten complicated with Elodie Darling, I’d made the call. The course to make Stan an offer he couldn’t refuse was already set in motion. My financial adviser and I had gone over the numbers—really took a look at what it would take to buy the farm from Stan and create the farm-to-table destination I had dreamed of.
We agreed that it was too risky to take on by myself, but that a solid venture capitalist was a plausible way to make the restaurant happen. He’d put me in touch with theowner of Tower Business Ventures, JP King, and I was eagerly awaiting his return phone call.
As Elodie disappeared into the bathroom, I watched her walk away, wondering why a pinch beneath my ribs wouldn’t go away.
At an emotional impasse, I surveyed the cottage. The air was still heavy with the scent of her—vanilla, sun-warmed skin, and the lingering trace of sweat from the heat between us. My body was loose, spent, my mind replaying how our fight had turned into the single hottest moment of my life.
The room was warm, thick with the quiet hum of contentment, the kind that felt dangerous in its ability to lull a man into believing, just for a second, that he belonged in a moment like that.
I walked toward the front door, smiling at the small hole the door handle had created in the wall when I’d shoved it open. I opened the front door and let the evening’s darkness fold over me. Outside, the night was deep, the farm silent save for the rhythmic chirping of crickets and the distant rustle of the wind through the trees and the waves lapping at the shore.
I opened my mouth to say goodbye when the smell hit me. Sharp. Acrid. Wrong.
Smoke.
Frowning, I lifted my head, sniffing the air. At first I thought I was imagining it. Maybe the scent had drifted in from a neighbor burning brush, but then Elodie’s face appeared from the bathroom, her brow furrowed. “Do you smell that?”
I held up a hand to her as I strained to listen for something. Anything.
Shouting.
I listened again to hear the faint crackle of fireeating through something dry. And then the glow—bright, violent orange licking at the inky darkness on the far edge of the farm.
Adrenaline hit me like a hammer to the chest. After zipping my jeans and shoving my feet into my boots, I was out the door in an instant.
Elodie was right behind me, pulling on a new shirt, her voice sharp with panic. “Oh shit, Callum?—”
We tore down the porch steps, running across the field, and that was when I saw it. Not just fire. A fucking inferno.
Flames devoured the old barn in hungry, snapping bursts of heat and light, throwing shadows across the field. Smoke billowed into the night sky, thick and choking, but it wasn’t the fire itself that had my stomach plummeting into freefall.
It was the figures silhouetted against the blaze.
Levi.
“Dad!” His voice was high, panicked, barely audible over the roar of the fire. He was coughing, one arm thrown over his face while trying to pull another kid away from the flames. They weren’t moving fast enough.
Jesus, they aren’t moving fast enough.
Every inch of my body went cold.
I didn’t think. I just ran faster.
The heat was suffocating as I tore across the field, my boots kicking up dirt. Smoke stung my eyes, filled my lungs, but I couldn’t slow down. I reached them just as Levi stumbled, dragging his friend with him, their faces pale and streaked with soot.
I grabbed Levi first, gripping his shoulders hard enough to bruise. “Are you hurt?”
He shook his head, eyes wide, terrified. “We—we triedto put it out, but—” He coughed, his whole body trembling. “I didn’t mean?—”
“Later.” I hauled him up, shoving him toward the field. “Run. Go to Elodie. Now.”
His friend was coughing, eyes watering, his legs barely holding him up. I threw his arm over my shoulder and half carried him, half dragged him away from the flames, feeling the heat licking at my back. Every muscle screamed, but I didn’t stop until I knew we were clear.
The second I let go, Levi was on me, gripping my arm, his breath coming in ragged, tearful gasps. “Dad, I?—”
“Shut up.” My voice came out raw, harsher than I intended, but I couldn’t think past the blood pounding in my ears. I turned, scanning the yard. “Elodie?”
“I’m here.” She was at my side, eyes wild with fear, hands trembling as she reached for Levi. “Jesus, are you okay?”
