Chapter 2 - The Smell That Didn’t Belong in a ChurchSmoke erased the chapel aisle.
Kora could no longer see the doors.
She could barely see Mateo.
His arm lay across her shoulders, heavy and weakening by the second.
“Stay awake.”
“I am.”
“That sounded like something an unconscious person would say.”
Despite the pain, Mateo gave a breath that might have been a laugh.
Another beam crashed behind them.
Kora kept moving.
Her shoes were gone.
She didn’t remember losing them.
Glass bit into the floor beneath her bare feet, but adrenaline had pushed pain somewhere distant.
Mateo stumbled.
Kora caught him.
“Where’s Leo?”
She looked at him.
“You’re asking me?”
“He was beside you.”
“Not after the explosion.”
Mateo’s jaw tightened.
They reached the side corridor.
Flames climbed the walls behind them.
Kora saw an emergency exit.
Locked.
“Of course.”
Mateo leaned against the wall.
“Move.”
He kicked the crash bar.
Nothing.
Again.
Still nothing.
Kora looked around.
A decorative bronze stand sat beneath a statue.
She grabbed it.
Mateo watched her lift it.
“You do this often?”
“Weddings? First one.”
She slammed the stand into the latch.
Once.
Twice.
The door flew open.
Cold air hit them.
They stumbled outside.
Thirty feet away, Gino Rivas was pulling himself from behind a parked car.
The blast had thrown him through the side entrance.
He saw Mateo.
Then Kora.
Then the burning chapel.
His expression changed from confusion to disbelief.
Kora shouted, “Help me.”
Gino ran.
Together they carried Mateo around the corner.
Kora lowered him beside a dumpster.
She immediately pressed her fingers along his ribs.
Mateo flinched.
“Sorry.”
“You don’t sound sorry.”
“I’m not.”
She tore open his shirt.
Gino stared.
“What are you doing?”
“Keeping him alive.”
Blood darkened Mateo’s white shirt.
Kora examined the wound.
Not a bullet.
Shrapnel.
Probably wood or metal.
She pressed her hand over it.
Mateo inhaled sharply.
“Pressure.”
Gino crouched.
“I’ll do it.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re shaking.”
Gino looked at his hands.
He was.
Kora wasn’t.
Footsteps echoed near the alley entrance.
Gino turned.
Leo appeared.
Two men followed him.
Kora noticed three things immediately.
His tuxedo was clean.
He had no soot on his face.
And he was holding the same silver lighter she had seen him use outside the bakery several weeks earlier.
Open.
Close.
Open.
Close.
Leo smiled.
“My father said the bride was a bad investment.”
Nobody answered.
His eyes dropped to Mateo.
“Turns out she can carry things.”
Gino drew his weapon.
Leo’s men raised theirs.
Mateo lifted a hand.
“Wait.”
Leo’s smile widened.
“Still giving orders?”
Kora continued applying pressure.
She didn’t look at Leo.
Mateo did.
“The north belongs to Dominico now,” Leo said.
Mateo’s voice was weak.
“You burned a church for territory?”
Leo shrugged.
“It was already insured.”
Kora finally looked up.
“You knew where the explosion would happen.”
Leo’s gaze shifted toward her.
“What?”
“You were standing outside the blast zone.”
For the first time, his smile faded.
Kora continued.
“You disappeared seconds before it happened.”
“Kora.”
“You didn’t even ask whether your father survived.”
Leo stepped closer.
“You should stop talking.”
Mateo watched them.
Then he looked at Kora.
“You knew before the blast.”
She met his eyes.
“What did you smell?” he asked.
“Accelerant.”
Leo’s face went still.
Kora saw confirmation there.
That was enough.
Mateo whispered, “You pulled me down.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Kora looked toward the chapel.
“Because you were standing under the ceiling.”
Leo raised his gun.
Gino raised his.
Kora moved.
She placed herself directly between Leo and Mateo.
Leo actually laughed.
“You think I won’t shoot you?”
Kora’s heart hammered.
But she held his eyes.
“No.”
Leo’s finger tightened.
“I think you’re too arrogant to realize what’s behind you.”
One of his men turned.
Burning debris collapsed into the alley entrance.
Smoke poured between the buildings.
Another window exploded.
The men stepped back.
“We need to move,” one said.
Leo ignored him.
His eyes stayed on Kora.
For one second, she saw something she had never seen during their entire engagement.
Not contempt.
Fear.
He had underestimated her.
And now he knew it.
Leo lowered the gun.
“Enjoy your wedding night.”
He disappeared into the smoke.
Gino immediately reached for his phone.
“My car is two blocks away.”
“He needs a hospital,” Kora said.
“Fifth Street.”
Mateo caught Gino’s sleeve.
“No.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“The chief surgeon belongs to Dominico.”
Gino swore.
Mateo’s eyes started closing.
“Mercer Street.”
Kora’s hands moved beneath her dress.
Gino froze as she pulled a pair of surgical shears from the black pouch.
“What the hell?”
Kora cut open Mateo’s shirt.
“You’re a baker’s daughter.”
“Yes.”
“Bakers don’t bring surgical shears to weddings.”
Mateo opened his eyes.
For the first time since they escaped the chapel, he looked genuinely curious.
Kora met his gaze.
“No,” she said.
“They don’t.”
And before either man could ask another question, Kora reached deeper into the pouch.
This time she pulled out something that made Mateo forget his pain for a moment.
A hospital identification card.
Her photograph.
Her name.
And beneath it:
KORA BELL, RN — EMERGENCY TRAUMA UNIT.
May you like
But it was the red stamp across the bottom that made Mateo stare.
TERMINATED — INTERNAL INVESTIGATION.
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