name. I’m vaguely aware of the police officer calling for back-up, of Malcolm MacLaine dialing his security detail like they’ll know how to handle this, of Felix grimly joining me.
“Ellie!” Adair sobs.
“Jami, can you hear me? Are you on your way out?” The officer radios his partner, but no response comes.
Thirty seconds has passed. That’s too long.
“Stay here,” I order Adair, whose mouth drops open to argue. I cut her off. “Don’t argue with me, Lucky. I’ve been through worse. I will get her out.”
“I’m coming with you,” Malcolm says. The surprising display of masculinity stops me in my tracks.
“I don’t need more people in there to get out. Let me handle this. Trust me.” I don't wait to argue more with any of them, but before I reach the front door, Adair lets out a blood-curdling scream that vibrates in my bones.
I swivel to find her pointing at the roof in horror while she screams Ellie’s name. Felix wraps his arms around her.
“They’re up there,” he yells, his words nearly drowned out by Adair but clear on his lips.
I run inside, knowing exactly where to go. Smoke is billowing through the entry now. Windfall is going up like a tinderbox. It’s burning impossibly fast, the flames already reaching the plants in the atrium as I race inside and look for a swinging door I never expected to walk through again. It feels like a thousand lifetimes have passed. The stairs leading up to the roof feel even more narrow than I remember. The walls seem to slant in on me, the air thickening until it's hard to breathe. The door at the top is shut and when I try the knob, it’s jammed. I shove at it until it gives way.
Ginny’s standing near the small half-wall that runs along the roof’s perimeter, Ellie squirming in her arms. She turns at the sound of the door opening, her eyes catching the light from the dancing flames in the stained glass dome that rises in the center of the landing.
“We’re not going anywhere,” she says, sounding oddly calm. “This is our home. No one can make us leave.”
“You can stay, but I need to take Ellie with me.” I approach her slowly, calculating how much time I have based on how quickly the fire is moving.
“She was supposed to be mine,” Ginny explains, her hands gripping my little girl so fiercely that she cries out in pain. “He promised me. Angus. Malcolm never kept his promises, but Angus did. He promised me a baby when I couldn’t have one. I just had to pretend. No one could know she wasn’t a MacLaine.”
“She is a MacLaine,” I say, taking another step toward her. I can feel heat radiating off the glass dome. That’s not a good sign.
“No, she’s not, but Adair didn’t know that. No one did, but Angus.” Her voice is distant—far away and lost in memories. “And Anne, of course. Anne told me. Her greatest shame. She’d written it all down somewhere. Angus could never find it. Never prove it, but he knew. It’s so hard pretending a bastard is yours. He did it well. Adair never deserved his kindness. If Adair had only been like her mother... Her mother was a survivor. Not like Adair. Not like me.”
I don’t like the sound of that. I move closer, but my quick movements startle her and she steps back, her heel brushing the edge of the wall and causing her to lose her balance for a second. Ellie shrieks and clutches Ginny’s leg like she can stop them both from falling. I freeze.
“Come down with me and explain. Be a survivor, Ginny,” I urge her.
“You know better than that,” she says. “I saw the file the private investigator dug up on you. People die. Don’t they, Sterling? Especially around you. Especially at war—and that’s what this is, isn’t it? War?”
“It doesn’t have to be.” I need to keep her talking while I assess the surroundings better. My memory of the night I was here with Adair years ago is clouded with heady memories of first love. I know the landing must look out over the front drive because Adair had pointed to it. She’d seen Ginny. I don’t allow myself to linger on Adair. She’s safe and Ellie is depending on me.
“You know better than that.” Ginny laughs. “It’s all a competition. Who has the most money and power and clout? You should have come back and gone toe-to-toe with Angus.