The CEO's Regret: His Lost Wife's Secret Twins novel Chapter 80

Chapter 80

ARIA

The steel rebar burned through my left leg. Every breath sent fresh waves of agony through my body, but nothing hurt worse than

watching Blake’s face when he looked at Emma.

She was trapped under a collapsed steel beam about ten feet from me, blood covering her features. I was pinned by debris with a steel

rebar spearing straight through my thigh. The explosion had caught everyone off guard. We were both dying, but only one of us mattered

to Blake.

Then I smelled it-smoke. Sharp and acrid.

“Fire!” someone shouted. “Chemical storage!”

My heart stopped. Chemicals meant accelerants. This whole place could go up in minutes.

“Mr. Morgan!” Jack ran up, his face covered in soot. “We need to evacuate now. The fire’s spreading fast-

“Get them out, Blake said. “Both of them.”

Jack looked between us, then at the growing orange glow along the far wall. “Sir, we don’t have enough people. The fire department’s ten

minutes out, but we don’t have ten minutes.”

‘I gave you an order.”

“Blake.” Emma’s voice cut through, weak but perfectly timed. “Save Aria first. Please.”

God, she was good. Even now, she knew exactly what to say.

“No one’s waiting. Blake’s jaw clenched. “Jack, get more men.”

“There are no more men!” Jack’s voice cracked. “Half the team is fighting the fire. If we don’t decide right now.

A beam crashed down twenty feet away, sending up sparks. The smoke was getting thicker.

“Blake, listen. Emma coughed. “If you waste time on both of us, we’ll all die. Save her first.”

The tenderness in Blake’s eyes when he looked at her made me want to scream.

My hand moved to my stomach. Still there. Still alive.

I needed to tell him. About Emma. About everything.

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“Blake- I started, but my voice came out as a cough.

“Sir!” One of the rescue team ran up, panicked. ‘The fire’s reached the main supports. Chemical smoke is toxic. We have maybe five

minutes.”

Five minutes.

Blake turned to Emma, his hand reaching for her face. “Hold on.”

Then he looked at his team. “Get Emma out first. Whatever it takes.”

Jack stared at him in shock. “But sir, Mrs. Morgan-*

“That’s an order.

They started moving the debris around Emma. I watched through the thickening smoke as Blake coordinated her rescue. The flames were getting closer. I could see them through the gaps in the wreckage, hungry and orange.

Each second they worked on Emma was a second the fire crept nearer to me.

“Blake.” I tried to make my voice louder. “Blake, please.”

He didn’t turn around. All his focus was on Emma, carefully extracting her from the twisted metal. His hands gentle, his voice soft.

The heat was intense now. The steel rebar in my leg was starting to feel hot.

“We’ve got her!” someone shouted.

Blake lifted Emma into his arms, cradling her against his chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

“What about Mrs. Morgan?” Jack yelled, already moving toward me.

Blake walked away, carrying Emma toward the exit. He stopped, turned back. For one second, his eyes met mine through the smoke.

“Get her out fast,’ he said to Jack.

Then he was gone.

Jack dropped to his knees beside me, two other team members with him. We’re getting you out, Mrs. Morgan.”

They started pulling at the debris. But the fire was so close now. The flames had reached where Emma had been trapped.

“The smoke’s too thick!” one of the men coughed. “We can’t see!’

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Chapter 80

“Keep going!” Jack’s voice was desperate.

A support beam groaned above us, then crashed down between me and the rescue team. Flames erupted along its length, creating a wall

of fire.

“Jack!” I screamed, but the smoke choked off my voice.

“Mrs. Morgan!” Jack’s voice came from the other side. “We’re finding another way!”

But there was no other way. The fire had spread too fast. I was trapped with flames on three sides and smoke so thick I could barely see.

My baby. God, my baby.

I pressed my hand harder against my stomach. “I’m so sorry. Mommy tried.”

The heat was unbearable. The metal rebar was burning through my pants. I could smell my own skin.

Through the flames, I could hear voices. Jack shouting orders. Fire trucks arriving.

Too late. All of it, too late.

Blake had made his choice. Emma was safe while I burned alive. All those years of love, and this was how it ended.

At least my baby will never know this pain. Never know what it feels like to be second choice.

The flames were so bright now. Almost beautiful. Or maybe my vision was going.

“Aria!” Blake’s voice, distant and desperate.

Too late, I wanted to say. You’re always too late.

But I couldn’t speak anymore. The smoke had stolen my voice.

My eyes closed. The heat faded into something almost comfortable.

Sorry, Dad. Sorry, little one.

The darkness felt better than the light ever had.

BLAKE

“Where is she?” I shoved Jack against the wall. “Where’s my wife?’

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Emma was safe in the ambulance behind me, but I couldn’t stop seeing Aria’s face.

“The fire cut us off!” Jack’s face was streaked with tears. “We tried everything-

“Show me. I grabbed his collar.

“You can’t go in there! The structure is compromised-‘

I was already running. Back into the smoke and flames.

“Mr. Morgan! Multiple voices shouted. “It’s not safe!”

My wife was in there.

The heat hit me like a wall. Smoke so thick I couldn’t see three feet ahead. I pulled my jacket over my mouth and pushed forward.

“Aria!” My voice was raw. “Aria!”

Nothing. Just the roar of flames and groaning metal.

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I found where Emma had been trapped. The area was fully engulfed now. Through the fire, I could see the pocket where Aria had been

pinned.

The debris was still there. The blood on the concrete. The bent rebar.

But no Aria.

“No.” The word came out broken. “No-

“Mr. Morgan!” Hands grabbed me, pulled me back. “The ceiling’s coming down!”

I fought them, but more men grabbed me. Dragged me toward the exit as the warehouse started collapsing.

“Let me go!” I roared. “She’s in there!”

The ceiling came down. Tons of steel and concrete and burning wreckage, crashing down where my wife had been.

They pulled me outside. The cool air hit my face, but I couldn’t breathe.

“Did anyone see her get out?”

Silence. Just the crackle of flames and spray of fire hoses.

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Jack was on his knees, sobbing. The rescue team stood frozen.

“Someone answer me!’ I grabbed the nearest man. Did my wife get out?’

His eyes said everything.

My knees hit the ground. Something warm filled my mouth-blood. I spat it out.

I chose Emma. I chose Emma and left Aria to burn.

“Search the rubble,” I whispered. “When the fire’s out. Find her. Find my wife.”

But I already knew.

Aria was gone. And I had killed her.

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