Chapter 2: The Call That Came Too Late

The explosion never sounded the way I imagined an explosion would.

There was no single clean boom.

First came a violent flash.

Then heat.

Then the entire world seemed to tear apart at once.

The last thing I remembered was Kevin's name glowing on my phone screen.

After that, there was nothing.

Across the city, Kevin Woods stared at his phone.

Michelle wasn't answering.

He called again.

No response.

"Kev, she's probably just angry," Violet said behind him.

Kevin barely heard her.

His eyes remained fixed on Michelle's last message.

Farewell. I hope we never meet again in another life.

Something about those words made his chest tighten.

Michelle could be dramatic when they argued.

At least, that was what he told himself.

But she had never written anything like this.

Never.

"Kevin?"

Violet walked closer, cradling her rescued cat against her chest.

"Don't tell me you're actually worried."

He called Michelle again.

Straight to voicemail.

"She said Gavin Mercer kidnapped her," Kevin murmured.

"Who?"

"Mercer."

Violet frowned.

"That criminal from one of your old cases?"

"Yes."

"But wasn't he in prison?"

Kevin's face changed.

He opened his browser and searched the name.

His fingers stopped moving.

Gavin Mercer had been released three months earlier after successfully appealing part of his conviction.

Kevin read the article twice.

Then a third time.

"Oh God."

"What?" Violet asked.

Kevin was already moving.

"I need to find Michelle."

"Kev, wait."

"Call the police."

"You're seriously believing her now?"

He stopped.

Slowly, he turned toward Violet.

"What did you just say?"

"I mean... Michelle gets jealous whenever you help me."

"She told me she had a bomb strapped to her."

"And you didn't believe her either."

The words struck harder than Violet intended.

Kevin's face went pale.

He grabbed his car keys.

"Call the police, Vi."

"But—"

"Now."

He ran toward his car.

Kevin tried Michelle again as he drove.

No answer.

Again.

Nothing.

"Come on, Michelle."

He tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

"Pick up."

He replayed their conversation in his head.

I've been kidnapped.

They strapped a bomb to me.

Gavin Mercer took me.

The timer says eight minutes.

Every sentence had sounded frightened.

Not theatrical.

Not angry.

Frightened.

Why hadn't he noticed?

Because he had already decided she was lying before she finished speaking.

Kevin called emergency services.

"My girlfriend may have been abducted."

The dispatcher immediately began asking questions.

"Her name is Michelle Hart. Twenty-seven years old. The possible suspect is Gavin Mercer."

"Do you know her location?"

"No."

"When did you last speak with her?"

Kevin looked at the dashboard clock.

His stomach dropped.

"About eleven minutes ago."

"What did she say?"

He struggled to force the words out.

"She said there was a bomb."

There was a brief silence.

"Sir, did she provide any details about her surroundings?"

Kevin closed his eyes for half a second.

He had interrupted her.

He had scolded her.

He had never asked where she was.

"No."

His voice broke.

"I didn't let her finish."

Police traced Michelle's last cellular connection while Kevin drove toward her apartment.

He reached her building in less than fifteen minutes.

Her car wasn't there.

He called her parents.

"Kevin?" her mother answered warmly.

His throat tightened.

"Mrs. Hart, have you spoken to Michelle today?"

"This morning. Why?"

"I can't reach her."

"Is something wrong?"

"I don't know yet."

He hated himself for the lie.

"She was supposed to have dinner with you tonight," her mother said.

"She was so excited."

Kevin closed his eyes.

Dinner.

Michelle had reminded him that morning.

Don't forget dinner tonight.

His response had been one word.

Busy.

"Kevin?"

"I'll call you back."

He ended the call before his voice could betray him.

His phone rang almost immediately.

An unknown number.

"Dr. Woods?"

"Yes."

"Detective Aaron Cole. We traced Ms. Hart's phone."

Kevin gripped the phone.

"Where?"

"Industrial district near Harbor Avenue."

"I'm coming."

"Dr. Woods, do not—"

Kevin ended the call.

He knew Harbor Avenue.

Half the warehouses there had been abandoned for years.

When he arrived, emergency vehicles had already blocked the road.

Red and blue lights painted the dark buildings.

Firefighters.

Police.

Bomb squad.

Paramedics.

Kevin stopped breathing.

One warehouse at the end of the street was burning.

"No."

He left his car in the middle of the road and ran.

"Sir! You can't go through there!"

An officer grabbed him.

"Michelle!" Kevin shouted.

"My girlfriend is inside!"

"Sir, step back."

"I'm a doctor!"

"The structure isn't secure."

"Let me through!"

Kevin fought against the officer's grip until another voice cut through the chaos.

"Dr. Woods?"

Detective Cole approached.

"You called me."

"Where is she?"

Cole's expression told Kevin more than his words could.

"Where is Michelle?" Kevin demanded.

"Rescue teams are searching."

"Is she alive?"

"We don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"There was an explosion before officers arrived."

Kevin felt the ground shift beneath him.

"No."

"Dr. Woods—"

"No. She called me before it happened."

Cole stared at him.

"She called you?"

"Yes."

"What did she tell you?"

Kevin couldn't answer.

Not because he didn't remember.

Because he remembered every word.

Including his own.

You might as well just tell me that you're about to die.

His stomach twisted violently.

He stepped away and vomited beside the road.

Detective Cole waited.

When Kevin finally straightened, his face was white.

"She told me Mercer had kidnapped her."

"Anything else?"

"She said there was a bomb."

"Did Mercer speak?"

"No."

"Did you hear anyone else?"

Kevin hesitated.

"I don't know."

"We'll need your phone."

"Why?"

"Messages, call records, anything that could help establish a timeline."

Kevin handed it over.

Cole looked at the screen.

Michelle's farewell message was still open.

The detective's expression changed.

"When did you receive this?"

"A few minutes before you called."

"And you tried calling afterward?"

"Yes."

"Did she answer?"

"No."

Kevin looked toward the burning warehouse.

"I was too late."

Nobody contradicted him.

Nearly forty minutes passed.

They were the longest forty minutes of Kevin's life.

Then two paramedics emerged from behind the emergency vehicles.

A stretcher rolled between them.

Kevin's heart stopped.

The person on it was covered in ash and dust.

An oxygen mask hid most of her face.

But Kevin recognized the silver pendant around her neck.

He had given it to Michelle on their second anniversary.

"Michelle!"

He ran forward.

"Sir, stay back!"

"I'm her boyfriend!"

One paramedic looked at him.

"She's alive."

Kevin nearly collapsed.

"What?"

"Alive, but critical."

The words barely registered.

Alive.

Michelle was alive.

"What happened?"

"Part of the device detonated, but the main charge appears to have failed."

"Can I see her?"

"Not now."

"I'm a forensic physician."

"Then you know why we need space."

Kevin did.

That didn't make stepping away easier.

As the ambulance doors closed, he caught one brief glimpse of Michelle's face.

Her eyes were shut.

There was blood near her temple.

Her skin was gray beneath the soot.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

The doors slammed shut.

Kevin followed the ambulance to the hospital.

Violet called six times.

He ignored every call.

At the hospital, Michelle was taken directly into surgery.

Kevin sat alone outside the operating room.

Forensic medicine had taught him to understand death.

He had examined bodies.

Documented injuries.

Explained causes of death to grieving families.

But no training had prepared him for this.

Michelle's mother arrived first.

"Kevin!"

She rushed toward him.

"Where is she?"

"Surgery."

"What happened?"

He opened his mouth.

Nothing came out.

"Kevin?"

Her father arrived moments later.

"Tell us what happened."

Kevin looked at the two people who had once welcomed him into their home.

He remembered leaving their dinner because Violet was afraid of the dark.

He remembered Michelle begging him to stay.

He remembered telling her that if she couldn't accept Violet, she could forget about marriage.

And now Michelle was behind those doors fighting for her life.

"She called me," Kevin whispered.

Her mother frowned.

"What?"

"Before the explosion."

"She called you?"

"Yes."

"Then why wasn't anyone there sooner?"

Kevin couldn't look at her.

"Because..."

His voice cracked.

"I didn't believe her."

Michelle's father stared at him.

"What did you say?"

"I thought she was trying to get me to leave Violet."

"Violet?"

"Her cat was stuck in a tree."

The silence that followed was unbearable.

Michelle's mother looked at him as though she had never seen him before.

"My daughter told you she was going to die..."

Her eyes filled with tears.

"...and you chose a cat?"

Kevin lowered his head.

There was nothing he could say.

Three hours later, the surgeon finally appeared.

Everyone stood.

"She's stable," the doctor said.

Michelle's mother began crying.

Kevin closed his eyes in relief.

"Can we see her?"

"Family only for now."

Kevin stepped forward automatically.

The surgeon looked at him.

"Are you her husband?"

Kevin froze.

"No."

For four years, he had assumed there would always be time.

Time to propose.

Time to apologize.

Time to become the man Michelle deserved.

Now even the word boyfriend felt like something he had no right to claim.

Michelle's parents entered the intensive care unit.

Kevin remained outside.

Alone.

His phone vibrated.

Violet.

This time she had sent a message.

"Kev, I'm worried about you. Please call me. None of this is your fault."

Kevin stared at the final sentence.

None of this is your fault.

Then he looked through the ICU window.

Michelle lay unconscious beneath white sheets, surrounded by machines.

He deleted Violet's message.

Because for once, Kevin understood something perfectly.

The kidnapping wasn't his fault.

The bomb wasn't his fault.

But when Michelle had eight minutes left and begged the man she loved to believe her...

Kevin had made his choice.