Flame (Jungle Oasis Book 3): A billionaire enemies to lovers dark romance by Autumn Archer

Author:Autumn Archer [Archer , Autumn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-11-15T16:00:00+00:00

12

I jerk awake, blinking sticky eyelids that feel swollen and reluctant to peel open. A canvas of desolate blackness continues with a false sense of distance. Vertical bars fill an opening in an air vent near the ceiling, the narrow gap sucking in a burst of sunlight. Bright beams cut up shadows, showcasing twirling dust particles, merrily pirouetting like a tribe of fireflies.

Wherever I am now isn’t the jungle. Car horns actively honk from outside and a chunky door with hammered rivets is undoubtedly secured from the other side.

I wretch without vomiting, flinching when a sharp twinge jolts me. When I wiggle my toes, all the muscles in my legs groan, even though I’m aware of a cushioned surface under me. The purposeful movement feels like too much of an effort. My brain pounds, and the weight of me sinks deeper, not willing to move.

Swallowing dry air, I swipe my brow, smudging slick sweat and letting my hand fall away with listless enthusiasm. When it lands splayed outwards, another bite of pain grips my ribcage.

A pinch of ruptured flesh sends shock waves through sore limbs. Padding the tender area with fingertips, I detect gauze and tape crudely stuck over a sensitive wound.

I will myself to roll a little, edging in the direction of the only exit, but the men who dumped me in here have zapped my inner fire. The voice inside my head suddenly screams. Every cell in my body convulses, and every follicle tingles when hateful memories burst into my fuzzy mind.

Dante.

The Oasis.

It all spirals within me, replaying vivid snapshots of gunfire, strangers, bullets and flames.

The most profound pain I’ve ever suffered impales my heart, splitting the sedate beats so they thump out of time, lost and untamed by the acute damage.

How could he survive that disaster?

I sob into my hands, recalling every second. His vibrant blood coating fragments of demolished gadgetry blown up by lead and strewn on the tiles where he lay. The battle unfolding in his eyes and the look of pure regret on his striking face. With his usual tanned skin so pale as strength evacuated his soul, creating the true sense of el Fantasma, the ghost.

Even if the gunshot wound didn’t kill him outright, the flames would imprison him in the arms of a home created from wood.

Our love was my kingdom. Not the natural world with an abundance of land. Not the vast Oasis with employees and paying guests.

Just him.

Salty tears blur a sliver of sunlight stretching in from the far corner. My wishes gallop around in circles, regretful that this nightmare didn’t end in the Oasis. We should have died together instead of facing whatever cruelty I’ll have to endure without him.

The walls close in. My tattered whimpers blend with the city ruckus beyond when I rotate to the opposite hip and carefully draw in my knees, huddled in grief.

It’s only then when I hear a scuffle… a sniffle… and my name.

“Iris?” a small voice whispers through the bleak confines. “Are you awake?”

“Carina?” Her name croaks out of my parched throat.

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