Chapter 5 One Life, One Choice

The next moment Sarah opened her eyes, she was in an unknown warehouse. The smell of oil and rust filled the air.

A single shaft of light fell from a broken window, cutting across the dusty floor.

Sarah stirred, her eyes heavy, only to find her mouth sealed with rough tape and her hands tied behind her.

The ropes dug into her skin until her fingers throbbed.

Panic rushed through her chest like fire.

Footsteps echoed, quick then slowly, until the sound of someone she knew sent her heart into a frenzy.

The sight of James came to light.

Her eyes widened, pleading, screaming through silence.

When he appeared at the entrance, his face changed instantly. The fury and control he often carried dissolved into raw fear.

His eyes fixed on her; on the ropes, the tape, and the bruises forming at her wrists. His jaw clenched as if each detail was cutting him from the inside.

"Sarah..." His whisper cracked the air. He stepped forward, only to stop when the sharp click of a gun halted him.

The leader of the men, tall and lean with eyes hard as stone, raised his weapon calmly. "Not so fast."

Another figure shifted nearby.

It was Tiana. She sat on a crate, one sleeve stained dark at the cuff. Her body slumped, but her eyes flickered alive.

When she glanced at one of the men, quick and sharp, Sarah's stomach dropped. She recognized that look. It was nothing close to fear. At that moment, she knew this was another of Tiana's plans.

The leader tapped the side of his pistol, his voice like gravel. "One life. One choice. You can only save one. Choose."

The words were heavy, and final.

The silence that followed squeezed the air out of the room. James's chest rose fast, his eyes darting from Sarah to Tiana, then back again, as though searching for a map out of a maze with no exit.

Sarah fought against the ropes, her wrists burning, her chest heaving. She tried to speak through the tape, but all that came was a muffled cry.

Her eyes screamed louder, wanting to tell him to choose her. To remember their son waiting for them at home. To remember everything they've been through together.

James looked at her, torn, his face twisted with grief. But when his eyes shifted to Tiana, his expression softened.

Tiana's voice broke the silence, low and trembling, yet deliberate. "Save Sarah," she whispered, her palms open as if surrendering. "She's your wife. Let me go. Please."

Her words fell with a sweetness too polished.

Sarah's chest constricted. Even in this moment, Tiana was performing, scripting her martyrdom.

One of the men sneered. He flicked open a knife, dragging it cruelly along Tiana's arm. Blood seeped through the fabric.

She gasped, but her cry was swallowed quickly, her face folding into a sorrow that felt rehearsed.

The leader stepped closer, his gun pressing hard against Tiana's temple. "Make your decision," he said coldly. "Now."

The pressure in the room became unbearable. Sarah's lungs felt crushed. She fought harder against the ropes, her teeth gnashing against the tape.

Her body shook with the desperate need to make her voice heard.

James's face crumbled. He ran a hand over his head, his voice barely holding together. "Take me instead. Take my life if it will save them."

The leader chuckled darkly. "You want to die for them? Easy words. But that is not the game. One must go free. The other does not. Choose."

Sarah shook her head violently, her muffled cries tearing out of her throat. She wanted to scream at him not to throw himself away, not like this.

But the tape silenced everything except her tears.

James's breathing grew heavier, sweat sliding down his temple. He shut his eyes briefly, opened them again, but the fog didn't clear.

He looked at Tiana one last time.

Her hands, stained at the cuff, reached for him. Her eyes glistened with a rehearsed mix of fear and devotion. "Don't look at me with regret," she whispered. "If you let me die, I won't hate you. I'll love you even in death. However, if you save me, I'll never regret it. I'll stand with you forever."

The words struck him with the weight of old promises. His lips trembled.

"James," Sarah mouthed furiously, straining against the ropes. Her body shook with rage and despair.

Every fiber of her being screamed his name.

The leader snapped impatiently. "Now! Choose, or I end them both."

Time seemed to slow. The men around them leaned forward, their faces hungry for the outcome. The air reeked of sweat, iron, and fear.

James's chest heaved, his eyes hollowing with each second. He turned toward Sarah. For one fleeting heartbeat, there was love in his eyes; love that reached out across the silence, love that pleaded for forgiveness.

It was obvious he was going to choose Sarah. And Sarah's fast breathing began to slow. She felt relieved.

But then, like a match striking steel, his voice came brittle and final. "Tiana."

The name cut sharper than any blade.

Sarah's body went still, as if the ropes had stolen even her heartbeat. The sound of that name on his lips drained the fight from her.

The men moved instantly. They pulled Tiana roughly to her feet. James caught her in his arms, holding her like a shield, like something precious.

Her sobs poured out, wet and broken, as she buried herself in his chest.

He wrapped himself around her, his body trembling as though protecting her could undo the choice he had made.

Sarah's eyes burned, her vision blurred with tears that would not stop. She screamed behind the tape, her muffled cries echoing like the wail of a dying soul.

The men cleared a path to the door. James held Tiana tightly, guiding her forward, his steps slow but unrelenting.

He looked back once, just once, at Sarah. His eyes carried a grief so deep it hollowed her completely. His lips moved as if to speak, but no sound reached her.

James could only mutter inside him. "I hope you understand, Sarah. Tiana is pregnant. She's carrying my child."

Sarah's body shook violently, her wrists bleeding against the ropes. She wanted to collapse, but fury and heartbreak kept her upright.

The leader's voice barked from behind. "Move!"

James turned back towards the exit. Tiana clung tightly to him, whispering something Sarah couldn't hear. His shoulders slumped as though each step crushed him further into the ground.

The warehouse light stretched their shadows long across the floor, two figures locked together while the woman left behind bled silently in the dark.

Then, without warning, the night split open.

The moment they stepped out, many feet away from the exit door, Tiana still holding unto James like a lifeline, the warehouse exploded, covered in flames.

And Sarah's screams and cries inside, filled the night.