Chapter 6 - THE NIGHT THE MANSION BURNED
Margaret was gone.
By the time Damen reached the mansion, every security camera had been disabled.
The gates were open.
The house was dark.
Hannah stood beside him.
“Where is everyone?”
Damen's expression was unreadable.
“Gone.”
They entered.
The silence felt wrong.
Too complete.
Then smoke began creeping beneath the study door.
“Back!”
Damen pulled Hannah away.
Flames erupted through the doorway.
The mansion's alarm finally screamed.
“Someone set the fire manually,” Marco shouted.
Damen grabbed Hannah.
“Move!”
They ran through the corridor.
A chandelier crashed behind them.
Smoke filled the staircase.
Hannah coughed.
“Damen!”
He turned.
She had fallen.
A burning beam blocked the hallway.
Damen went back.
“Leave me!”
“No.”
“You'll get trapped.”
“I said no.”
He lifted her.
The ceiling groaned.
They reached the courtyard seconds before the windows exploded outward.
Hannah stared at the mansion burning behind them.
Everything Damen had built was disappearing.
His face remained strangely calm.
Marco approached.
“We lost the archives.”
Damen looked at the fire.
“Not everything.”
“What?”
Damen pointed toward the garage.
“My father's old car.”
Marco frowned.
“The Bentley?”
“Check the trunk.”
They did.
Inside was a metal case.
Robert stared at it.
“You still had that?”
“My father never let me touch it.”
Damen opened the case.
Inside were dozens of photographs.
One showed Victor.
Another showed Margaret.
Another showed Dr. Nathaniel Cross.
But the final photograph stopped Hannah cold.
Emily.
Sophia.
And a third woman.
Hannah.
All three standing together.
Except Hannah had never met Sophia.
Or so she thought.
She looked at the date.
Eight years earlier.
Hannah's memory suddenly fractured.
A hospital hallway.
A woman with dark hair.
A little girl laughing.
A silver bracelet.
Then nothing.
Damen noticed.
“You remember?”
Hannah touched her temple.
“I don't know.”
Robert looked devastated.
“You were there.”
“Where?”
“The night your sister disappeared.”
Hannah shook her head.
“No.”
“You were seventeen.”
“Dad…”
“You saw Sophia.”
Hannah's breathing quickened.
A memory surfaced.
She had been in a hospital.
Emily was crying.
A woman named Sophia had knelt beside her.
She had given Hannah a bracelet.
And said:
If anyone ever asks, you never saw me.
Hannah looked down.
On her wrist was a thin silver bracelet.
She had worn it since she was seventeen.
She had never known where it came from.
Damen stared at it.
“That belonged to Sophia.”
Hannah touched it.
“My sister gave it to me.”
“Why?”
Robert answered.
“Because Sophia knew she might die.”
Damen stepped away.
His face had gone pale.
“She knew.”
“Yes.”
“She knew Victor was involved.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't she tell me?”
Robert looked at him.
“Because she thought you were next.”
Damen closed his eyes.
For nine years, he had believed Sophia died because he failed to protect her.
Now he learned the truth.
She had been protecting him.
Then Marco shouted.
“Movement!”
A vehicle sped toward them.
Damen raised his weapon.
The car stopped.
Margaret stepped out.
Her clothes were torn.
Her face was bruised.
“Don't shoot.”
Damen lowered his weapon slightly.
“Where have you been?”
“Trying to survive.”
“You burned my house?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Margaret looked toward the flames.
“Victor.”
Damen's eyes hardened.
“Why?”
“Because he knows I betrayed him.”
Hannah stepped forward.
“You worked with my sister?”
“Yes.”
“Did you help kill Sophia?”
Margaret's eyes filled with tears.
“No.”
“Then why did you disappear?”
“Because I was afraid.”
Hannah stared at her.
Margaret continued.
“I helped Emily hide the evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“The original ledger.”
Damen looked at her.
“Where?”
Margaret's voice dropped.
“Inside the one place Victor never thought to search.”
“Where?”
She looked at Hannah.
“With your sister's body.”
Silence.
Hannah's heart stopped.
“My sister's grave?”
Margaret nodded.
“Emily buried the ledger before she died.”
Damen looked toward the burning mansion.
For the first time, hope appeared.
They had lost the house.
They had lost the archives.
But they had found the original evidence.
Then Margaret added:
“There is one problem.”
May you like
“What?”
“Victor knows where it is too.”
