Chapter 7 - The Fire at Midnight
The attack came at 12:11 a.m.
The alarm screamed.
Smoke filled the hallway.
Victor woke me before I fully understood what was happening.
“Get up.”
“What?”
“Fire.”
We ran.
Security moved through the building.
Victor stayed beside me.
When we reached the stairs, flames blocked the main corridor.
“Back.”
He pushed open a service door.
Smoke burned my lungs.
We went down two flights.
Then I heard a voice.
Ethan.
“Anna!”
I stopped.
Victor grabbed my arm.
“Don't.”
But Ethan was trapped behind a collapsed doorway.
His shirt was burned.
Blood ran down his face.
He looked nothing like the confident man who had shoved me onto the marble floor.
He looked terrified.
Victor hesitated.
Then he went back.
Together, we pulled Ethan through.
Outside, firefighters surrounded us.
Ethan collapsed onto the pavement.
When he opened his eyes, he looked at me.
“You saved me.”
I shook my head.
“Victor did.”
Ethan laughed weakly.
“No.”
He looked at Victor.
“You saved the son of the man who tried to destroy your family.”
Victor stared at him.
“Don't make me regret it.”
Ethan nodded.
At the hospital, Ethan finally confessed.
Richard had ordered the fire.
But the target hadn't been me.
It had been the documents.
Richard wanted everything destroyed before trial.
Ethan had discovered this and tried to stop him.
Richard had threatened to kill him.
That was why Ethan had disappeared.
He wasn't trying to escape.
He was hiding from his father.
Ethan gave investigators the final evidence.
Audio.
Messages.
Payment records.
Everything.
The case collapsed around Richard.
But the most shocking revelation came from Ethan himself.
“Your mother didn't trust my father,” he told me.
“She trusted James DeLuca.”
I looked at Victor.
Ethan continued.
“She gave him a copy of everything.”
Victor's face went pale.
“Where?”
“Your father's old house.”
The DeLuca family archive.
A place Victor hadn't entered since his father's funeral.
We went there the next morning.
The house was filled with dust.
Old photographs.
Old memories.
Victor walked silently through the halls.
He stopped before his father's study.
“This is where he died.”
I touched his arm.
“You don't have to do this.”
“I do.”
Inside a wall compartment, we found a locked box.
The key was hidden inside an old watch.
Victor opened it.
Inside was the missing evidence.
Letters from Sofia.
Photographs.
Financial records.
And one final letter.
Dear James,
If you are reading this, I have failed to keep Anna out of this war.
Please protect her.
Do not let Victor know the truth until he is ready.
Richard will use your son's anger against him.
He will make Victor believe I betrayed you.
Please believe me.
I never did.
Victor read the letter twice.
Then he sat down.
For the first time, I saw him cry.
He lowered his head.
“My father died believing your mother betrayed him.”
“She didn't.”
“I know.”
“You know now.”
He looked at me.
“I wish I had known sooner.”
I sat beside him.
“You can't change the past.”
“No.”
“But you can decide what happens next.”
He looked at me.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then he took my hand.
“I don't want to protect you because I promised your mother.”
“What do you want?”
His voice was quiet.
“I want to protect you because I love you.”
My heart stopped.
I wasn't ready for the words.
Maybe neither was he.
But they were already in the room between us.
I squeezed his hand.
“I think I love you too.”
Victor smiled.
And for one perfect second, the war felt over.
May you like
Then his phone rang.
Richard Caldwell had escaped custody.
