Chapter 8 - The Man Behind the Original Fire Returned to Take the Fortune He Had Waited Twenty Years to Steal
Victor appeared at the old estate.
He didn't come with an army.
He came alone.
He stood outside the music hall.
Sadie recognized him immediately.
The man from her childhood memory.
The man with the silver ring.
The man who had stood beside the piano.
Cormac stepped in front of her.
Victor laughed.
“Still protecting her.”
“Always.”
Victor looked at Sadie.
“You look like your father.”
“I never knew him.”
“You should have.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Did you order the fire?”
“Yes.”
Sadie's face went cold.
“Why?”
“Because Matteo betrayed me.”
“He tried to expose you.”
“Yes.”
“You killed children.”
“I made mistakes.”
“You don't get to call that a mistake.”
Victor shrugged.
“History is written by survivors.”
Sadie looked at him.
“Then you lost.”
He stared.
“Why?”
“Because I survived.”
The confrontation was short.
The police had surrounded the property.
Victor had been under surveillance for months.
He was arrested.
The final accounts were recovered.
The last criminal network disappeared.
And with it, the last shadow of the old empire.
Afterward, Cormac stood beside the lake.
Sadie joined him.
“It's over.”
“Yes.”
“You sure?”
She smiled.
“For real this time.”
He looked at her.
“What are you going to do?”
“Play.”
He laughed.
“That's your answer?”
“Yes.”
She touched his hand.
“I spent my whole life delivering food because I thought music belonged to my past.”
“And now?”
“Now I know it belongs to my future.”
She returned to school.
She became a pianist.
Not famous.
Not at first.
Just happy.
She taught children.
Performed small concerts.
Played for her mother.
Played for Cormac.
She still delivered food occasionally.
Just for fun.
Her old Honda sat in the driveway.
The heater still barely worked.
Cormac asked why she kept it.
She said:
“It reminds me where I came from.”
One evening, he left a package on her seat.
Inside was a new set of keys.
“What are these?”
“A car.”
She laughed.
“Why?”
“Because your Honda sounds like it wants to die.”
“It has feelings.”
“It has mechanical problems.”
She kissed him.
“You're terrible.”
He smiled.
“Drive the new car.”
She did.
May you like
But she kept the Honda.
---
