Chapter 15 - THE FIRE THAT WOULD NOT ERASE THE TRUTH|
Dante evacuated the guests while Roman followed the security team toward the archive room.
Smoke drifted beneath the ceiling, but the fire doors were holding. A sprinkler system had activated, soaking the carpet and slowing the flames before they could reach the records.
Margaret stood near the archive entrance with a security officer.
“The evidence is secure,” she said. “But someone cut the alarm connection to this wing.”
Roman looked at the damaged control panel.
“Who had access?”
“Foundation maintenance staff, senior management, and anyone with the master security code.”
Claudia.
Vanessa.
Or someone working for them.
A guard emerged from the service corridor, holding a man by the arm. The suspect wore a maintenance uniform and carried a small container of accelerant.
Roman recognized him from photographs of the Ferrara family's contractors.
“Who hired you?” Roman demanded.
The man remained silent.
Dante checked his identification.
“His name is Mark Ellison. He was paid through a company linked to Anthony Rossi's old accounts.”
Roman turned toward Margaret.
“Call the police. Preserve everything.”
The suspect finally spoke.
“I was only supposed to damage the files.”
“Who told you to do it?”
He looked toward the ballroom.
Then his gaze settled on Vanessa, who had appeared at the far end of the corridor.
For one brief moment, their eyes met.
Vanessa turned and walked away.
Roman followed her.
He found her outside the ballroom, speaking urgently into her phone.
“It's finished,” she whispered. “They have the man. You need to get me out of here.”
She noticed Roman and ended the call.
“What's wrong?” she asked, forcing a smile.
“You tell me.”
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“The fire. The altered documents. The contractor.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“You can't seriously believe I started a fire at a charity event.”
“I believe you knew it was coming.”
She stepped closer.
“Roman, listen to me. Claudia has gone too far. I told her this was dangerous. I told her we needed another plan.”
The admission escaped before she could stop it.
Roman's expression hardened.
“Another plan?”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Then she straightened.
“You have no proof of anything.”
“I don't need to decide your guilt. The investigators will do that.”
She laughed sharply.
“You think the police can protect you? Your family has survived longer than most governments because we know how to handle problems.”
“Not anymore.”
He turned away.
Vanessa grabbed his sleeve.
“You can't leave me like this.”
Roman looked at her hand.
“You left my wife to suffocate in a cold hallway.”
“I didn't know she was that sick!”
“You knew she needed medical care. You knew she had nowhere to go. You knew exactly what you were doing when you put those papers in front of her.”
Vanessa's eyes filled with angry tears.
“She was always in the way!”
Roman stepped back.
“Then you should have walked away. Instead, you chose to destroy her.”
A police officer approached and asked Vanessa to accompany him for questioning. She protested, demanding to speak with her lawyer.
Roman did not intervene.
Across the corridor, Evelyn stood beside Dante, pale but upright. The smoke had triggered a coughing fit, and a medic was checking her oxygen level.
Roman hurried toward her.
“Are you all right?”
She nodded weakly.
“I'm okay.”
He crouched in front of her.
“You shouldn't have been near the smoke.”
“I know.”
“I'm sorry.”
Evelyn studied his face.
“You don't have to apologize every time something goes wrong.”
“Perhaps not. But I have to stop pretending I can control everything.”
She reached for his hand.
“That's a start.”
The medics escorted her outside for further evaluation. Roman followed, watching as the gala's guests gathered on the sidewalk beneath flashing emergency lights.
A police detective approached Margaret and requested the original recordings.
As the investigation began, Roman noticed a familiar figure standing across the street.
Claudia.
She was not speaking to the police. She was watching the building, holding a phone to her ear.
When she saw Roman, she ended the call and stepped into a waiting car.
Dante moved to follow, but Roman stopped him.
“Let her go.”
“Boss?”
“She wants us chasing her. The evidence is safe, and Vanessa is in custody for questioning.”
He looked toward the car disappearing into traffic.
“Claudia will make a mistake eventually.”
Roman's phone vibrated.
A message had arrived from an unknown number.
You have until midnight to withdraw your statement and hand over the recordings. Otherwise, the next fire won't stop at a ballroom.
Roman read it twice.
Then he looked at Evelyn, who was being helped into an ambulance for observation.
He had spent years believing that fear made him powerful.
Now he understood that fear was exactly what his enemies had been counting on.
He saved the message and handed the phone to the detective.
“Add this to the case file.”
May you like
Then he climbed into the ambulance beside his wife.
This time, he wasn't leaving her alone.
