Chapter 18 - THE NIGHT THE MANSION BURNED|
The first explosion shook the mansion at 11:36 p.m.
Glass shattered throughout the west wing.
The security alarms screamed.
Tabitha was upstairs with Catherine when smoke began pouring beneath the bedroom door.
"Fire!"
Catherine rushed toward the hallway.
Tabitha grabbed her arm.
"Not that way!"
They moved toward the emergency staircase.
Below them, Graham was helping the household staff evacuate.
He had ordered everyone to leave the property.
But the fire was spreading too quickly.
"Where are Tabitha and Catherine?" he demanded.
"Second floor, east corridor!"
Graham ran upstairs.
The smoke thickened.
He found Catherine near the staircase.
"Where's Tabitha?"
"She went back!"
"Why?"
"She heard someone calling for help."
Graham's heart stopped.
He turned toward the burning corridor.
"Tabitha!"
A faint voice answered.
"Here!"
He followed it.
Inside a bedroom, an elderly housekeeper was trapped beneath a fallen wardrobe.
Tabitha was trying to lift it.
Graham rushed forward.
"Get back!"
Together, they moved the furniture.
The housekeeper was freed.
But a burning beam collapsed between them and the exit.
Graham pulled Tabitha close.
"Stay behind me."
He covered her head with his arm.
They moved through the smoke toward the window.
Outside, firefighters had positioned a ladder.
Graham helped the housekeeper out first.
Then he turned to Tabitha.
She was coughing violently.
"Go."
"What about you?"
"I'm right behind you."
She shook her head.
"Don't lie to me."
He almost smiled.
Even in a burning mansion, she still challenged him.
He helped her onto the ladder.
But before he could follow, a section of the ceiling collapsed.
The impact knocked him to the floor.
"GRHAM!"
Tabitha turned.
He was trapped beneath the fallen beam.
Firefighters tried to reach him.
Tabitha climbed down from the ladder.
"Get her out!" Graham shouted.
She ignored him.
Together, two firefighters lifted the beam enough to pull him free.
Graham emerged coughing, his shirt covered in ash.
Outside, the family watched the mansion burn.
Catherine held Tabitha's hand.
Daniel, who had arrived with the evacuation team, embraced his sister.
"Are you crazy?" he whispered.
Tabitha laughed through her tears.
"Probably."
Graham sat on the ambulance steps while a paramedic examined him.
He looked at the burning mansion.
Everything he had built was disappearing.
The house.
The private offices.
The rooms where his father had raised him.
And for the first time, he felt no desire to save the building.
He only cared about the people standing beside him.
Then his security director approached.
"Boss, we recovered footage from the eastern cameras."
Graham looked up.
"Show me."
The footage showed a man entering the property shortly before the explosion.
He wore a firefighter's uniform.
But the face was unmistakable.
Simon Hale.
Graham's jaw tightened.
"Where is he?"
The director shook his head.
"He's gone."
Then he showed Graham another image.
Hale was standing beside a black vehicle.
Inside the vehicle was a woman.
Tabitha leaned closer.
Her face turned white.
The woman was Eleanor.
The elderly nurse had survived the earlier kidnapping.
And now she had been taken again.
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A message appeared beneath the image.
THE LAST WITNESS IS MINE. BRING THE ORIGINAL RECORDINGS.
