Chapter 5 - Smoke
“Back!”
Owen shouted.
Flames climbed the dry wooden frame beside the door.
Elena grabbed Mia.
“Mama!”
“I’ve got you.”
Damian slammed his shoulder into the exit.
It didn’t move.
“Locked from outside.”
Owen grabbed a metal planting stand and smashed a side window.
Glass exploded across the floor.
“Through there!”
Smoke thickened.
Mia coughed.
Elena wrapped her jacket around her.
Damian climbed through first.
Then turned and reached back.
“Give me Mia!”
Elena froze for half a heartbeat.
Then handed her daughter through the broken frame.
Damian pulled Mia against his chest.
“Come on!”
Elena climbed after them.
Owen emerged last.
Seconds later, flames consumed the shelf where the ledger had been hidden.
But the ledger was under Damian’s coat.
Safe.
Fire crews arrived quickly.
Security footage showed a hooded figure entering the greenhouse area fourteen minutes before the fire.
No clear face.
Vanessa claimed she had been at the spa.
Her driver confirmed it.
Damian didn’t believe her.
Neither did Elena.
That evening, he moved Elena and Mia into the guest wing.
Elena protested.
“Mr. Cross—”
“Damian.”
She stopped.
He had never asked her to use his first name before.
“You nearly burned alive on my property.”
“You’re not sleeping in that cottage tonight.”
Mia sat on the bed eating crackers.
“Can I have this room?”
Damian looked at her.
“For tonight.”
“It has a giant bathtub.”
“I noticed.”
“Can Mama have it forever?”
Elena nearly choked.
“Mia.”
Damian smiled for the first time all day.
Then his phone rang.
His attorney.
The smile vanished.
“What happened?”
He listened.
Then looked at Elena.
“What?”
Damian lowered the phone.
“The foundation transfer wasn’t meant to steal money.”
Elena frowned.
“Then what was it?”
“It was bait.”
“For what?”
“For me.”
He showed her the legal filing.
Someone had prepared evidence making it appear Damian personally authorized the illegal movement of charitable funds.
If submitted to regulators, it could trigger a criminal investigation.
And an emergency board vote.
Elena looked at the ledger.
“Charles.”
Damian nodded.
“Vanessa wasn’t just marrying me.”
“She was helping someone remove me.”
A knock came from the hallway.
Owen entered.
His face was grim.
“We found the man from the greenhouse footage.”
Damian stood.
“Who?”
Owen swallowed.
“Your uncle’s driver.”
Damian’s jaw tightened.
Then Owen added the part nobody expected.
May you like
“He’s dead.”
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