Chapter 11 - FIRE
“Mom!”
I dropped beside her.
Blood spread across her shoulder.
Pike had fired.
Damian’s sniper fired back.
Pike dropped.
Then everything turned into chaos.
Gunshots.
Smoke.
Men shouting.
Damian came through the side entrance with two guards.
“Emma!”
“My mother’s hit!”
“Can she move?”
“I think so.”
Damian grabbed her under one arm.
I took the other.
Flames crawled across the ceiling.
Vincent disappeared through the smoke.
“He’s getting away!”
“Forget him!”
“No!”
Damian stared at me.
“If this roof comes down, Leah loses both of us.”
That stopped me.
We dragged my mother toward an emergency exit.
Locked.
Of course.
Damian fired at the chain.
Once.
Twice.
The door opened.
Cold rain hit my face.
We stumbled outside.
My mother collapsed.
Paramedics rushed in.
I grabbed her hand.
“Stay with me.”
She looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
“Save it.”
“I don’t deserve—”
“No. You don’t.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“But you’re going to stay alive long enough to tell the truth.”
She nodded.
Then reached into her shirt.
A small brass locker key hung from a chain around her neck.
“Union Station.”
“What?”
“Locker 308.”
“The ledger?”
She nodded.
Then paramedics took her.
Damian stood beside me in the rain.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good answer.”
I looked at the burning warehouse.
Vincent had escaped.
Again.
Damian’s phone rang.
His security chief answered.
Then went pale.
“Boss.”
Damian turned.
“What?”
“The house.”
My heart dropped.
“What about the house?”
“The security feed went dark ten minutes ago.”
Damian already had his phone out.
“Call the team.”
“No response.”
I stopped breathing.
“Leah.”
We raced back.
The front gate was open.
Two guards were unconscious.
Inside, furniture was overturned.
The safe room door hung open.
Empty.
I ran inside.
“LEAH!”
Nothing.
Damian stood completely still.
On the floor lay the velvet rabbit.
I picked it up.
There was blood on one ear.
“No.”
Damian’s phone rang.
Vincent.
Damian answered.
“Where is she?”
Vincent’s voice was calm.
“You should have brought her when I asked.”
“I will kill you.”
“You’ve been saying things like that since you were twenty.”
“Touch her and—”
“She’s not the one you should worry about.”
Damian’s face changed.
“What does that mean?”
Vincent laughed.
“You still haven’t figured out why I wanted Leah back.”
“Because she witnessed Elena’s murder.”
“No.”
A pause.
“Because Elena hid something with that child before she died.”
I looked at the rabbit.
The key had been inside it.
What else?
Damian spoke slowly.
“What did Elena hide?”
Vincent answered.
“The one piece of evidence that can destroy every person involved.”
Then he hung up.
I squeezed the rabbit.
Something crinkled inside its body.
Not stuffing.
Paper.
I tore the seam open.
A tiny photograph fell out.
May you like
On the back, Elena had written one sentence.
IF LEAH IS TAKEN, FIND THE BLUE HOUSE.
