CHAPTER 3 — BURN THE EVIDENCE
CHAPTER 3 — BURN THE EVIDENCE
Olivia screamed Noah’s name.
The boy stood beside Luke, staring into the smoke.
Ethan rushed to the steel door and pulled the handle.
Locked.
Luke searched the walls.
“This room has an emergency exit.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I helped Dad design it when I was fourteen.”
Ethan turned.
“You knew about this room?”
“I knew there was a shelter. I didn’t know what Dad stored here.”
The smoke thickened.
Mrs. Bell began coughing.
On the television, Richard continued speaking calmly.
“You should have left the dead buried, Luke.”
Luke looked directly at the screen.
“You failed.”
Richard’s smile widened.
“No. I waited.”
Flames appeared beneath the filing cabinets.
A line of fuel had been hidden under the floorboards.
The papers caught instantly.
Ethan grabbed an office chair and smashed the television.
The screen shattered, but Richard’s voice continued through hidden speakers.
“By morning, the police will find four bodies in a tragic electrical fire. Ethan, his unstable wife, their confused son, and a criminal pretending to be his dead brother.”
Luke ripped the photograph from the wall.
Behind it was a metal lever.
He pulled.
Nothing happened.
“It’s jammed.”
Ethan joined him.
Together they forced the lever downward.
A narrow section of wall opened.
“Move!” Ethan shouted.
Luke lifted Noah.
Ethan supported Mrs. Bell while Olivia followed them into the passage.
Fire roared behind them.
They crawled through darkness until the tunnel ended beneath the mansion’s greenhouse.
Ethan kicked open a floor grate.
They climbed out among shattered flowerpots and wet soil.
Outside, sirens screamed through the estate.
But the approaching vehicles weren’t fire trucks.
Black security SUVs surrounded the mansion.
Men wearing Calloway Global security uniforms stepped out.
Ethan recognized the commander.
Gavin Price.
His personal head of security.
The man Ethan had trusted to protect his family for nine years.
Gavin raised a gun.
“Mr. Calloway,” he said. “Step away from the child.”
Noah clung to Luke.
Ethan moved in front of everyone.
“You work for me.”
Gavin’s expression didn’t change.
“Not anymore.”
More guards entered the greenhouse.
Olivia whispered, “Richard owns the security company through a shell corporation.”
Ethan looked at her sharply.
“You knew that too?”
“I found out last week.”
“And still said nothing.”
“I was gathering proof.”
Gavin aimed directly at Luke.
“Richard wants him alive. The rest of you are optional.”
Luke gently handed Noah to Ethan.
Then he raised his hands.
“No,” Ethan said.
Luke didn’t look back.
“You lost fifteen years because of me.”
“I lost fifteen years because no one told me the truth.”
Gavin stepped forward with handcuffs.
Before he could reach Luke, Mrs. Bell grabbed a metal watering pipe and struck the greenhouse emergency valve.
The sprinklers exploded to life.
Steam and smoke filled the glass room.
Ethan tackled the nearest guard.
Luke drove his shoulder into Gavin.
Olivia pulled Noah behind a stone planter.
A gunshot cracked through the greenhouse.
Glass shattered overhead.
When the smoke cleared, Gavin was gone.
So was Luke.
May you like
On the wet floor lay a trail of blood.
And Luke’s broken watch.
